Simplistic Foreign Policy and The Dangers It Brings To The Safety Of A More Perfect Union
April 29th 2009 11:34
“For national leaders, it is sometimes easier to fight than to talk. Impatient cries for total victory are usually more popular than the patient tolerance required of a people whose leaders are seeking peaceful change down the intricate paths of diplomacy.”
~ Harlan Cleveland
~ Harlan Cleveland
In the course of historical events, we are taught about wars in simple terms of good and evil and the ultimate achievement of victory or defeat.
This menatality has passed down from generation to generation with the decisions lying squarely on the Commander and Chief to make the judgement call of protecting American interests.
The game changed on us September 11, 2001 when the realities of a new and chaotic world came to our door step. What were brought to the table were the fear, hate and unnegotiable terror of a faceless enemy.
With no historical precedent in having to deal with terror in the aspect of a global war, the country that I love resorted to her base instincts of self-preservation for the greater good.
This preservation resulted in the average citizen giving up the basic rights of privacy as legislation was passed and rules changed to sharpen the weapons of the “War on Terror”.
The rules of war are always different from those of peace as we allow our freedoms to be trampled on for the greater good. Much like the prison camps Japanese Americans were dragged into during WWII, a class system was built in this nation as Americans of Middle Eastrern decent were profiled as part of the invisble enemy.
Along with the maltreatment of our own citizens, we also gave up a piece of our humanity by allowing what some would call torture of people we deemed as “enemy combatants” on foreign lands and made detainment facilities in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Abu Ghraib, the stuff of pop culture legend.
All in the name of making America safe from fundamentalism that was manifested from a multi-century holy war that began long before the United States declared freedom from British tyranny.
The story of how much safer America has become after 9-11 has been spun back and forth by both sides of the argument. The only physical proof we have on the table is within the fact of the safety of the homeland since the attacks in New York City and Washington D.C.
Safety from foreign attack is a legitimate argument for success, but it doesn’t legitimately tell the whole story of the effectiveness of the War on Terror.
The story will forever be told of how the War on Terror was used as a weapon to settle old scores and build government power from the highest level. Using Bush as a whipping boy helped win national elections from sea to shining sea, but didn’t help resolve the long standing issue of post-Cold War foreign policy strategy.
The enemies to American interests are apparent, calculatingly cold and in mass abundance, but unlike the decades of nation-to-nation war strategy, finding a clear path for winning the war has been an impossibility.
This lack of a strategy is what allowed faulty intelligence to stray us into the misguided conflict in Iraq and is also responsible for us taking our eyes off the ball in the backlash.
The backlash responsible for the deconstruction of the terms used to take shortcuts in the War on Terror is doing nothing to help us get to the end-game.
Diplomacy with groups focused on world destruction in the name of religion will only result in fruitless exercises on the road to nowhere.
The labels or lack there of isn’t the problem in this global conflict…
The problem comes down to the way the world is evolving and finding a way for our society to deal with this new world order.
Pirates, Drug Lords and people we deem as terrorists all thrive in times of conflict and strife. I can think of no better way to breed these things than a world that is slowly descending into a paradox of the have’s and have nots through a global economic crisis.
When the money runs out, people in disparity turn to new ways to earn income and clinging closer to aspects of fundamentalism in religion and government as a means to understand the world collapsing around them.
National interests in foreign lands revolving around dropping bombs and exercises of deeming other cultures as archaic do nothing but breed more of this strife and resentment towards western interests.
This should be the point where I call for a new foreign policy initiative, but our leaders are quickly running out of options in trying to keep pace with a world that is spiraling out of control.
As much as we would like to think, we can embargo terroristic groups and attack their money sources these strategies used in nation-to-nation conflict, but they do nothing with loose networks without clear leadership.
We need to find a point that goes beyond putting a band aid on the problem by simply wiping out Bush wartime policy in only terms of classifying our enemies.
On the same note, we also need to stop screaming about how America is in more danger from a change in leadership and find a way for us to maintain our level of humanity and still protect the homeland.
The strategies of the past may have worked to protect us from further attacks, but that is no reason to go back to practices that only embolden the enemy’s message.
It all comes down to the fact that we’re better than simply being a reactionary society that acts out of fear.
Change and finding our roots of humanity are all good for the cause, but radical change for simple political purpose will only bring danger back to our shores.
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Comment by Anonymous
Also, a lot of people don’t realize the level at which our enemies are organized. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” applies today more than ever. With so many enemies, the ability for them to communicate effectively and rapidly over extended distances, increased accessibility to cutting-edge weaponry, and virtually untraceable global financial schemes, these organizations are more than the terror cells you see on “24.” They operate as consulting firms with inter-factions and divisions of responsibilities, and export there “skills” in ways that are so exhausting to the post-Cold War security systems we have in place.
In respects to the “unlawful” torture...I think it’s sad that desperate times called for desperate measures. But, in no means of defending the “inhumane” acts, there really aren’t any clear-cut laws to regulate torture in the unique scenario present. The current Administration has offered us a chance to do so now by releasing those memos, but at what costs?
Unless we are willing to concede our freedoms and our way of life...Unless we are willing to restrict and regulate enterprise by enforcing guidelines, diplomacy can only serve as a tool for building up a case against our adversaries. Diplomacy will show that we tried to cooperate and respect their wishes, but that, as a superpower, we are unwilling to negotiate our accepted way of life that so many of our citizens, both black and white, man and woman, have fought and died for.
We are a superpower, and for us to concede certain issues to the enemy will only go towards showing our weakness and embolden their mission of defeat and conquest at all costs. They see our way of life and our ideology as a direct and constant threat to the very existence of their culture and way of living. They don't appreciate the dualism of compromise b/c a threat to their way of living will remain.
We are taking the necessary steps to ensure that this problem is unique only to our time in history, and doesn’t move forward. Going into Iraq might have been controversial, but what we are doing there now is an amazingly refreshing change for American approach to post-war efforts. These unmanned aircrafts going into Pakistani and Afghani tribal provinces is unfortunate, but necessary to show the stick. DON’T HARBOUR FUGITIVE TERRORISTS! Counter-terrorism and security efforts need to be beefed up even more on an international level. With a great number of the Islamic and Arabic population between the age of 18-35, now is the time to educate them to the benefits of our way of life, so that they can compare with the perceived perils. Remember, Christianity went through a reformation period that led to the idea of freedom. If we counter terrorism on all fronts, including interaction with Islamic youth, our truth will prevail.
Comment by Khalfani King
Politics and Culture
Khalfani King
Oldies but Goodies From Campaign 08
This is by no means a simple issue but a discussion about a needed new course of direction that has to be brought to the table to cope with the pain the world is going through in this time of crisis.
The points you brought up are important steps as well as everything our current administration is doing now.
The people who want to end our way of life are evolving by the minute and it is the duty of our government to evolve with these groups for the safety of our nation and the rest of the world.
Comment by Eli Miller
This is truly a war unlike anything we've had in our past. There is an extremely large faction with an unfathomably religious radical extremism. Too many words, but needed to try and describe this "enemy."
I agree with both fronts. We need to be strong and use force with those that are the biggest threats. We need to protect ourselves from the immediate threats, but we also need some form of diplomacy. We need to somehow educate these people that killing all those who have different religious and social views is not the way of civilized people. I'll admit that I've had the same thoughts as the terrorists and it's scary. Let's drop some bombs and turn it into glass. Then rationale kicks in. We are human and can think with reason. There must be some way to get through.
Is there a temporary band aid of we won't mess with you if you don't mess with us? Who knows. I do know that as a civilized people, while military action is part of the solution, diplomacy and education need to become a major part as well.