No Neocon, if I were joking I'd try to make simplistic comparisons between bullies and terrorists. Of course there are almost no valid comparisons. Aside from the use of selected force to achieve a goal, terrorists are just about as far from bullies in terms of psychology as it gets. Anyone who bases an anti-terrorism campaign on psychobabble about "bullies" weaknesses is in for a rude surprise. Let me explain.
Bullies are usually cowards. They prey on the weak and avoid the strong. While they use the threat of force, they are disinclined to exercise it because they may get hurt themselves. When they choose their victim they prefer to choose a victim that is defenseless against them.
Ideologically motivated terrorists are not cowards. They are willing to sacrifice their lives for a cause. They prey on the strong using the only type of force available to them; indirect attacks on a hit and run basis. Implicit in their cause and their actions is a martyr complex. Men like Zachari and Bin Laden, while monstrous in their techniques and flawed in their thinking, have many qualities that we have historically admired in men that were on the "winning side" of history.
If you think that you can intimidate and cow ideological terrorists by the use of massive force, you simply play into their hands. After all, they exist and thrive when the strong can be seen as abusing their power. That's when their world has true meaning.
In fact if you look deep within yourself you'll see the same tendencies they exemplify. Or maybe you didn't identify with Hans Solo in the Star Wars trilogy? Maybe you didn't admire those that were willing to take on the massive power of the "federation" because of its abuse of power? Or maybe you did admire them. Combine that human emotion with religiously fueled fervor and then take a look at a billion or so Muslims.
The use of force for defensive purposes is universally understood and condoned. The problem is that our use of force "preemptively" is NOT universally condoned. That's why we're at the point now that you think we're successful because:
>"Neither the insurgents in Falladjah nor Al- Sadr have widespread support, demonstrating the limitations of the thesis that we are exponentially creating enemies. In fact, lacking either a census base or a means of measuring increase, we have no idea how our actions have affected recruitment, or if they are dying off or being apprehended faster than they can be trained."<
In a "war" that's costing us hundreds of billions of dollars and hundreds of American lives and that's taking a much bigger toll on Iraqi lives, I wouldn't call that a ringing endorsement.
Time will tell but you can't hide forever behind the Rumsfeldian "unknowability" of the arrival of that freight train that's rumbling the rails you're sleeping on. At some point you have to start using your brain to find patterns as opposed to using your brain to find reasons to deny the patterns.
By the way, many of us got bullied before we fought back and it didn't make us see the world in black and white terms of bullies vs. non-bullies. |
