The Cynics and the True Believers
Wading through mountains of information following September 11, it is inescapably clear that Osama bin Laden has always had earthly political as well as other worldly religious goals. First among the political is his return to a Saudi Arabia purged of Westerners and their influence. His base in Afghanistan is literally a hole in the ground, but from Saudi Arabia, with oil and a political infrastructure, he could pursue his Islamist agenda across a vast region. And talk about coalition building – his puts ours to shame.
Wading through mountains of information following September 11, it is inescapably clear that Osama bin Laden has always had earthly political as well as other worldly religious goals. First among the political is his return to a Saudi Arabia purged of Westerners and their influence. His base in Afghanistan is literally a hole in the ground, but from Saudi Arabia, with oil and a political infrastructure, he could pursue his Islamist agenda across a vast region. And talk about coalition building – his puts ours to shame. His goal of purging pro-Western governments and supporting anti-Western ones has created allies across the spectrum of religious and secular terrorists – Saddam and Yasser alongside the Mullahs of Iran and the Taliban.
In the face of this:
What accounts for the Administration’s apparent fixation on resolving the Israel-Palestinian problem as a precursor to coalition building and peace in our time?
Why is the State Department allowed to be distracted from the President’s determination to root out terrorists who have killed thousands of Americans and would kill thousands more?
Why is pushing Israel to negotiate with an anti-American terrorist called crucial, and Israel’s protection of its citizens called obstructionist?
One, or two, of three reasons:
They are really, really stupid. They believe that terrorist training in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, and Syria, and the subversion of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Jordan, Tunisia and other conservative Moslem countries is really about the creation of Palestine for the Palestinians. They aren’t stupid.
They are really, really cynical. They know perfectly well that this is about the subversion of the region, but they can’t stand the fact that clients aren’t allies and the Arabs will let us pay in blood and money to protect them, but they won’t help us do it. The striped pants guys swear to the lie that the Arab states can’t work with the US because of Israel. They are willing to pay off nasty, repressive dictatorships in the currency of our one true democratic ally in the entire region rather than face their own and their clients’ shortcomings.
They are “true believers.” Some of them, particularly holdovers from the previous Administration, truly believe that peace in the world – and even peace for Israel – requires “solving” the Palestinian problem even as we fight the terrorists and their sponsors. The terrorism and the coalition and the war just create new opportunities for ramming through a program that they really, really believe will solve the problem. They aren’t stupid, but the combination of cynics and true believers is a dangerous one for Israel. Bin Laden didn’t do it for “Palestine,” and we pressure Israel at the risk of obscuring our real goals. America has a war to fight and a civilization to protect; we must be clear about who stands with us on the front lines, and who hides behind our army.