Dr. Forbush Thinks

Occasionally it is important to review where we have been in order to determine better where we should go. I thought that I might try to take a step back and look at what has come to be called the “War on Terror.”

Terror, as most of us know is a tactic used to sway public opinion. The idea is to make people fear for their lives and in that fear they will do what the terrorists desire. So, in order to understand this fight we need to know what the terrorists want us to do, so that we are sure not to give into the terrorist’s wishes.

After 9/11/2001 when we suffered that major attack people began to ask this question. Who are these terrorists? What do they want? Why would they do this?

At the time George W Bush and the Republicans told us that it was a weak thing to try and understand the terrorists. Don’t try to understand them, because you are either with us or with the terrorists. We were told that we should go out and go shopping. We were told that we should shop for duct tape and plastic to seal up our windows - just in case.

But, this reaction seems to show that the terrorists actually won the first round. They made us fearful. They especially made our leaders fearful by reacting with such strange recommendations. But, our leaders also knew that such a devastating attack needed a response, in order for that national catharsis to kick in. Beating the shit out of someone always makes you feel better after someone kicks the shit out of you. So, since the Taliban in Afghanistan seemed to be complicit in giving shelter to these guys they seemed to be the likely target. But, since Afghanistan doesn’t actually have anything that we want, we decided to kick them out of power and leave. Well, actually we left a few guys behind to play hide-and-seek with Osama bin Laden.

After getting rid of the regime that allowed al Qaeda to train their members in the art of terrorism, could we declare a victory against “Terror?” Fearlessness 1 - Terror 1 should be written on a scoreboard somewhere, right?

Since we were told not to worry about the details, we didn’t. Americans are like that. It is much easier to not care, not worry and go shopping, like we were told.

We should have known this, but most Americans don’t spend that much time paying attention to world affairs. It turns out that we actually funded to Taliban in the past. We gave them money when the Soviet Union was occupying Afghanistan. We actually did this in an indirect way. We gave the money to Pakistan, and the Pakistanis gave the money to the rebel groups that we liked. We liked the Taliban because they were religious. After all, the Soviets were atheists, that meant that fighting them with religious zealots was a good fit, right?

The problem as we all know is that when the Soviets left Afghanistan there was a huge vacuum of leadership. Chaos ensued for months, and the people were happy when finally a disciplined group like the Taliban took over and quelled the melee. Many Afghanis believed that the Americans desired the Taliban, after all they were funded by the Americans for so many years. Many Afghanis are confused by the whole situation, because now after the Americans have kicked the Taliban out of government they have come back again as a rebel force once again sponsored by Pakistan. Some even believe that the Americans are once again giving money to Pakistan to pay these guys.

The reality of the situation in Afghanistan is not exactly what we thought that it might be. We thought that we were creating a democracy in Afghanistan, and all of their problems would be solved. But, what happened in Afghanistan was not the creation of a democracy. Instead Afghanistan is now a country of War Lords. Laws that are disliked are ignored. Not only rules are created by these warlords. The strength and power of the War Lord is the most important consideration. Bribes are paid to the warlords and they have created their own personal armies. It would be hard to declare that this situation was much better than the situation with the Taliban in control.

Iraq under Saddam Hussein and Afghanistan under the Taliban had almost nothing in common with each other. The Taliban was a religious group, and Saddam Hussein was a non-religious secular ruler. The Taliban invited terrorists to hang out on the back forty. Saddam Hussein felt that the terrorists were a threat to his power and he avoided them. But, for whatever reasons George W Bush decide that attacking Iraq was the next logical step in his War on Terror. Once Saddam Hussein was deposed and chaos ensued, terrorists from all over the Middle East were attracted to Iraq for the opportunity to hone their terrorist skills. As has been reported the conflict in Iraq has done more to fuel the hatred of the United States than to reduce the numbers of terrorists.

How could this be? We put American troops as bait in the Middle of an uncontrolled country. Terrorists are generally drawn to failed states and those on the verge of failure. So, the terrorists have come from all over the Middle East in order to hurry the process along. Since terror is the technique desired to sway the popular opinion with fear, we still need to ask the question - What do these terrorists want? When we discover that they are spreading fear of chaos through this country so that they will accept any kind of order when things calm down. It looks like the terrorists have scored another point.

George Bush's denial is so pre-November 2006! I think the country already realizes this. (At least the majority.) So, why does George Bush think that the major point of conflict in this war is in Iraq? If he doesn't then why is he spending over 90% of our blood and treasure in Iraq? The BBC announced yesterday that al Qaeda has successfully won control of the strongest militia in Somalia. If al Qaeda is the enemy, then why are we allowing them to establish their own militia? Do we even have any troops fighting them in Somalia? Then, there is Afghanistan. Why do we have so few troops fighting the rising Taliban, the group that allowed al Qaeda to build in strength enough to attack us? To think that Iraq's civil war is the most important part of the War on Terror is being in denial.

I think that the point here isn’t that the Bush administration is doing it all wrong. Most of us agree that he is doing it all wrong. But, the point instead is what issues need to be addressed that are currently too far down on the Bush administration agenda. Failed states like Somalia gives safe havens for those who would do us harm. This isn't a new idea. The US had fought the pirates of the Caribbean and the African coast for many years. And, there are still pirates that occupy these places.

Obviously the agenda needs to be rearranged. If you think about this for one minute one certainly needs to realize that pouring a ton of blood and treasure into one spot on Earth that currently harbors terrorists is never going to solve the problem. The situation is playing out in microcosm in Iraq itself. US troops secure an Iraqi city and free it from anyone that wishes to disrupt the process. The city is calm and the US troops move on to the next hot spot. What happens? Of course, the terrorists go back to the city. Just like the US troops can’t be in every Iraqi city all the time; the US troops can not be occupiers of every Middle East country at the same time either.

So, instead of spending over a trillion dollars on the Iraq War, wouldn’t it make more sense to spend the money on port security, airplane security, and border security? A trillion dollars here could lead much further toward our goal, a victory in the War on Terror. That is, preventing the terrorists from making us fearful of their actions. If we need to help governments take a stand against terrorists, shouldn’t we help the weakest governments to most, and concentrate on the potential failed states the most? Shouldn’t these actions be reflected in the amount of money spent on these problem places? And, even though Somalia does not seem to be high on the administration’s agenda, shouldn’t we make sure that we encourage stability in this country? We know that instability breeds the conditions for terrorism, witnessed in Iraq.






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Don't forget what Stephen Colbert said, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."


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