Amazing Conclusions
Simply stunning the way that scholars can assemble data, examine them carefully, distilling them into an incontrovertible truth, reaching a triumphant conclusion so truly amazing it makes readers' hair stand on end in shock. The war on terror, we are informed by the London-based Oxford Research Group is an (unmitigated) disaster."Every aspect of the war on terror has been counterproductive in Iraq and Afghanistan, from the loss of civilian life through mass detentions without trial. In short, it has been a disaster" report author Paul Roger concludes pithily. "Western countries simply have to face up to the dangerous mistakes of the past six years and recognize the need for new policies."
He's right. Who in his/her right mind of cogent thought and cognitive consideration would seek to defy that conclusion? It's been a dreadful mess from start to almost-finish, although the finish part is so far into the misty future who can say for sure? That it's been a disaster in terms of anguished humanity is undeniable.
That the ongoing offence-and-defence and cost in countless lives points out more than adequately that each side in this ongoing debacle is convinced they will surmount all difficulties and obstacles to emerge victorious in their determination to vanquish the enemy is also undeniable.
The thing of it is, how do you approach and conclude the rather sensitive problem of someone who has taken a rather strong dislike to your presence in this lifetime making a strenuous effort to remove you from existence? Well, you can always rely on the good intentions inherent in diplomacy and try to talk them out of smudging your grey matter all over the landscape with that bludgeon he's hoisted over your innocent head.
Or you can duck, and hope he'll miss, in which case he'll re-hoist and try again. Or you can try to counter his intentions. With the realization that to protect your life you may, just may have to resort to the unthinkable: defend yourself. The sad truth of the matter appears to my war-untutored mind that sanity-addled, jihad-intent, would-be martyrs feel they have much to gain and nothing to lose by theist-blessed violence.
Dr. Rogers, just incidentally professor of peace studies at the University of Bradford, northern England, clings a stalwart belief in notional go-along-to-get-along. So be nice and no one will seek to harm you. He's sitting pretty there in academia in his office, studiously examining all the texts that abhor the ugly carnage of war, the finality of death, and the Utopian utility of avoidance.
One wonders when might have been the last time he chatted up the likes of fervent al-Qaeda affiliates, or those of Hezbollah, or Hamas, or the Shining Path Guerrillas, let alone that most reasonable, brilliant man of letters, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He might think of the positive impact of a reasonable and worldly discussion were he to fly to Tehran and take up verbal sparring with the president of Iran.
Perhaps he's already done that, and secured a fervid declaration of peace from Mr. Ahmadinejad, on the proviso that Dr. Rogers lend himself to the worthy enterprise of encouraging Israel to agree to remove itself elsewhere other than the geography of the Middle East. Mr. Ahmadinejad's latest recommendation was removal to Canada. Might that be the kind of solution Mr. Rogers would recognize?
He's certainly right with his conclusion that the unnecessary invasion of Iraq resulted in utter chaos, giving jihadists the sublime opportunity to assemble in a unity of purpose to impose a sentence of irreversible banishment from life upon countless thousands of people: foreign soldiers, Sunni and Shia and Christian men, women and children. Had no one thought to point out to Dr. Rogers that this observation is now stale having been hitherto widely acknowledged?
Has he been so busy stuffing his studious head into learned texts that he has been unaware that UN affiliates and NATO forces are well aware of a resurgent Taliban? And of the alliance of support between Taliban and al-Qaeda, and the supportive hill tribes of Afghanistan and Pakistan, all of whom share in some part the violent ideology of hatred and the imperative to deliver carnage where they will?
These are the people with whom the targeted should be speaking in terms of peace and stability? The very country of whom Mr. Rogers cautions that to invade to prevent the hideous future prospect of nuclear arms proficiency and their distribution to delusionally dangerous terror-militias is busily training and arming these very terrorists to impact as heavily as possible upon the combined troops of nations Afghanistan has called upon to assist it.
It sounds so beautifully Utopian; dialogue for peace with Syria and Iran. Advance the stalled Middle East peace process. As though that would be a solution to the savagely righteous dedication to jihad. Helpfully feeding the fable of victory over a submissive and embattled West, encouraging and promoting the revolution toward a global Caliphate.
Thank you so very much, Dr. Paul Rogers. Any other titles due out soon?
Labels: Terrorism, Troublespots, World Crises
posted by Pieface @ Monday, October 08, 2007
<< Home