The Council on Foreign Relations in 2007 wrote about the creation of al Qaeda: “Bin Laden and other militant Islamist leaders issued a 1998 manifesto denouncing the presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia, U.S. support of Israel, and the economic sanctions imposed after the 1991 Gulf War against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. “To kill Americans and their allies, both civil and military, is an individual duty of every Muslim who is able, in any country, until their armies, shattered and broken-winged, depart from all the lands of Islam.”
Our invasion of Iraq created al Qaeda in Iraq in 2004 from which sprang Al Nusra in 2011 and thereafter the third and most brutal terrorist group the Islamic State 2013. This insane and radical Muslim philosophy of murdering infidels (usually Christians but sometimes Shiite Muslims) has spread into Africa with Boko Haram.
Our wars in the Middle East have made us less safe. Ask yourself, do you feel better off now than you did a dozen years ago when we began our misadventures in those lands?
It seems incredible anyone with our interests in mind would urge us to again war in that area. You would think we’d have learned our lessons from our failures in the past. Yet, there are many in Congress who along with the leaders of Israel want us to have a go at it again.
Israel’s position now is Iran should be attacked unless it has a change of government. We saw what happened in Syria when we called for a change in the leadership. Utter chaos followed with millions being displaced and hundreds of thousands killed.
Israeli leaders like Natan Sharansky suggests Iran “has disqualified itself from the negotiations and benefits being offered therein.” Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear that his continuing harping about the nuclear threat to Israel was just a façade. It seems based on it we did what Israel wanted but now it wants more.
Netanyahu opposes the deal. Even though the six other nations who are involved in the deal believe it will stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon Netanyahu does not like it. He complains it keeps Iran’s “vast nuclear infrastructure in place.”
It actually doesn’t, it reduces it substantially. It does not eliminate it entirely but it ensures with what it has it cannot build the bomb. That’s now not enough.
What Netanyahu wants is something entirely different. He complained with the deal: “Iran is going to have sanctions lifted, including crippling sanctions, pretty much up front. And that’s going to have billions and billions of dollars flow into the Iranian coffers, not for schools or hospitals or roads, but to pump up Iran’s terror machine throughout the world.”
Netanyahu wants Iran to become like the Palestinian people: poor, close to naked and homeless. He wants Israel with its 7 million people to dictate how the 78 million Iranians will live and act. Here are some figures to chew on: The U.S.’s GDP in relation to its population is 5.43%; Ireland 5.35%, Canada 5.01%,Germany 4.77%; Israel 3.65%; Italy 3.53%. On the other hand there is Somalia 0.01%, India 0.16%, Yemen 0.16%, Palestine 0.22%,Egypt 0.32%; Iran 0.52%, Iraq 0.61%, China 0.76%, and Russia 1.27%.
I suggest it is not in the interest of the United States to keep any country poor and desperate. Didn’t we learn that in our dealings with the Troubles in Northern Ireland? It was only when the economic situation in the Irish Republic improved drastically that the ability to find people of discontent who wanted to join the IRA disappeared. People who have a decent future with economic opportunities don’t turn to terrorism.
It is time to tell Israel we will not go to war with Iran if we can get a deal that it not build a nuclear weapon. We should add that if it subverts our attempts to get a deal then it is on its own thereafter. We should also reconsider the idea of giving Israel billions of dollars every year when its GDP based on population is greater than Italy and most countries of the world.
Finally, we must recognize that our involvement in the Middle East has created radical Muslim organizations. We should demand those nations in that area including Israel put their armed forces at risk to defeat them. We must recognize the real future dangers to our nation lie outside the Middle East.
Petro-Dollars are the currency of an insidious welfare state system that fosters irresponsibility, decadence, decay and destruction. As with the theocracy of communism, that was propped up by Soviet Union’s vast mineral wealth, the Middle Eastern theocracies can continue on because the economic viability of their societies doesn’t depend on thinking things through.
Just as important as eliminating our dependence on Middle Eastern oil is the need to wean the Middle East itself off of its dependence on Middle Eastern oil. We have to find ways to help them rediscover and tap into the great wealth of human resources now going to waste in this cradle of our civilization. Our survival may depend on it.
Matt: Check NYT, today, about the fate of the monetary judgments awarded Marine and US Embassy families against Iran for the 83 truck bombings in Lebanon. Your confidence in the system may well be disappointed.
Excellent post Matt. There are smart ways to fight extremism, as you noted, and getting involved in another protracted ground war in the Middle East is not one of them…