It’s sovereignty violatin’ time.
As we mount our new full-scale war on terrorism, America needs need to strike with one hand while shaking hands with the other. We musn’t squander the sympathy and support pouring onto us from the rest of the world by arrogantly blundering about like a rampaging 800 pound gorilla.
An overarching worldwide coalition must underly any effort of the U.S. and its allies in any military operations targeting terrorist groups in foreign countries. Critical is securing cooperation and support from the governments and/or democratic opposition movements, plus the neighbors, of whichever countries into which our forces foray. Those governments or factions encountered who do not cooperate must be confronted, not with the jar-headed face of American military power, but by their countrymen and/or neighbors who are on the side of justice as defined by the whole world, not just America. In other words, you fight bad muslims with good muslims.
Otherwise we run the risk of the operation being portrayed as the Great Struggle between the Islamic world the the “Crusader-Jewish”–to borrow Osama bin Laden’s term for the Gulf War coalition–invasion. How to pick up the political pieces after we sweep through Afghanistan (Sudan? Iraq? Libya?) is at least as challenging as the actual uprooting of the terrorist networks. We should support whichever faction of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance that is the most democratically inclined and help them replace that criminal regime with a government can is be a responsible member of the International Community.
Pakistan, it appears, has offered to cooperate fully. This is critical. If we can win over that Islamic nation, with its nuclear-armed military regime and its sizable pro-Taliban segment, we can win over anybody. After all this is over, it would be desirable to see power in Pakistan transferred to civilian democratic rule so that a new zone of democratic nations can be created in Southern Asia where a seething couldron of anti-Western Islamic radicalism might otherwise have flourished.
Muslims everywhere appear eager to distance themselves from the perpretation of this tragedy. Iran plays a key role, and there have been gestures of sympathy from there, so perhaps the prevailing sentiment will somehow enable moderate president Khatami to prevail over the hard-line Islamic Council.
A full-scale invasion of Iraq is something that must be contemplated if a successful war on terrorism is to be undertaken and especially if a link is found between Sadaam Hussein’s regime and Tuesday’s attack. If this is the case, then the situation between the Shiites in the south, the Kurds in the north, and the mainstream Iraqi opposition–the one that the earlier Bush administration avoided–must be resolved. A stable, democratic government in Iraq is a must.
As always, the Israel-Palestinian dispute is central to the larger issue. The Palestinians lose a lot of points as a result of the reports of them celebrating in the streets over the attacks. If this situation could somehow be utilised to convince the Palestinians that the cause of violence is no longer viable and to accept somthing along the lines of the Mubrak peace proposal (and if Sharon could convinced to re-offer it) it would be the critical breakthrough, but I’m not holding my breath.
The more cooperation there is from all levels of Middle Eastern society in the War on Terrorism, the less bloodshed there will be. But the way to sustain this fragile pro-US attitude is to appeal to a higher cause than American vengance, and that is democracy. Open, democratic societies may have a certain vulnerabily to terrorist attacks, but sophisticated terrorist networks cannot survive in a situation where there’s nothing but democracy and rule of law.
My annoyance over increasing American isolationism had been matched only by my concern over emerging anti-US coalitions. North Korea and Russia, Russia and China, China and Pakistan and Iran, these relationships appear to have been aimed at countering U.S. influence, but there’s a whole new global situation now. In order for the U.S. to avoid squandering this opportunity for increased international unity, we need to act more like a team player and less like a primma donna.
We should ratify the Rome treaty calling for the creation of a permanant international war crimes court. This experience has shown that the threat is not from international organizations which somehow undermine our sovereignty, but from forces which can hide behind other nations sovereignty. 5000 civilians are killed and we’re worried that one of our soldiers might get sued?
Let us ensure that the better angels of nature accompany us in out upcoming actions. Beyond pursuing vengenace and rooting out terrorism, the underlying theme must be promoting democracy, global unity , and respect for human rights. Terrorism thrives in dictatorships and power vacuums like bacteria in dead flesh. We can treat the symptoms, but surgical strikes can still leave surgical scars. We need to help restore certain parts of the world to overall health.