Demons

What do we do about dictators who shut down the freedoms of their nation’s people, who suspend their constitution, particularly if they have the capability of incredible destruction in their region? President Pervez Musharraf fits that description and might have put upcoming elections off by a year.

Is he still our ally? Just what has he done so far to earn that title anyway? Is it that he has not allowed Islamic extremists to take over his country so far? Then perhaps his undemocratic, dictatorial moves are to our benefit, as we try to introduce democratic principles to his neighbors and others in the region. Perhaps his faint attempts to help us, as in his efforts of attacking radicals in the frontier provinces have actually put his regime at greater risk.

He is no ally of ours. He is a self-interested megalomaniac who has his finger on the button that fires nuclear weapons. His extreme stances in opposition of the Islamic radicals are strengthening them just as the United States’ policies in the region have. The moderates in his opposition parties have a better chance of meeting the islamists in the middle, a position that some think is impossible. Demonization creates demons. It does not reduce them. Those who believe that just lost their voice in Pakistan. The fight will be extreme versus extreme and the endgame cannot be peaceful.

So where are we now in the region? In Iraq the U.S. right-wing says that there is progress. Fewer people are being blown up than were being blown up in recent months. The government there is, as far as we can tell, incapable of functioning. Terrorists are being harbored in their northern region slipping across the Turkish border, killing and kidnapping soldiers there. Saudis are pouring into Iraq to fight the infidels, us, and no one decries the fact. The Bush administration, its supporters in the conservative media, and Republican candidates all admit that Iran has a growing influence in Iraq, including, they claim, killing American troops.

Iran, besides growing influence in Iraq, is threatening to have a nuclear program. First we confuse nuclear power with nuclear weapons. There is a connection in processing, but we need to pay attention to the distinction when we analyze statements from Iran. CNN, in January 2006, made a huge mistake confusing the two through translation, which in itself created further tension in Iran. It is important to understand how the Iranian government operates. President Ahmadinejad does not control the military, nor does he control the nuclear program. His predecessor was a moderate who helped the U.S. in the war in Afghanistan. The U.S. turned its back on him and he was replaced by the latest demon in the region, Ahmadinejad. Another factor we ignore is that there is a very cosmopolitan middle and upper middle class in Iran that should be the target of American diplomacy. We should be focused on them like a laser, appealing to them with opportunity, economic development and every chance that we can seek out to help them increase their influence in the home country, which has a rich history of leadership in the region. Ignoring them is a mistake. The more we demonize them, the more demons we create.

Saudi Arabia is another ally that does not practice democratic principles. On top of that, terrorists in Iraq now and those who took down the World Trade Center are mostly from Saudi Arabia. How do we handle that? You can’t bite the hand that feeds you. We need to find another source of energy. I would love to have a solar house that charges my electric car. Why don’t I have those?

Those who supported the Israeli invasion of Lebanon have not been heard from on that subject since its failure, especially since the Israeli report on the Invasion proved that it failed. Not only that, perhaps it inflamed more hatred, created more demons who increasingly feel that Israel is a demon. I support the state of Israel and its survival. I also think that its violent policies have put it into the dangerous situation in which it is today. Sometimes situations get to the point where there is no solution. As with many of these regional situations, the wrong path was taken and the bridges behind have been blown up.

In Afghanistan, we recently honored a true American hero, Navy SEAL Lt. Michael Murphy. The right wing media touted it as a positive story for the Bush administration. Bill O’Reilly of FOX News Channel chastised his competition for not reporting the Medal of Honor ceremony in prime time. He said that they are reporting based on ideological reasons and “not which stories are worthy or an effective business plan.”
He went on to say that his ratings are much higher than theirs at his hour. In other words, he reported on it at least in part for ratings. Despicable. What he failed to understand is that a five-man SEAL team was pinned down by an overwhelming force of local tribal fighters, in 2005, and was unable to call in air support three years after the fall of Kabul. That is definitely not a positive story for the Bush administration. May all those seals and soldiers who were killed that day, including the eight seals and eight soldiers in a helicopter that was heading to their rescue and shot down by an RPG, rest in peace. We will never know what heights Murphy or the others might have reached, a huge tragedy.

If you have read this far, you might have the feeling that the situation from the Middle East to South Asia, and this just scratched the surface, is hopeless. It might be. We have all screwed it up pretty well. What we need now is to learn from history. Violence, demonization, threats and ignorance have brought us here. The world leaders need to put these aside and get busy with a global campaign to dig deep to the core of the problems and work to solve them. Idealistic, sure, but what we’re doing now has brought us to this mess, we need new strategies.