But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.
Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.
But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:
– Deuteronomy 20:13-16
God has mellowed with age and, perhaps, the chiding of the later prophets. Israel has not smited all the male Palestinians, nor have they killed everything that breathes in the Gaza Strip. And I suppose that represents progress of a kind.
:::flip:::
Israel is certainly powerful enough to solve their terrorism problem by resorting to Biblical forms of warfare. Richard Cohen worries that:
Unfortunately, Cohen sees this as a problem. He attributes it to “smug ignorance” or bad planning. I see the withdrawal from Gaza as a capitulation to terrorism, too. We can only control Arab areas by resorting to Fallujas and Jenins. And razing towns to the ground is not consistent with the values of Americans or Israelis. We have a choice between occupying lands that do not belong to us and paying the price in terrorism, or removing ourselves from those lands and seeing a cessation of violence.
Yes, we need a steady, predictable source of oil and gas. No, we don’t want Saudi Arabia to fall to a bunch of anti-American Sunni fundamentalists. But the present situation in the Middle East is a result of our cynical anti-communist at any cost policies. The present situation is a result of 25 years of blindly pro-settler policy. Sharon’s retreat from Gaza is a small step in the right direction. It’s painful to make concessions to terrorists. Making concessions to terrorists can encourage more terrorism. But sometimes you just have to stop banging your head against a wall and realize you have to reform your ways.
Did we fight for the freedom of Poland and Czechoslovakia only to see the whole Muslim world fall under an even darker cloak of totalitarianism in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and Egypt? Let’s face it: we sacrificed our values in the Muslim world on the altar of petrochemicals. We didn’t do it without good reason. The mission was largely successful, even critical to winning the Cold War. But we have a lot of atoning to do. Invading Mesopotamia based on a pack of lies was hardly a good first step towards setting things right.
Contrary to Pentagon doctrine, we do not need air and naval bases throughout the middle east and central Asia. What we need is friendly and mutually beneficial business relations, and a stable supply of energy. It’s time to rethink our relationships with the Saudis, the Iranians, and Egyptians. It’s time to rethink our forward basing doctrine. And above all, it is time to get serious about alternative energy.
There is no longer any stomach for manifest destiny in the American population. Vietnam weakened our instinct for missionary work, and Iraq has finally killed it. Let us leave Iraq, as Sharon has left Gaza.
Maybe then we can beat our swords into ploughshares. Maybe then we can regain the credibility to fight for human rights and representative government.
