What have you learned?
In spite of my personal boycott of the 9-11 anniversary—I wish people would ignore the cavemen, stop giving them free publicity and prestige—I find myself remembering Winston Churchill, or was it Harry Truman? One of those two declared, “There is no end to lessons.
Here’s what I have learned from today, five years ago:
Surprise! History did not come to an end with the crumbling of the Berlin Wall. We did not sail off into a golden age of border-free travel, seamless communication and worldwide exchange of culture and goods. What we got instead was another incarnation of utopian extremists, bent this time on, variously, the toppling of middle eastern governments, the downfall of the United States and its henchmen and/or the re-establishment of the Caliphate. Back to the 7th century, in other words. The Bolsheviks aren’t usually very high on my list, but at least they had a program that raised somewhat the living standards of masses of Russians. That you CAN say despite the 60 million victims of Communist ideology. I’m not sure what you can say about Al-Quaeda’s program except that it resembles a death cult.
I am continually amazed at the enduring popularity of fundamentalist and/or extremist positions. There is absolutely no one in the middle now, calling on warring parties to resolve their differences and/or find a third or fourth way. Everyone is in his corner, snarling, fists up, insisting on his maximum demands. President Bush can’t be talked out of military action to solve political problems, Hamas can’t be talked into recognizing Israel and joining the community of nations and the Iranian President can’t seem to refrain, even for one day, from calling for the annihilation of Israel, denying the Holocaust, or committing some other outrage. Has the world gone over to the true believers? I wish we could wrest it back from them somehow. But we would probably have to get violent to do so.
No one can doubt now that it’s virtually impossible to install western-style democracy in a fake state broken by military force--especially when the entity that broke it has a huge, Christian army marching(crusading?) through Muslim streets. I often ask myself how much I would appreciate “democracy” imposed down the barrel of a gun? There’s not too many options in that case. Maybe future administrations will take note, even though they clearly did not in view of Vietnam.
Everyone should beware the law of unintended consequences. Not only did the Bush administration fail to plan for a post-war insurgency in Iraq, even after being warned repeatedly that they would probably have to contend with just that, they unwittingly rekindled one of the oldest conflicts in the Middle East, the Shiite-Sunni rivalry(Don Rumsfeld: "Stuff happens."). In knocking down Saddam, Bush empowered the oppressed Shiite majority and their next-door co-religionists, the Iranians. He also disenfranchised the favored group, the Sunnis, who will likely never accept minority status in a Shiite state. Also, there’s the looming problem of the Kurds, who are all but independent now. Who will stop Turkey or Syria from trying to prevent an independent Kurdish state on their border? Is the Bush defense department ready to defend the Iraqi Kurds? See what a mess we weave when we are so naïve—and/or willfully ignorant. And when we choose war!!
On a less lofty note, hell no, I won’t go—back home for good and stop traveling. I am going to continue to forage far, proclaiming to the world, “don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for the current leadership,” and "I am a proud citizen from…somewhere on the American continent!”
Now, what have YOU learned??
Here’s what I have learned from today, five years ago:
Surprise! History did not come to an end with the crumbling of the Berlin Wall. We did not sail off into a golden age of border-free travel, seamless communication and worldwide exchange of culture and goods. What we got instead was another incarnation of utopian extremists, bent this time on, variously, the toppling of middle eastern governments, the downfall of the United States and its henchmen and/or the re-establishment of the Caliphate. Back to the 7th century, in other words. The Bolsheviks aren’t usually very high on my list, but at least they had a program that raised somewhat the living standards of masses of Russians. That you CAN say despite the 60 million victims of Communist ideology. I’m not sure what you can say about Al-Quaeda’s program except that it resembles a death cult.
I am continually amazed at the enduring popularity of fundamentalist and/or extremist positions. There is absolutely no one in the middle now, calling on warring parties to resolve their differences and/or find a third or fourth way. Everyone is in his corner, snarling, fists up, insisting on his maximum demands. President Bush can’t be talked out of military action to solve political problems, Hamas can’t be talked into recognizing Israel and joining the community of nations and the Iranian President can’t seem to refrain, even for one day, from calling for the annihilation of Israel, denying the Holocaust, or committing some other outrage. Has the world gone over to the true believers? I wish we could wrest it back from them somehow. But we would probably have to get violent to do so.
No one can doubt now that it’s virtually impossible to install western-style democracy in a fake state broken by military force--especially when the entity that broke it has a huge, Christian army marching(crusading?) through Muslim streets. I often ask myself how much I would appreciate “democracy” imposed down the barrel of a gun? There’s not too many options in that case. Maybe future administrations will take note, even though they clearly did not in view of Vietnam.
Everyone should beware the law of unintended consequences. Not only did the Bush administration fail to plan for a post-war insurgency in Iraq, even after being warned repeatedly that they would probably have to contend with just that, they unwittingly rekindled one of the oldest conflicts in the Middle East, the Shiite-Sunni rivalry(Don Rumsfeld: "Stuff happens."). In knocking down Saddam, Bush empowered the oppressed Shiite majority and their next-door co-religionists, the Iranians. He also disenfranchised the favored group, the Sunnis, who will likely never accept minority status in a Shiite state. Also, there’s the looming problem of the Kurds, who are all but independent now. Who will stop Turkey or Syria from trying to prevent an independent Kurdish state on their border? Is the Bush defense department ready to defend the Iraqi Kurds? See what a mess we weave when we are so naïve—and/or willfully ignorant. And when we choose war!!
On a less lofty note, hell no, I won’t go—back home for good and stop traveling. I am going to continue to forage far, proclaiming to the world, “don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for the current leadership,” and "I am a proud citizen from…somewhere on the American continent!”
Now, what have YOU learned??
posted by buckarooskidoo at 6:46 PM
1 Comments:
I want to say that I've learned not to trust my government when it's making lots of noise instead of addressing the real issue. But the again, I thought we'd learned that lesson after Nixon & watergate and numerous deceits since.
Perhaps what I have learned is that we, as a nation, seem to be incapable of learning from history. Which is the most depressing thought I've had in a long time. I pray I'm wrong.
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