As we approach the fifth anniversary of September 11th, 2001 it seems quite appropriate to evaluate where we, as a country stand with regards to our continued war against those who would annihilate us. As the mid term elections draw near, the hyperbole on both sides of our current Middle East policy increases in the hopes of invigorating their respective political base. Unfortunately, this incitement of the prospective electorate often clouds the reality on the battlefield. For some unseen reason, many in America are unable to connect the activities of Hezbollah, Hamas, Al-Quaida, or the Iraqi conflict.
We often seem preoccupied with the running of our daily lives. We are more concerned with getting to work, taking the kids to school, paying bills, and getting in front of the television set before our favorite evening sitcom begins. Many of us are totally ignorant of the reality in the Middle East. We eagerly accept the views of political operatives that most support our position on issues which we deem important at the time. As a people, we seem to approach global issues with what I call a fast food attitude. What is a fast food attitude, you ask? Put quite simply, we have a short attention span.
I spent the last week running between Kettle Falls, Washington and Turlock, California. As always, I spent a large part of my time listening to the CB radio as truckers argued over many things. A large part of the daily radio repertoire was spent discussing the Middle East. Comments ranged from inane (Bush is an idiot.) to intriguing solutions for the problem.
An overriding aspect of the conversation revealed just how little the average American knows about the Middle East. Many see the Iraqi conflict as separate from the War on Terror. They fail to see the inter-connected actions of Al-Quaida, Hezbollah, and Hamas. They truly don't believe that the Arab community at large has no problem with seeing Israel removed from the Middle Eastern landscape. They also do not realize the duration of time which has elapsed since Islamic Fundamentalists chose to attack us. Many Americans fail to realize that this war began with the kidnapping of our embassy personnel in Iran in 1979.
When we make decisions which will impact our family we tend to base them on the accumulation of facts which will support our decision making process. Why do we fail to do the same for important national issues? Does the turbulent rate of our daily lives prevent us from processing the vast amount of information available to us or, do we simply not care and wish the whole problem would go away? Every American must answer these questions for themselves. As is often the case, some questions lead to other questions.
Do you believe that this war started with the kidnapping of our embassy personnel in Iran during the Carter Administration? Did it continue with the Beirut Marine barracks bombing and kidnappings of the 1980's? What about the 1990's? Do the World Trade Center, Kobar Towers, Africa, and USS Cole ring a bell? If Iraq has nothing to do with the War on Terror, then why did Zarqawi go there from Afghanistan? One thing is for certain, regardless of the political party in power, we have been attacked since the late 1970's. Failing to recognize that these events are intertwined is, in my view, directly responsible for our nation's inability to come to terms with the threat we face.
Another obvious dilemma facing us, is our inability to fully comprehend the ideological aspect of the turmoil in which we currently find ourselves embroiled. Somewhere along the way, our nation has confused a spiritual foundation for the development of law with established religion. In our eagerness to separate church and state, we incorrectly assume that we follow this path of national development with the support of the founding fathers. In order to discover this falsehood, all one needs to do is read the diaries, letters, and essays of the founders. Our founders learned well from the failure of the Puritan theocracy in Massachusetts however, they also realized the social importance of a spiritual base for the development of a viable society.
Our current enemy is fighting an ideological war against us. Their view of us as an evil secularist society colors all that they do. We on the other hand, in an effort to free ourselves from our perceived influence of religion, refuse to accept the fact that a disagreement over the control of spirituality is at the root of our problem with Islamic Fundamentalists. Religious expression is not the enemy of America rather, religious leaders in charge of government are to be feared. With this in mind, all of us should recognize the threat of Islamic Fundamentalism. Be you liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, all should stand together to oppose this threat. A failure to identify the threat represented by the theological continuity of Hamas, Hezbollah, Al-Quaida, and numerous Shiite clerics is akin to hiding your head in the sand. While we need not be overly jingoistic in our response to this threat, we must accurately identify it, develop a plan of action to oppose it and follow the plan through to its completion. Warfare in the abstract has not changed. An enemy must be defeated on the battlefield prior to sitting down at the table to discuss terms. We have yet to bring the battlefield to Islamic Fundamentalists.
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