Thursday, October 16, 2003

Co-dependency

Gwynn Dyer puts my take on this business of war on terror succintly and clearly. I'm sorry I don't have the link to the article. According to a forward I received, it appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune. Gwynne Dyer is a London-based independent journalist.

There is now a symbiotic relationship between the Islamist terrorists and the neo-conservative directors of the "war on terror" that promises a long political life to the players on both sides. They are, as our Marxist friends used to put it, "objective allies": both seek to undermine the existing global order in order to expand their own freedom of action, and each group's actions justify the existence of the other group, at least in the eyes of its own supporters.

...Al-Qaida, for example, sees the overseas adventures of American neo-conservatives as the best possible recruiting tool for its own cause among Muslims worldwide. If Osama bin Laden could decide the outcome of the next U.S. presidential election, he would instantly choose Bush. A rival candidate might pull American troops out of the Middle East or take a more even-handed approach in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, and Bin Laden has no interest in stability in the region.

Given that bin Laden does not have a magic wand, what is Bush's best hope of winning a second term despite an ailing economy and the deepening quagmire of Iraq? It is that Americans close ranks patriotically behind him as they did in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11. In practice, that means that he needs either another major terrorist attack on American soil or another victorious war against an alleged "terrorist state" or a suspected proliferator of "weapons of mass destruction."

Do the people around bin Laden understand this? Of course they do, and they will help Bush, if they can.

...Would patriotic Americans in senior positions in the Bush administration really engineer a war in which young Americans would be killed (not to mention numerous foreigners) just to improve their man's chances of re-election?

No, probably not.


I think Gwynn is being either too kind or too naive. Or just covering her butt. But then, she does say "probably".

Comb the news and reports of these men's actions and words. And have a look at the suspect events of 9/11 and stymied investigation into them. I'll give you a start.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

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