Sunday, May 23, 2004
Extra-Terrestrials
Friedman's Op-Ed today proposes that we should turn over the control of security in Iraq to the Iraqis for a rather strange reason. He seems convinced that most of the suicide bombers in the country are fanatical Muslims from outside Iraq. Their depredations can then only be controlled by Iraqis who can tell from their accents and other subtle differences that they are outsiders, a task Americans cannot perform. He seems to have no special source of information, and he seems blissfully unaware of the fact that many suicide bombers, for example those in Sri Lanka, have no religious motivation at all. There is actually no reason to believe that Iraqi nationalism in some groups, groups taught an extreme form of Iraqi nationalism for many years, could not be recruited to take part in these attacks against Americans and anyone else who seems to accept the American presence. Of course, religion is important to many Iraqis. But I do not believe that we should accept the easy proposition that what we are fighting in Iraq and everywhere in this "war against terrorism" is a wave of Islamic terrorism. Most guerrilla activity, most terrorism is local and has local roots, a fact we should remember in spite of the preachings of al-Qaida.
Friedman's Op-Ed today proposes that we should turn over the control of security in Iraq to the Iraqis for a rather strange reason. He seems convinced that most of the suicide bombers in the country are fanatical Muslims from outside Iraq. Their depredations can then only be controlled by Iraqis who can tell from their accents and other subtle differences that they are outsiders, a task Americans cannot perform. He seems to have no special source of information, and he seems blissfully unaware of the fact that many suicide bombers, for example those in Sri Lanka, have no religious motivation at all. There is actually no reason to believe that Iraqi nationalism in some groups, groups taught an extreme form of Iraqi nationalism for many years, could not be recruited to take part in these attacks against Americans and anyone else who seems to accept the American presence. Of course, religion is important to many Iraqis. But I do not believe that we should accept the easy proposition that what we are fighting in Iraq and everywhere in this "war against terrorism" is a wave of Islamic terrorism. Most guerrilla activity, most terrorism is local and has local roots, a fact we should remember in spite of the preachings of al-Qaida.
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