A war in Iraq–whether you believe it to be good or bad forAmerica–will without question be good for terrorism. Not only will it serveas recruitment tool for potential Islamic radicals who sit undecided on thefencepost of martyrdom, it will also leave us open to further botherations hereat home.
One of the greatest mistakes any military can do is start abattle while leaving another unfinished. Fighting wars in multiple places withmultiple peoples leaves gaps which intelligent enemies will exploit. As painfulas it is for some to admit that Osama bin Laden is an intelligent enemy, notsince the Trojan horse has such a sub-rosa operation as the 9-11 attacksoccurred successfully in the face of such insurmountable odds.
Immediately following this, the most technologically endowedmilitary in the did not bring us a ‘?dead or alive’ (sounded good atthe time?) Osama. No, he is free and alive and releasing statements aligninghimself with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. As Americans, we need to questionsuch links, as they could be strategic traps to provoke us into entering aconflict with Iraq in which al Qaeda will win out.
Our economy is getting worse everyday, and a war will notimmediately bolster it, but burden it further. The law tightening our civil liberties,ironically known as the Patriot Act, is not easing our fears at home. Displeasureis growing among our allies–even our Britain hosted an anti-war protest attendedby millions. The dollar is falling to the Euro. The problems go on.
Yet you still have the self-proclaimed’?patriots’ and ‘?real’ Americans, drunk off mainstreammedia coverage, beating their drums without fear of consequence, saying, ‘?ifwe must fight, let us fight the world.’ In the face of this logic, Ionly feel more afraid.
Let us admit our truth, let us admit our fear, let us admitour problem and then let us deal with it rationally, not emotionally. If we dothis, the rest of the world will with respect instead of a dutiful loathing.Invading another country to prove our dominance is not only granting the wishesof al Qaeda, but historically the futile act of a nation headed in the wrongdirection.
We grew up and live in a time where America is, without adoubt, regarded as the most powerful nation in the world. Now, Director ofHomeland Security Tom Ridge will have us live in a world where terrorism is’?as natural as a hurricane or earthquake.’ What is this? I know wejust had a so-called blizzard here, but when was the last time NYC got hit withan earthquake or major hurricane? Yet, we are supposed to expect the sporadiccollapse of buildings.
America must refuse to passively accept such violence andview it with the ‘?well, what can you do about it’? disdain of apassing storm. I have watched the news for years, and since early childhood Ihave regarded the Palestine-Israel conflict as one of attention seeking fools.Today Yasser Arafat’s compound was destroyed, tomorrow a suicide bomberdetonates himself in Israel and the next day Israel responds. The response tothe response to the response is death and destruction, whatever side you’reon.
This is the height of stupidity. I do not want to see thisfor my country, my children or myself. We are a country that stood while theBerlin wall and other repressive regimes fell, we watched all our enemiescrumble, yet from this rubble new enemies arose and we gave them the gun toshoot us in the foot with. Why make this new enemy strong to make an old enemyweaker?
The fact is, Saddam is old hat and, unless provoked,virtually powerless. If we were to lift sanctions on Iraq, very soon Husseinwould be so weak his own people would be able to push him aside with a stick. Whydo we need to do it with million dollar missiles and men in fancyanti-biological weapons suits? What are we proving? Everyone already knowsthat we have military dominance and nuclear surplus. All we would accomplishis setting a precedence of arrogance and callousness at their use.
As the former African slave and genius Thomas Fuller put it,’?Let not thy will roar, when thy power can but whisper.’ Let usdeal with the problems at hand–al Qaeda–and leave the problems of the past tothe peoples of Iraq. Those who seek to deal with others’ problems intruth seek to avoid their own problems and in the end only worsen both sides ofthe situation.
