Sacred Rage
It would be foolish indeed for a government that has lost a string of wars in “backward” foreign lands to think, even with its military and police power and surveillance apparatus, that it could suppress an eruption among a substantial portion of its own well-armed and technologically enfranchised citizenry. Especially if their rage found expression and leadership among some of the warrior-victims it sent to its wars, who are well-schooled in the tactics that stymied them. And then the controllers, the relentless grabbers of power and wealth, will find that the security of their moats and thick walls is illusory, and while justice can be delayed, it will not be denied.
This is an excerpt, the entire article can be accessed via the above link.
This is an excerpt, the entire article can be accessed via the above link.
Once again there is much to be said for your line of reasoning. I do think there is a level of escalation that can be attributed to our interventions in foreign matters that does exacerbate the problems. This is a premise held by Rand and Ron Paul... How you determine the percentage of responsibility is a matter of opinion. I would only like to point out that while not all conflicts from that region are driven by religious zealotry, there is a long history of people from that region being the aggressors including unprovoked attacks of piracy or corsair actions against the U.S. as far back as the Barbary wars. They were not attributed historically to religion. As reluctant as Jefferson was, he had to call in the Marines... Thomas Jefferson favored "peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none."
If the people of that region would live and let live, things would be much different. I am sure that the same could be said of the U.S., but history has shown that when we officially declare war and win decisively, as apposed to these halfhearted police actions, we do not remain as an occupying force of oppressors. We have on occasion left a successful residual force such as that of S. Korea, Japan and Germany, but for the most part all we ask is enough land to bury our dead and then we leave. A fine example of this was when we helped free the French from the Nazis. http://www.stripes.com/travel/europe-tra...
There are some noble, proper interventions. The questions we pose in hindsight in these matters are always difficult as we do not know what might have been without our intervention. Should we not enter into treaties that would require our military assistance with nations like Israel? Should we turn the other cheek when extremists hijack our planes, our ships, and kidnap our citizens and hold them hostage (Iranian hostage crisis 1979 [I know of our ill conceived support of the Shah]) or worse behead them en masse? Should we simply advise Americans to avoid these areas and tell them if they do go we will not support them? Personally, if these violent actions are not state sponsored, then I prefer to avoid outright military interventions and stay out of their territories, but instead, to arm our merchant ships and pilots of commercial airlines and issue Letters of Marque against the terrorists. In most cases I am inclined to agree with Jefferson's general approach.
The critical questions: Will they leave us in peace and will we stop allowing immigration of potential terrorists once we stop intervening. Have we the political will and also the means to determine who is a threat and prevent them from entering our nation where they may commit acts of terrorism like 9/11? Will we control our borders, skies, our points of entry? What will happen if we do nothing and a radical ideology, that has no regard for human rights, spreads and creates hegemony over an entire region? Unchecked will they be content with control only of the land in their region? What will we do and how much responsibility will we have for the multitude of refugees that undoubtedly would need assistance and refuge?
Certainly there are several recent historical examples of interventions that were probably ill conceived and we should have avoided. And I completely concur with your economic and political assessment in regards to the disposition of the American people and our government.
The questions which continuously vex me are the "what ifs..." One cannot know what might have been, or what may yet occur.
In any case, I applaud you for your very thought provoking essay. I wish I had your clarity and confidence.
Respectfully,
O.A.
Always a pleasure.
A joking title for this article could be Holy $#¡‡. :)