What is most bothersome about the reactions to the attacks in the US is that many leaders who have thus had such greatness thrust upon them, have just as easily cast it from their shoulders, and replaced it with a half-baked, reactionary position that will in the final analysis destroy them.
One such leader is President Bush, who like his father before him, is showing signs of beginning a war without the necessary will or ability to finish it. President Bush Sr. took six months to build a coalition against Iraq, since he was unable to fight that war on his own. During those months, Kuwait burned, and a decade later, it has still not fully been rebuilt. And for all the preparation and coalition building, Bush failed to finish the job.
The war against terrorism is a most necessary war – one that must be fought with all ferocity in all parts of the world. Terrorism is an evil that knows no boundaries, no limitations, and no morality. The attacks in the US prove that it can strike at the very heart of Western society just as easily as it can in the souks of the Middle East or the alleyways of Europe. And just as easily as it can strike anywhere, it must be opposed and defeated everywhere.
The incumbent Bush began his offensive by identifying Osama Bin Laden as his prime target. This despite the lack of overpowering evidence that Bin Laden is responsible for the World Trade Center or Pentagon attacks. Certainly, Bin Laden is a worthy target, having apparently masterminded several of the deadliest attacks against American interests in the past decade.
But I wonder if the motivation of the US in targeting Bin Laden doesn’t have more to do with the fact that after training the man in guerrilla warfare for use against Afghanistan in the 1980s, the Americans watched Bin Laden turn coat and join the Afghan cause, using Afghanistan as a base from which to launch his brand of anti-Americanism.
What Bush has failed to do in the past two weeks is to single out any other terrorist leader or terrorist state as targets of his offensive. Colin Powell’s State Department maintains a list of states that sponsor and sanction terrorism and harbor terrorists as a matter of policy. That list includes three countries in the Middle East, two of which have been approached to one extent or another to join the anti-terror coalition. None have been targeted by Bush’s new war.
In addition to Syria, Iraq, and Iran, the Middle East also contains the organization singly responsible for more terrorism over a longer period of time than anyone else in the world: The PLO. Yet Bush and Colin Powell have been constantly urging Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to meet with Yasser Arafat. That urging has become more intense since the attacks in the US.
That Peres, ever the man of peace, is so willing to meet with Arafat, at once destroying what is left of Israel’s deterrent strength and exploding the anti-terror sentiment that has suddenly gripped the world, should be no surprise. I have long been of the opinion that Peres is more interested in justifying Arafat’s existence than in protecting Israeli interests.
But it should give Israelis reason to be concerned. For years, Israel has suffered the kind of terrorism that Americans couldn’t even begin to imagine. Hundreds have been killed since the Oslo Accord brought us “peace in our time”. Tens of thousands more have been injured. And through it all, the world demanded of us to give more to our killers.
Now, it was hoped that the world better understood Israel’s position. After all, as Binyamin Netanyahu pointed out to this week, the casualty level in the US this month is a drop in the bucket when compared to what Israel has suffered on a per capita basis. Yet, Americans rightly feel horrified, unsafe, shocked, and a whole bevy of other emotions as they begin to realize the true meaning of terrorism.
Yet, Bush-the-son appears to be headed down the same track as his father. He is preparing. He is building coalitions, afraid that even the World Trade Center and the Pentagon do not justify an American-only war against its enemies. He is even having trouble properly defining those enemies. And in the end, he will be unable to finish his war. He will be shooting into a cloud. And no matter how potent his weapons or how fierce his allies, the cloud will remain.
Copyright 2001. Yehuda Poch is a writer living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
