res-I don't think that would have mattered in the slightest.
The pattern of behavior and statements Osama has made, give clues he would have chosen to save his back-side, instead of becoming a suicide bomber. Fanatics, like Osama, who've lived a wealthy life, are great at sacrificing and brainwashing others to do their dirty work for them.
Short term, the solution is respect and fear of America using it's awesome power to reach them anywhere on the planet. Long term, the solution is in creating the environment whereby democracy, rule of law, free market capitalism and education flourish, thus becoming a major part of a potential young recruits life.
There are fanatics in every nation, every culture, and every place on earth. Fanatics, are for the most part, kept in check by an active police force, arresting and sometimes killing for behavior deemed unworthy. Some may believe its a waste to have a police force around, after all, people will rob, rape and murder anyway and having the police around just encourages the behavior. I certainly do not.
The willingness to use raw power won't curve the appetite for death from every fanatic, but it will put a large dent in their decision making process and especially their future recruiting effort. Joining a cause where the life expectancy is short, won't embolden that cause. It will degrade its effectiveness. I'm sure there were many who still believed deeply in the vision of Japanese imperialism after the war, still others who believed in Nazi domination. What lessoned their effectiveness, and kept them away from killing the innocent, was the knowledge they would be severely punished for their actions if it stepped outside the rule of the law.
The same will be said of Muslim fanatics, once enough nations and people in the Middle East embrace the universal values of democracy, free market capitalism, rule of law and liberty.
The ones who won't subscribe to the civilized worlds desire to live in peace, will have to be killed or imprisoned. It's as simple as that.
Simple solutions are not really simple, they are straightforward common sense paths which are often the best road to follow. All too often, writers, pundits and people in places of authority, get caught up in educratic double think, and they're unable to make a straightforward common sense decision. It's one of the reasons people say "common sense is not so common".
Clinton's foreign policy was like that. Too many educrats afraid to make a damn decision and arrest Osama when they had him handed to them on a silver platter. Thousands of innocent Americans have now died because of that failed leadership process.
Bush may not be a rocket science when it comes to the subtleties of foreign policy wonkedness. But what he seems to have is a good grasp of common sense straight forward solutions, and the fortitude to act on them when needed to protect America.
Some policy wonks in the press call this "cowboy diplomacy". I call it "good common sense". |
