Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Facists?

It could be argued that Hezballa and Hamas could be a greater threat to civilization than Al Queda. Bin Loudin and the Taliban, after all, are on the fringes of the Arab world. Much like the Klan in the US or The Brown Shirts in pre-war Germany. Which is to say that may inspire, but they have little material support or political legitimacy in the Arab world.
But Hezbolla and Hamas is a different story. Hamas got itself elected in Palistine by a landslide and the end result has been a derailment of the peace process.
And Hezbolla has won 20 percent of the seats in the Lebonese parliament and runs it’s own state within a state south of Bairut. The current Israeli campaign seems to have only strengthened popular support for the extremist organization.
In many respects, the Arab world resembles Germany under the Weltmere Republic before WW II. It is filled with weak, unpopular and corrupt regimes. The economies are barely thriving and there is a sense of victimhood among many Arabs.
The Arab world is ripe for and explosion of extremism and the war in Iraq and the current Israeli Arab conflict might very well light the fuse.
Looking at this situation, some might advocate invading and bombing more Arabs countries. But, are we willing to go to war with hundreds of millions of people? Or risk farther radicalizing a billion Muslims?
And what would the cost of such a grand military adventure be, in both money and human life? Even the war in Iraq costs over a Billion a month and only seems to be encouraging extremism.
The war in Vietnam, the French crackdown on insurgents in Augers and the Collapse of the Soviet Union illustrate that overwhelming military might is pointless if the people of a country turn against you.
A military solution in this global conflict might prove temporary if best if we do not secure the hearts and minds of the Moslem world. And so far, both the US and the West have failed in this.
Much like Mohamed Atta and his crew hyjacted an airliner and flew it in to the world trade center, Hyzballah has hijacked Lebonon and flown it into conflict with Israel. Only, in this case, a significant number of the passengers are sympathetic to the Highjackers!

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