Son of Timatollah

Former national security advisor (to Jimmy Carter) Zbigniew Brzezinski has this to say (in the Washington Post, reg. req.?) about the so-called "War on Terror:"

The "war on terror" has created a culture of fear in America. The Bush administration's elevation of these three words into a national mantra since the horrific events of 9/11 has had a pernicious impact on American democracy, on America's psyche and on U.S. standing in the world. Using this phrase has actually undermined our ability to effectively confront the real challenges we face from fanatics who may use terrorism against us.

The damage these three words have done—a classic self-inflicted wound—is infinitely greater than any wild dreams entertained by the fanatical perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks when they were plotting against us in distant Afghan caves. The phrase itself is meaningless. It defines neither a geographic context nor our presumed enemies. Terrorism is not an enemy but a technique of warfare—political intimidation through the killing of unarmed non-combatants.

But the little secret here may be that the vagueness of the phrase was deliberately (or instinctively) calculated by its sponsors. Constant reference to a "war on terror" did accomplish one major objective: It stimulated the emergence of a culture of fear. Fear obscures reason, intensifies emotions and makes it easier for demagogic politicians to mobilize the public on behalf of the policies they want to pursue. The war of choice in Iraq could never have gained the congressional support it got without the psychological linkage between the shock of 9/11 and the postulated existence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Support for President Bush in the 2004 elections was also mobilized in part by the notion that "a nation at war" does not change its commander in chief in midstream. The sense of a pervasive but otherwise imprecise danger was thus channeled in a politically expedient direction by the mobilizing appeal of being "at war."

[...]

The events of 9/11 could have resulted in a truly global solidarity against extremism and terrorism. A global alliance of moderates, including Muslim ones, engaged in a deliberate campaign both to extirpate the specific terrorist networks and to terminate the political conflicts that spawn terrorism would have been more productive than a demagogically proclaimed and largely solitary U.S. "war on terror" against "Islamo-fascism." Only a confidently determined and reasonable America can promote genuine international security which then leaves no political space for terrorism.

Where is the U.S. leader ready to say, "Enough of this hysteria, stop this paranoia"? Even in the face of future terrorist attacks, the likelihood of which cannot be denied, let us show some sense. Let us be true to our traditions.

Clearly, there's more, and I suggest reading the whole thing.

It's not that Brzezinski has a 1.000 batting average on these things: He was part of the Carter team that screwed up the US response to the Iranian revolution, but he was also part of the Carter team that got the response to Soviet aggression in Europe right, a policy of putting new US missles into Europe that was later implemented by Reagan much to the consternation of phony peaceniks worldwide. Compare with the G. W. Bush team which has done little right in the security arena since the initial invasion of Afghanistan post 9/11.

Labels: islamofacism, middle east, security, war

Whatever you feel about the Iraq war—doomed from the start or a horrible betrayal by executive incompetence—Islamism, Islamic fascism, Islamic militancy, Muslim terrorism—whatever you want to call it—remains a real threat. To pretend that there is no threat, no forces that want me destroyed, that would remove your head with a dull blade, that want to put into place a religious totalitarianism that would make the Inquisition look tame, is head-in-the-sand ostrichism.

That is not, of course or by any means, to say something nuts like "Kill All Muslims." It is not to characterize all believers of Islam as being less than individuals. It is, however, to say that each and every one of us should stand up to Islamic militants and say, "No, I would rather kill those who want me dead before I live under those conditions." Not very pretty in turn-the-other-cheek or don't-get-attached ethical frameworks, but those have to be tempered by the reality of living in a world where cohorts of extreme religious individuals want to kill those who subscribe to "live and let live."

Yes, America and our governments have made mistakes that have acerbated the situation. Not being able to secure Iraq after overthrowing the Saddam government is a good example. But what Islamofacists believe is not determined by the behavior of the US government: It's a collection of choices by individuals around the world that are almost exclusively about their own religious beliefs and their participation in a religious community that is pathological in its lack of tolerance for other religious beliefs, for other social contexts.

In the ideal, our willingness at least to identify accurately those who would kill us for not believing what they insist we believe, lest we be labeled infidels, will be sufficient to save ourselves from those who would prefer we be poofed out of existence, if not by God behaving according to their rules, then by a nuclear device of their own making. But since some of those who believe that we are anathema to life itself insist on seeking those nuclear devices, we have to recognize that stronger measures might be required beyond "please, don't hurt me." Pretending that Islamist-controlled governments are the functional equivalent of the National Organization of Women or believing that the U.S. Government is just as bad as the Sadr militia will not do the trick. Bush may be a mess, a clown, a total loss as President of the USA, but I'm not convinced he wants to kill the unbelievers, the others, the way either the Shia extremists or the Baathist facists do. Wishful thinking along those lines is fun and games until someone—or your your country or your culture—departs the face of this Earth for good.

Labels: islamism, islamofacism