Are we preparing for war or playing politics?

SJ Mercury News ^ | 12/11/02 | Thomas Friedman - NYT

[NormsRevenge]

Are we preparing for war or playing politics?

By Thomas L. Friedman

I am worried. And you should be, too.

I am not against war in Iraq, if need be, but I am against going to war without preparing the ground in America, in the region and in the world at large to deal with the blowback any U.S. invasion will produce.

But I see few signs that President Bush is making those preparations. The Bush team's whole approach was best summed up by a friend of mine: ``We're at war -- let's party.'' We're at war -- let's not ask the American people to do anything hard.

This can't go on. We are at war. We are at war with a cruel, militant strain of Islam, led by Al-Qaida, we are at war with a rising tide of global anti-Americanism, and we will probably soon be at war to disarm Iraq. There is no way we are going to win such a multi-dimensional conflict without sacrifices and radically new thinking.

[joesnuffy]

Saudi Arabia- Urinating Down Our Backs, And Telling US It’s Raining
By Lowell Phillips
Dec. 11, 2002

I’m a realist when it comes to foreign policy and as such have developed a certain tolerance for the distasteful deeds and repugnant characters necessary to insure our national security. This doesn’t,
however, mean that I relish thinking about them or kid myself into believing the tasks are pleasant or that the people are noble. But when they feign morality, spout indignantly and castigate the United
States from the gutter in which they dwell, cold rationalizations are a bit difficult to maintain.

We all know why it is we continued to deal with Saudi Arabia, and it is not because of any benevolent, peace loving ways. Their archaic nation sits atop an ocean of oil, and for the time being the global
economy is dependant on that subterranean opiate. No one with a grasp on reality is under any illusions that they are our allies in the classic sense of the word or that they are now, or have at anytime,
been interested in fighting terrorism directed at the west. Moreover, if there is anything that is known about Islamic terrorism, it’s that it flows from Saudi Arabia as freely as oil. This is why the recent
“poor little me” Saudi press conference has even we realpolitikers fuming and reaching for a vomit bag.

In a condescending tone that made Tom Daschle seem like a rank amateur (no simple feat), the foreign policy adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah, Adel al-Jubeir, took to the podium to decry the portrayal of
his country as “the breeding ground for terrorists.” Although the term has no doubt been applied, this isn’t actually what we believe. Unlike his own nation’s depiction of Jews and Christians, we reject
labeling people as being born bad. No, they are not bred there, they‘re manufactured with the full knowledge and backing of the Saudi Royal Family.


He complained, “Our faith has been maligned in ways that I did not expect Americans to ever do”. Really? It looks more to me like citizens of the United States have fallen all over themselves to appear
“nonjudgmental”, avoided taking reasonable precautions lest they be condemned for “profiling”, and accused each other of “hate crimes” at the mere utterance of an off-color remark or generalized
statement. Maybe I’m confused. Perhaps he expected Islam to be denigrated here in a manner more familiar to him. Perhaps he expected followers of the Qur'an, attempting to spread the word, to be
imprisoned as the believers in the Christian Bible are in his own country. Or maybe he expected the crescent moon and star, the recognized symbol of the faith of Islam, to be outlawed as Saudi’s have
done with the Star of David.

He called it “unfair” that we should continue to point out that fifteen of the nineteen Sept. 11 hijackers were Saudis and wondered,

(start blocquote) ``If, instead of 15 of the 19 hijackers, you had only two or three Saudis on the planes, does anyone in this room think that Saudi Arabia, that our people, that our faith, that our
educational system would have been subjected to this severe and outrageous criticism, which borders on hate?'' (end blocquoted)

This may indeed seem “unfair” to a spokesman for a dictatorial government that maintains tight control over its media, but we tend to value little tidbits of information like that. The question itself is
irrelevant because 15 out of 19 were indeed Saudis. But lets suppose for a moment that the numbers were less damning. Had all the perpetrators been Fijian, that wouldn’t change the fact that Saudi
Arabia finances and exports one of the most virulently anti-western strains of Islam and that they were the acknowledged benefactors of the Taliban. As for the poor misunderstood Saudi education
system, it extends across the globe to include the World Assembly of Muslim Youth and the Institute for Islamic and Arabic Sciences in America which distribute texts that condemn Judaism and
Christianity as “deviant religions” and forbids the taking of Jews and Christians as friends. Their other educational endeavors have included the distribution, free of charge, of the Protocols of the
Learned Elder of Zion, a proven fraud many times over that speaks of a Jewish world conspiracy and has inspired anti-Semitic bigots, including Adolf Hitler, for a century.

Despite the exasperation, the Saudi government has done little to convince Americans that they do anything but embrace terrorism and propagate hate. During Mr. Al-Jubeir’s April appearance on “Meet
the Press” he refused to label Palestinian suicide bombers as murderers and justified his government’s telethon that raised nearly $100 million dollars to support the families of “martyrs”. There was
scarcely a reaction to western outrage when the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the UK, Ghazi Algosaibi, composed a poem honoring suicide bomber Ayat Akhras, which stated she “died to honour
God's word” and that the “doors of heaven are opened for her”.


The Royal family has spoken out of both sides of their collective face as a matter of policy. While supposedly coming to New York to grieve for the victims of 9/11, a representative cast the blame for the
tragedy on the United States. When speaking to the west they claim to be “partners” in the effort to destroy al-Qaida, but when speaking to the Muslim world they steadfastly exonerate them and instead
accuse “Zionists” for the attacks. Though ostensibly working with the U.S. in the war on terrorism, they’ve obstructed investigations into al-Qaida activities within Saudi Arabia and designed their
Regional Policies to impede our efforts to depose Saddam Hussein. By the day new information of their connections to Islamic terrorists appears in the American press, and intelligence sources at home
and abroad, indicate that Saudi money is helping move Osama bin Laden’s organization from Afghanistan to Lebanon and Gaza, thus clearing any ambiguity in its relationship with Palestinian terrorist
groups.

I’ve taken more than my fair share of shots at the inattention and generally low level of knowledge on the part of the American people, but not even Joe Six Pack is buying what the Saudis are selling.
Growing American hostility may indeed chafe them but their ridiculous claims of purity and declarations of friendship in the face of limitless evidence to the contrary isn’t helping matters. For decades
they have danced on the edge of a razor and gotten away with it because of their value as an oil-provider, but the ball may soon be ending.

Though the harsh realities of foreign policy may necessitate unappealing associations, it’s not the smartest move to continually remind us whom we’re dealing with. When recently commenting on the
subject, I placed military intervention into Saudi Arabia and the occupations of Mecca and Medina that would go along with it “way down on the list” of preferable strategies. Potentially inflaming the
whole of the Islamic world to secure access to their oilfields I considered too risky a course of action. But the more the “Royal Family” talks, the more doable the proposition becomes. I suggest they stop
kidding themselves that they have anyone fooled and enjoy their remaining time in the sun. Thanks to their duplicity and big mouths the clock is ticking.

[Maceman]

Are we preparing for war or playing politics?

Both, I should hope. What a curious question.

[weikel]

He would tell the American people that this war could cost over a trillion dollars, and no one should think that we're going to be able to use Iraqi oil to pay for it

Why the hell not. If it were up to me the Arabs would never see another penny from the Middle Eastern oilfields in areas we overrun.