Now, to think that just because we have not been attacked since 9/11 doesn’t, by any means, indicate that the policies of this government have been effective in prevention. To the contrary, those extreme radical Muslims don’t operate on our time-table, they are and have proven to be very, very patient in their strategy and action. If we think our intervention into Iraq has been effective then we should consider a few things about the history of the policy of intervention in our country. Look at the results of such policies.
If intervention had been a policy that worked then we should have seen it by now. In the last 110 years we [our government] has intervened in over 200 countries around the world. Hell, we have, in one way or another, intervened in the affairs of Iraq for the last 87 years.
It is a policy that has been proven a massive failure that has caused incredible consequences to our country, many of which we have yet to see. That is the problem with such consequences, it takes decades for them to fully be revealed and the damage is already done.
The Islamists attacked us because we have, in their minds, trespassed, threatened, invaded, and oppressed Islam, their lands and their resources. It is just that simple and until we change the way we view the world and adjust our policies to PROTECT AMERICA first and foremost, then this “war on terror” will continue without success and without end. Your children and children’s children will face a far more dangerous world because of our actions in that region then we ever did. If you want to live in a fear-filled fortress nation then that is what you will have to have if we continue without recognizing the reasons behind the attacks of extremist Islam.
For anyone to stand on the conclusion that the invasion of Iraq actually provided us with more safety is totally blind to the reality of such action. Our invasion has only incited more hatred, more animosity and the desire for more, much more revenge. Iraq is now so fragmented and there are so many power-struggles going on between those factions that there is absolutely nothing our presence in that country can do to solve the massive problems that our own actions have created. Additionally, it has provided an open door, not only for Iran, but also for other powers in the region just as virulent as Iran.
Iraq effectively no longer exists. First, the country was artificially constructed by the British at the end of WWI, along with most of the countries in the region. Our invasion has only served to once again fracture those ethnic groups that never got along in the first place. Our invasion has basically scraped away all semblance of “nationhood” and only served to isolate the various groups into their respective desire for a slice of the pie. This so-called surge has been propped up by massive buy-offs and little more. What the surge has allowed is a consolidation of power by the various forces intent on flexing their muscle on a broader scale when the time is right.
Our policies in Afghanistan are just as misdirected as those in Iraq. We have imposed a very frail government in that country, one led by some of the most hated tribal factions in that country: The Pashtun. We have sought to do the same thing there as we have in other countries and yet; we have once again failed to learn from the mistakes of the past in such actions.
Since our attacks on Afghanistan and in particular Iraq, the soap box of al Qaeda has not decreased, but expanded and become even more potent to those Muslims that would have ignored his message prior to our invasions. This government has, from the outset, formed the wrong foreign policy priorities, set mistaken goals and executed those goals in the most incompetent manner possible.
A wise position in every threat situation has always been to completely understand, if possible, the threat and theater of action before acting… the Bush Administration failed on all accounts and has continued it’s failed policies putting all of us at risk. Not only did the Bush Administration fail, but also they failed to utilize almost 30 years of experience in the region to understand the actual threat our men and women would face in both Afghanistan and Iraq. They ignored all the voices of reason from experienced military sources and intelligence sources, sources that had been in the region, especially Afghanistan.
How Islam views us actually matters a great deal. Such views not only provide a potential solution to the threats we face, but it also allows us to counter those views and the actions those views produce. That is the primary principle of military strategy, without it you operate blindly and present no focus to your efforts. In Iraq, if you recall, we began to lose the good will of the Iraqi people the moment one of our tanks tumbled the statue of Saddam and placed an American flag over the face of the statue. It was down hill from that point and this government’s strategy is completely devoid of sustainability without the good will of the population. This Administration failed in its cultural understanding of the theater of action in Iraq, failed to assess the actual situation on the ground, and ignored the signs of such failure. Our policies have been an utter failure, and while Bush can be blamed for a great deal of that failure, he is not the only one in our governments history that has implemented such short-sighted policies.
Of course, it did not help the entire situation that the U.S. government allowed over 30 MAK branches to operate under their noses for years, collecting millions of dollars in donations from the American Muslim community during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
[Get this, even now, our government is providing training, weapons, Intel, finance and support to FATAH, but the problem is that among the members of FATAH are members of the Al Aqsa Martyr Brigade. So, our government, once again, in all its vast wisdom, is training terrorist in counter-terrorism. Amazing, absolutely amazing!]
Now, if we actually look at a time-line of when the ultra-radicalization and indeed the beginning of attacks against U.S. targets, we will find that there is a very direct correlation between our introduction of troops stationed in and around the Arabian Peninsula and those attacks. Yes, there were sporadic attacks prior to this period, but primarily by those who had Palestinian connections. If you recall, the majority of the Arab world was pleased that we intervened in the case of Kuwait however; it was that intervention that opened the door for the U.S. to pursue a very different policy in the region.
That policy, perhaps all along, was to establish a strong presence in the region and in Central Asia. Whatever the reasons behind the implementation of that policy it consolidated several factions of Islamic fundamentalists who had felt completely powerless against everyone from the Soviets in Afghanistan, to Israel, to the U.S., into a force with a common goal, a common focus and a common enemy. That enemy was none other then the most conspicuous threat to Islam that they saw: The United States of America.
The U.S. policy that engaged the establishment of those bases in the region not only provided a focal point for decades of rage, but it became the collective focus of Islamic hatred. While there was a definite push toward radicalization due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, it was the establishment of U.S. military bases that actually provided the radicals with the impetus to form and execute their radical ideals in the region and then around the world. At one time, the Mujahidin movement was relatively restricted to Afghanistan, but soon, with the new focus of perceived U.S. aggression in the region, that movement spread to Bosnia, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and now, thanks to our poorly executed invasion: Iraq. It continues to spread because the perceived threat remains.
The current collective Islamophobia blinds us to a very important reality about why they despise the U.S. and why they will continue to attack us.
Not only is interventionism causing the United States untold danger, but that danger will only continue to rise as we continue down this path of blindness.
You want to be safe, your want your children and children’s children to be safe? The wake up to what this government is doing? We must stop this insane policy of selling arms to nations on both sides of conflicts, sending massive amounts of foreign aid to nations on both sides of conflicts, signing treaties with nations on both sides of conflicts and intervening in areas, nations, regions that don’t pose a very direct and very imminent threat to this country. We must put AMERICA FIRST once again; we must put THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA FIRST and stop the idiocy of thinking that we are the social worker and policeman to the world. If not, then we will face the same fate as other nations who followed the same policies in the past!
2008 Locke, all rights reserved.