What the West Needs Now
I doubt many people still believe that all of the world's terrorists have magically appeared in Iraq to demonstrate solidarity with the last throes of the insurgents' struggle against the US. In fact, polls seem to suggest that the US public feels less safe now than they did in the days running up to the war in Iraq.
Rightfully so. The terrorist bombings in Madrid, London, and Egypt give evidence that 'winning' in Iraq (whatever that is or however that is measured) is not going to end the strategy of blowing up civilians in other nations. Karl Rove's nasty comments about liberals wanting to offer therapy to those who would harm us notwithstanding, many of us continue to believe that there are other and better ways to combat terrorism than flattening Iraq.
An article in the French journal Liberation offers some cogent thinking on the issue.
While remaining vigilant, it is time for the West to challenge its vision of the Arab World, and to ensure that the profound wounds of its people are repaired. There are too many issues for which the Arabs have been humiliated and where we don’t take their existence or worries into account. And there have been too many compromises with countries that don’t respect human rights but with whom we calmly do business.
What is needed to extricate ourselves from this situation is a total shakeup and radical altering of the West’s political vision of the Arab world.
Settle the Palestinian problem in a just and sustainable manner. America can do this if it is really willing to. Put an end to the chaos that America has created in Iraq. A civil war bigger than one that kills more than the present average amount of 34 people a day will be difficult to avoid.
These are not just words, they are concrete proposals that Europeans and Americans should examine. For this, we need a great statesman, a visionary, an exceptional man with superior political intelligence and a long-term outlook, with emotional intelligence and a passion for justice, a man who has more than a strategic interest for these ruined countries, but who knows their culture, their traditions and the deep needs they never express because they are wounded. ...
Clearly, he is not Bush or Blair or Sharon or Berlusconi or Chirac.
Sadly, the article's writer is correct. None of these world leaders could ever dispense with the real politik that believes only in power over and control of vast swatches of extra territorial land masses, particularly those which contain the resources coveted by global industries.
At this point, the best this country can do is to hope that the American public finally awakens from its stupor and realizes the extreme danger the current maladministration has placed us all in and finds some way to defang the snakes until we can begin to remedy the many mistakes we have made.
Rightfully so. The terrorist bombings in Madrid, London, and Egypt give evidence that 'winning' in Iraq (whatever that is or however that is measured) is not going to end the strategy of blowing up civilians in other nations. Karl Rove's nasty comments about liberals wanting to offer therapy to those who would harm us notwithstanding, many of us continue to believe that there are other and better ways to combat terrorism than flattening Iraq.
An article in the French journal Liberation offers some cogent thinking on the issue.
While remaining vigilant, it is time for the West to challenge its vision of the Arab World, and to ensure that the profound wounds of its people are repaired. There are too many issues for which the Arabs have been humiliated and where we don’t take their existence or worries into account. And there have been too many compromises with countries that don’t respect human rights but with whom we calmly do business.
What is needed to extricate ourselves from this situation is a total shakeup and radical altering of the West’s political vision of the Arab world.
Settle the Palestinian problem in a just and sustainable manner. America can do this if it is really willing to. Put an end to the chaos that America has created in Iraq. A civil war bigger than one that kills more than the present average amount of 34 people a day will be difficult to avoid.
These are not just words, they are concrete proposals that Europeans and Americans should examine. For this, we need a great statesman, a visionary, an exceptional man with superior political intelligence and a long-term outlook, with emotional intelligence and a passion for justice, a man who has more than a strategic interest for these ruined countries, but who knows their culture, their traditions and the deep needs they never express because they are wounded. ...
Clearly, he is not Bush or Blair or Sharon or Berlusconi or Chirac.
Sadly, the article's writer is correct. None of these world leaders could ever dispense with the real politik that believes only in power over and control of vast swatches of extra territorial land masses, particularly those which contain the resources coveted by global industries.
At this point, the best this country can do is to hope that the American public finally awakens from its stupor and realizes the extreme danger the current maladministration has placed us all in and finds some way to defang the snakes until we can begin to remedy the many mistakes we have made.
posted by Diane at 10:29 AM
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