Some excellent points have been made here this evening.
Perhaps terrorists DO like to kill. I mean, given a choice between being a subject of a crappy little country, being beaten and tortured occasionally by the secret police, being poor, and so on… and running around with a rifle and a bandanna over my head… well, the choice seems pretty clear.
I’m astonished that no one has brought up the major bugaboo between us and the Arab world, though – our support of Israel.
Historically, the Arab world has been a mishmash of nation-states. They didn’t even bother with borders, for the most part, until the British imposed them on them during their last big spate of colonialism. And you’ll notice the British got the hell out when they could; it took a guy like Lawrence Of Arabia to deal with the Arabs. And you’ll also notice that Larry did it on the ARABS’ terms.
They fought a lot. Hell, they still fight a lot. Rivalry and blood feuds are part of the culture. This does not change the fact that, ethnically, they are Arabs, and just because Ahmed and Abdul are kicking the shit out of each other, that doesn’t mean either will be particularly happy to see Uncle Sam show up and break up the fight.
Shodan makes a good point, though. The Kuwaitis were deliriously happy to see us after Saddam marched in there. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
The UN whipped Israel up as an act of legislative fiat right after WWII. They decided to put it right in the middle of all these Arabs, though. And there, all the hassles began.
The Palestinians, who were there before the kibbutzes got put in, weren’t happy. Admittedly, if the Israelis HADN’T moved in, they’d still be there, the poor country cousins of the Arab world, still being looked down upon and occasionally beat up by the Saudis, the Jordanians, and so forth. (It’s worth noting that the Saudis have enough room and enough cash to simply CREATE New Palestine, right there in Saudi territory. For all that they bleed for the Palestinians, they sure don’t seem real anxious to do that.)
…but the Jews moved in, and the Arabs promptly attacked them. In force. And the Jews promptly sent them home with a collective assful of buckshot (try any search engine, using the terms SIX DAY WAR, YOM KIPPUR WAR, and so on).
Now, this bugs the shit out of the Arabs to this day. NO WAY could a buncha ragtag (insert Jewish plural slur of your choice here) have beat up the Faithful of several countries. Plainly, it must be due to the backing of the evil United States and the western-controlled UN!
…and this is a line that continues to the present day. P.J. O’Rourke tells a story about how a Beirut taxi driver lectured him on American foreign policy – “You know, most of the taxes you pay go to Israel, eighty percent.”
Why not? The smarter Arab leaders finally figured out that Israel wasn’t going to go anywhere, and made it a matter of national policy to hate Israel… and, by proxy, those evil Western infidels who buy them all those jets and bombs and provide the supports that are obviously the only thing keeping Israel from blowing up and burning to ashes, spontaneously, from its own rotten evil insidiousness.
George Orwell made an excellent point: if you want to distract your people from their troubles or from the issues, create someone or something for them to HATE. Hitler made an art out of it.
And today, the leaders of several Middle Eastern nations have done it so well, it cost Anwar Sadat his life, and has spawned a new generation of crazy homicidal maniacs. After all, when you have a young man who’s got very little to lose… and has been raised to hate Israel and the United States… and, hell, SOME folks over there even offer to give your family MONEY if you blow yourself up especially STYLISHLY… well… why NOT?
Kind of like homicidal Goth posers, you know?
Yes, I’m being facetious, but not by much. Only over the past couple of years has Saudi Arabia cooled it a bit about how evil and rotten us Americans are for propping up evil, rotten Israel… the fact that most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi (as is Bin Laden), I suspect, has rather disturbed the royal family, and while they find us useful as a bugaboo for their own people, they aren’t anxious to alienate us. We run their oil industry, for one thing.
The Syrians, though, from what I understand, are utterly rabid about it, and the Jordanians aren’t much milder.
THIS is what cost a bunkerful of American marines their lives in Beirut. “Americans = EVIL!” It’s taken for granted over there, for the most part. Nearly every Arab I have ever met has been kind of surprised, after getting to know some Americans, to discover that we aren’t a berserk, Jew-worshipping merry band of pornographers, rapists, and so forth who routinely hold car chases and shootouts with our own police…
…but y’know what? They can’t all come over here and chat with us, or attend barbecues with us.
All they have is their own state-run media, and word of mouth. And they have had a LONG time to stew in their hatreds. And there are any number of people who know quite well that a judicious combination of religion… hatred… and fervor… can equal a lot of political power, right quickly. I very much suspect that THIS is what Osama Bin Laden is really all about. Why be a successful international businessman… when you could, with a little time and effort, maybe own something… MORE?