Since I am so effectively cut off from contact with the real world, I can't offer the tidbits of current information based on contact with actual people, or reporting on events.
What I feel I must put out there is some kind of context. It may be abstract, but it does offer a framework for talking about the issues that we are all concerned about; a framework not offered in the MSM or the usual sources.
What I am really after here is feedback. Not the "Great Post, David" variety of feel-good comments (though they are, of course, welcome), but suggestions, criticism, things to add, things to leave out. The stuff that normal people get from talking to friends and colleagues, but that's never been available to me, even when I worked in a so-called real office.
I know that nothing here is original, especially to the people who are likely to read this on Koz. I hope that it sums up and organizes what we'd like to get out to the general population, and if I get enough useful criticism, that may be the next step.
That, or posting it on some Republican blog, and watching the lovely howls . . .
The Real War on Terror
What the Bush administration calls the "War on Terror" is not a war and is not on terror. Terror is a tactic, not an ideology. What Bush is trying to accomplish is not to ensure the safety and security of the American people, but to continue a perpetual conflict that will never end, but which can be used to frighten the American people into accepting his unconstitutional usurpation of power and abuse of constitutional rights.
In fact, what we are facing is the threat of attacks and death from those who have been convinced that their intolerant interpretation of Islam mandates that they kill infidels, sometimes in the process killing themselves.
It has been well established that the number of people active in this campaign is extremely limited. They get support, however, from a large and – because of the actions of the Bush administration – growing segment of the world’s Muslim population. This support is not, however, automatic or guaranteed. Most Muslims are willing to be tolerant, just as are most Christians, of those who do not agree with their interpretations of their religion. The more they are trapped in grinding poverty under oppressive, dictatorial regimes supported by the United States, the more likely it is that they will come to join the jihad against the West.
So what to do?
The basic strategy has these components.
- Find, kill, or capture those who have actually attacked America, its citizens, and its interests. Not those who we may not like, but who have not directly attacked us. This, and only this, will be the role of the military.
a. Of course protect our borders.
b. Realize that building networks of trust are far more effective in keep us protected than building walls.
- Find, secure, and divert to peaceful uses nuclear materials in the Soviet Union and elsewhere. The same with other materials for other weapons of mass destruction. This must be done carefully, however, in accordance with the other elements of our strategy below.
a. This is the real challenge to our intelligence services.
- Believe in the basic principles of human rights, rule of law, and civil society on which our country was founded; speak and act according to those beliefs. Violating our core principles in the name of protecting freedom is not just hypocritical; it’s counterproductive.
- Support both political freedoms and economic justice. This is true at home as well as abroad (Actually, foreign and domestic policy in all these strategic goals are inextricably intertwined). Expedient compromises of principle have a way of eventually biting us on the ass.
a. Part of this message is the idea that tribal/ethnic/sectarian identity has nothing to do with stable or legitimate government. This legacy of Woodrow Wilson was viable in the post WWI and WWII era of anti-colonialism, but is outmoded and counter to our real principles.
b. Have the common sense and grace to let people free themselves without our intervention and control. Only such progress will be sustainable, viable, and real.
- Promote these ideas through the promotion of educational programs and materials that teach our beliefs honestly.
a. Replace the Wahabi/Salafi teaching materials published in Saudi Arabia that teach millions of Muslim children that it is their duty to kill non-Muslims, with materials that teach the message of peace and brotherhood that unites all mankind.
b. Focus international information and academic exchange programs on the development of educational infrastructures in all countries.
i. We can’t focus on everything; trying to do so ensures that we focus on – and accomplish – nothing.
ii. Free, universal public education was an essential factor in the development, freedom, and prosperity of the United States; it is a privilege that should be shared. When other countries are more prosperous and free, so are we.
c. Make basic principles of modern economics – and by that we no NOT mean the greedy, mean-spirited poison corporations market as unlimited free enterprise, which has nothing to do with either enterprise or freedom – available to everyone in the world. Again, as with science, this is a program that begins at home.
The real question is, why are these strategic goals so hard for our political and media leaders to envision and accept? All we are talking about is being American. When we don’t act like Americans, we not only degrade our heritage and ourselves; we damage our own security and wealth.
The real problem is that the American people have been ill served by our government, our politicians, our media, and our schools. They have been taught that aggressive toughness intimidates our enemies. They have been taught that unlimited greed and a winner-take-all economy automatically benefits everyone. They have been taught that science and reason are their enemies instead of their benefactors. They have been taught that cooperation, listening, and learning are evidence of weakness instead of strength.
We have been systematically and pervasively lied to. Until the basic assumptions that have done so much harm and directly and repeatedly and openly attacked in the major media, in the public forums, in the schools and movies and debates and so much more – until those who run these formers of the public consciousness are themselves educated or replaced – we are in trouble, and we will remain under threat of death from those who are really acting against their own interests.
As are we.