I’m in a lousy mood, so maybe now is not the best time to reflect on the state of the world. But what the hell?
Several people have written diaries blaming Bush and/or Blair for the tragic loss of life in London today. And, it’s true, their post-9/11 policies have made such attacks more likely, rather than less likely. I don’t know if these attacks were carried out by Muslim extremists, or not. But the motivation of Muslim extremists to kill American and British citizens did not start with Bush and Blair.
:::flip:::
There is a long history dating back to Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt, the colonization of the larger region, Roosevelt’s deal with the Sauds, the creation of Israel, the 1953 coup in Iran, the decision to arm Israel in the 1973 war, our instigation of the Soviet-Afghan war, Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, our decision to side with Saddam in the Iran-Iraq war, our decision to kick Saddam out of Kuwait, and our subsequent containment policy of Iraq.
When the United States entered World War One, we did so using rhetoric about making the world safe for democracy. And we did help to end the Hohenzollern and Hapsburgs monarchies.
When fascism arose in their place, we smashed that ideology and helped create a new, tolerant, and peaceful Western Europe. We then went about bringing those blessings to Eastern Europe.
But, in the process, we did little to nothing to make the world safe for democracy in other regions of the world. Whether it was the Indonesia, Angola, Vietnam, the Philippines, or elsewhere, we put anti-communism ahead of self-determination, civil rights, and representative government.
A fair accounting of America’s net effect on the rest of the world has to take into account the good as well as the bad. Too often, we harp on the negative, too often the right refuses to see the negative. But, we have to look at the negative in order to understand why people are going to such great lengths to kill us.
The reasons are complex. And there is a tremendous amount of blame on the terrorists’ side. It’s one thing to resent our policies, it’s another to hate equality for women, or to kill people for drinking alcohol, or to kill your sister for being raped. Too many people in the Islamic world are attracted to a very anti-modern ideology that encourages people to feel threatened by western, or even global culture. We share some blame for this, because we and the Saudis financed and encouraged a lot of this ideology. But no amount of money could turn Europeans into the Taliban. It’s not all our fault that there is so much sexism, religious bigotry, and violence in the Middle East.
Sometimes the left acts as though it’s perfectly okay for there to be governments in the Muslim world that are horribly oppressive. It’s their country and their culture, some say. It may not be our place to dictate how other countries are governed, but the average Iranian, or Saudi, doesn’t want to live in such a religiously stifling culture. They want civil rights, they want freedom of expression. They may want a little less of it than we do. They may be happy to outlaw or restrict non-Islamic faiths, for example. They may think women should be modestly dressed. But they don’t want to ruled by Mullahs and Princes that are incredibly hypocritical and corrupt.
Too often, we engage in simplistic, all or nothing rhetoric when we talk about the Middle East. Things are not so simple. The average Iraqi citizen may have been better off under Saddam than they will be under a government run by very conservative Shi’ites. If that citizen is a woman that likes fashion, or is career oriented, she may find the new government stifling.
On the other hand, if that citizen is a religious Shi’ite, they will enjoy being able to visit and worship their Holy Sites in Najaf and Karbala. They will see new career opportunities and new freedoms.
What Americans and Brits need to understand, is that we have built up a reservoir of ill-will and mistrust over a long period of time. And, even today we are largely continuing a policy that is aimed at assuring a steady flow of inexpensive oil and gas to the global market. And we want that oil and gas to be in the control of Western corporations, not the Russians or Chinese. That’s our policy. It’s bi-partisan, and it’s British and American.
We all benefit from an uninterrupted supply of oil and gas. Any leader who allowed a major disruption that caused massive loss of jobs and wealth (as happened in the 1970’s), would be rightfully blamed by their citizenry.
So, what is the solution? Or, at least, a realistic short-term solution in our current political environment?
To my mind, we need to find alternative sources of energy. We cannot continue to rely on Middle Eastern oil and gas because it brings our values into an irreconcilable conflict. We want and expect a good standard of living. We want our leaders to guarantee that, to the best of their ability. But we don’t want to contribute to the oppression, and subjugation of the Muslim world in order to accomplish the job.
This essay could go on forever, so I’ll wrap it up, for now.
We need a populist movement that demands that we get to work on alternative energy for cars, planes, heating, etc. Let the oil-rich nations of the world work out their difficulties and get more benefit from their resources. And let us figure out a way forward that doesn’t require that our military is stationed in over 100 nations, poised to intervene wherever energy stability is threatened.
Above all, let’s start being honest with ourselves about our history, our enemies, and the limitations on how much we are willing to give up without resorting to violence to regain it.
