The American Spectator

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Sobriety Tests

3.6.03 @ 12:01AM

(Page 4 of 4)

Think of it this way. Churchill is told, "If we fight Hitler now, he'll give Stukas to Finland."
-- Lloyd Daub
Wauwatosa, WI

I tried very hard to listen to John Corry's arguments against war with Iraq. But he ruined the atmosphere of reasoned debate by his constant ignorant or dishonest use of the phrase "the bully boys" to describe those carrying war to Iraq. He knows -- or should know -- that gratuitous aggression is absolutely not the motive, that at worst the Administration is disastrously incompetent, that at best it is spectacularly prescient. Bullying has nothing to do with it, and the word "bully" is purely dishonest, pure slander. Contrary to Corry's whining, there are no neocons threatening show-trials if he makes an argument against the war. But first he has to actually make an argument, which he did not.

Corry displays his lack of full understanding with this sentence: "Meanwhile many of the restless young males live in unstable countries where the governments tend to support the West -- think Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Jordan -- but the general populations do not. The leaders of these countries fear, with good reason, that the invasion will increase the pool of recruits for terrorist organizations." On the surface it is correct, yet it misleads away from understanding the nut of the situation. Yes, of course, anything we do will increase recruits, but they were increasing plenty fast while we did nothing. So we will have to defeat them (although they will never be eradicated), the first order of business being to prevent them from getting the worst weapons from a state.

But Corry is apparently ignorant of the primary reason for spite toward America on the Moslem street. Here's a clue: an opinion poll showed the U.S. is more highly regarded (i.e. hated less) by people on the street in nations that are not our allies than in nations that are. Translation: many Moslems have contempt for the way the U.S. preaches democracy and then props up their own tyrannical governments, which is why people living under our "ally" governments hate us more. Why would Moslems dance in the street when thousands of Americans are incinerated? Well, who is more contemptible, your own, say, corrupt oppressive Egyptian government (that at least shares your religion) or the Yankees who preach freedom and then fund the police state of your oppressive government?

Corry fails to factor that the tendency of Moslem societies is not to simply choose sides in conflict like Americans would do, it is as the proverb (paraphrased) says "me against my brother, me and my brother against the tribe, me and my tribe against the nation, me and my nation against the world"). In practice such a cultural attitude works out not as a web of nice mixed loyalties but as a cascading hierarchy of hates. Of course they cannot say out loud -- or perhaps even allow themselves to think too consciously -- that the driver of their hatred for America is that we're depriving them of the fruits of democracy and pluralistic society. No, they must say out loud that they hate us because of our infidelity to Islam. Would they love us if we all converted to Islam? Would they cease to resent our power? Ask the Ottoman Turks how that worked out.

It is quite possible that we could teach the majority of Moslems to hate America less than they hate their own governments. This is already happening in Iran. At this point, military action against Iran would flip the street's hatred toward their own government towards us; so it's smart to leave hands off. But the situation in Iraq is clearly different; there is a large enough faction so hateful of Saddam that their opinion of us will improve if we remove him. It is not necessary that Iraq achieve a full Constitutional democracy overnight -- or in a century -- only that the forces of progress be allowed to come up out of hiding and contend with the forces of terrorist society. Saddam is the lid on the forces of progress and moderation.

Already we see the authoritarian governments of our allies scrambling to discuss enough reform to placate their populations, a trend plainly resulting from the mere threat of democracy someday in neighboring Iraq!

Moslems are not ignorant of the concepts of democracy and liberty, and it is the most contemptible racist snobbery to think they don't aspire to these things (though only time will tell if their societies are capable of making such a transition). To the degree that fundamentalist Islam is incompatible with pluralism they must compartmentalize their minds, saying they are motivated in their politics only by Islam, even if they harbor a secret longing for freedom. If we only wage reactive military war against their most extreme terrorist elements, they will see us only as self-interested infidels on the top of their hate list, in which case they won't bother to oppose the terrorist elements. But if we wage war against tyranny while smoothing over ideological contradictions with Islam by paying careful lip service to the "peaceful nature" of Islam, then they will know in their gut that they have something to lose -- i.e. their own potential freedom -- by cooperating with terrorism against us.

If that all sounds familiar, it's because it appears to be the policy assessment of the President. Given a correct understanding of the situation, it is hard to see how Bush could have played the cards fate (and his predecessors) dealt him any better.
-- Eric Richter
Grand Rapids, MI

What is wrong with you? On 9-11, 3,000 Americans died in a war that America didn't even know had begun. There is evidence that Bin Laden considered nuclear weapons, blowing up bridges etc. He joked about our cowardice in regard to Somalia. We hadn't invaded anyone. This attack was planned during Bill Clinton's presidency. It seems to me that bin Laden could and did find plenty of people who hate America during this time: Arab governments have fostered hatred against America for years. If we do nothing, Arabs will conclude that America is weak. I think this would increase suicide bombers more than a war. Also, New York and Washington might get nuked.

Do you truly believe we can contain a madman like Saddam? Does containment ever work? It sure hasn't worked with Korea. I am sick of "peace" platitudes. America is worth fighting for. If our Fathers had thought as you do, we'd all be speaking German!

I read your article and I see talking points, but not real thought. What would your solution be? Should we leave American troops near Iraq indefinitely while inspectors plod through Iraq looking for what Saddam intends to hide forever? I promise this. Saddam will throw out the inspectors as soon as he believes he can get away with it. Should we ask the UN pretty please can we protect the American people? Can we really count on the UN to protect Americans? Ask the people of Cambodia, Rwanda, Serbia how good the UN is at protecting people. Of course, the ones who could offer the most insight are dead: just like 3,000 Americans murdered on a beautiful day in September.
-- Terry Brennan

Mr. Corry: We need to do our very best to eliminate the organization that was responsible for the horrifying devastation on Sept. 1, 2001. Their mind set is evil, and it is obvious that negotiating a peaceful co-existence is not possible. Give me liberty, or give me death!
-- Jack Boyer

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Foreign Policy, Bill Clinton, Business, Religion, Islam, Constitution, Law, Military, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, North Korea, Conservatism, Nuclear Weapons, Oil