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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: unclewest who wrote (305522)	5/18/2009 2:40:20 PM
From: Neeka	Respond to of 793858

IMO these surges are designed to eliminate as many self interested wanna be tribal dictators as possible. The entire reason this war exists.....from an American and "western" pov imo........is to educate and inform the people of the ME. I know there are some people on the left who will call it hypocrisy and find this statement ironic, but imo we are saying........we do not accept the premise that when we disagree we kill one another. For truly western thinkers, war can only cease to exist if each and every individual becomes involved in and embraces the notion of central rules and laws that judge every person equally. When tribes of the Earth ignore what has worked so well in the west...democracy....or reject that idea, (as they did on 9/11) and instead declare war, we will retaliate. I find it interesting that we haven't heard one leader strongly emphasize that bringing the people of the ME into the 21st century is the primary goal, (perhaps I missed it?) but I believe that is exactly what we are trying to accomplish. Of course the mini Islamic nations (tribes) of the ME claim that Islam doesn't allow for individualism, and this may be true, but in order to survive in the modern world, these people will need to adapt or they will certainly perish. I guess we could just walk away and hope "man made disasters" are confined to that region now that we've made it clear we won't be trifled with after we were attacked, but that's not where we are, and that still wouldn't solve the problem of rogue terrorists and their desires to annihilate western man. It is a struggle between two distinct philosophies. And I'll probably get skewered for saying it, but the outcome will probably be as simple as it was for Neanderthal tribes. (I am NOT saying that the tribal people of Afghanistan, Pakistan etc are a different species) Their inability to adapt will create smaller and smaller regional pockets surrounded by bustling and thriving modern regions. This will force them to either acquiesce or be wiped out. And it is going to take more time than you or I have left to live, but the options are very narrow. I believe the developing behavior patterns and inflexibility of the tribes of the ME gives westerners a huge advantage. What is troubling to me........I don't see an overwhelming desire on the part of more intellectually informed people of the region to lead their people away from the more archaic customs. I'm sure that is purely for reasons of survival. Let the U.S. military, NATO and other govts do the hard first work and then when security is guaranteed......teach.......but we need more people speaking out against violence and for education in these various regions. We can continue to strive for modernization in the ME by providing infrastructure in the form of water works, communication, transportation, electric utilities, commerce and working governments, or we can give up and walk away, exposing ourselves to even worse violence than what we witnessed and experienced on 9/11. For these tribes know nothing of what it's like to have those things, to live in a modern world where neighbor respects their neighbor. Where unity of purpose for all creates fantastic results. They use violence and threats in order to survive because that is all they've ever known.