Iowa's Tom Douglass on Bush's War and That Gigantic Beehive
by Tom Douglass, North Liberty
Supporters
of the war on Iraq believe that when you are attacked, the only
reasonable response is to strike back, and to strike back with such
force that you teach your attacker a lesson so that they will stop
attacking, retreat, and not attack again. Therefore, the invasion of
Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein would “teach them a lesson” so
that they would never again interfere with our country.
The problem with this belief is that it is based on flawed assumptions.
The first is that overwhelming force in one area will frighten all
possible enemies. Another is that everyone in the world, regardless of
cultural differences, fears death.
We were
attacked by bin Laden, a militant Muslim religious zealot. Saddam
Hussein was a secular political leader who wanted nothing to do with
bin Laden, and the feeling was mutual. Saddam Hussein had not
threatened the U.S. since 1991, after the Gulf War. Yes, he had wanted
to, but with the sanctions and inspections, he posed no credible threat
to us. Bin Laden, on the other hand, has made clear his intention to
make war on the United States, on our own turf.
Consider
that you are walking across your lawn, and a hornet stings you because
you inadvertently disturbed its nest. You hurt and are angry. Then you
recall that your neighbor has some beehives that he manages for the
profit from the honey. You love honey, and you could use some profits
yourself. So, to get back at the hornet, you get your baseball bat and
immediately go over to your neighbor's yard, crack him on the head and
steal his beehives. Big problem: you forget to use smoke to neutralize
the bees while you move them, and, in the process, the bees swarm and
sting the hell out of you, even though with each sting, a bee dies.
This is
essentially what Bush has done. Because of his greed for oil, he has
unleashed the fury of literally more than a billion people across the
face of the earth. The adherents of [militant] Islam believe that 1)
each Muslim has the responsibility to defend the religion BY WHATEVER
MEANS, when it feels attacked, and 2) they do not need a leader. Each
Muslim is not only allowed to act independently, he is REQUIRED to do
so, or he will suffer eternal damnation. By dying in the defense of his
religion, each [militant] Muslim ensures his place in paradise. So,
instead of frightening attackers who, like us, are afraid to get hurt,
Bush has stirred the huge beehive of militants who wish to die for
everlasting glory. And the shame is, that, by cooperating, being
tolerant, and peacefully working out our differences, we could have had
all the honey we wanted at a decent price.
We may
not be able to relate to Islamic values and beliefs, but we ignore them
at our peril. We will never win a war on terrorism as long as there are
American troops in Arab countries.
Tom Douglass, North Liberty, Iowa
Blog For Iowa 