Since we just concluded a war in Iraq, which was
supposed to be a part of the vague "war on terror," most of my opinions will be influenced by this.
In my opinion, our foreign policy only looks beyond the end of our noses. Al Qaeda has camps in Afghanistan, so bomb Afghanistan, destroy the institution. Saddam Hussein supposedly presents a security risk to us, so bomb his infrastructure, kill him, his family, and it'll end (a VERY Machiavellian concept, btw).
Never ONCE do I feel that we question the reasoning behind our enemy's motives. Because, to do such a thing, would create a degree of relativism, or "moral" equivelence. We are NOT like them. We could NEVER be like them. We don't deal with terrorists (well, unless the price is right maybe), bottom line. To understand the opposition would mean to create a comparative analysis, because that's what humans tend to do. They compare themselves to another, what that person does, and how it conflicts or agrees with their moral behavior. To do this with someone like Saddam Hussein, or even an Osama Bin Laden, would seem completely ridiculous to your "average" American.
Does this mean that we should "understand" murderers, and "reach out" to terrorists who kill innocent people? No. But I do however feel that we need to start expanding our options when dealing with things we don't understand, because if we don't, it will only lead to more violence. We can't destroy a government, blow up a camp, kill an "operative," and expect things to stop or go away. Like Chimp said, todays victories can lead to tomorrow's tragedy. Hatred festors, and it doesn't go away with a bomb. It spread to children, into books, and into other governments. Today's Kurdish rebel or Shi'ite cleric in Iraq, now viewed as heroes likened to the American revolutionaries (always our litmus test, appatrently) could be oue enemy in 20 years. Maybe not. Maybe it'll have nothing to do with Islamic extremism, rather, something else, free of religious tainted dogma. But that's not the point. The point is that as long as we view things with two options, kill or do nothing, we will always get sucked into this cycle, IMO.
According to many Americans, nothing apparently ever seemed to happen prior to 9/11. If you question some people on the sanctions in Iraq, they say "What about 9/11? You liked it when those planes fklew into the Towers??" With this kind of reasoning, we will get nowhere, and we will certainly continue to be hated in many places throughout the world.
So in the case of Iraq, what might've been an alternative? Well, not imposing ten years of sanctions that didn't work on the Iraqi people might've helped. Flooding them with goods and needed materials might've been another. Showing them the America that WE enjoy, rather than the America that they are presented with, might've been an option. Saddam Hussein could barely control his country. This might've/perhaps did result in more oppression, a tighter grip. Would the Iraqi people have accepted this when viewing the alternatives? I don't know. Perhaps if Western literature WAS more common there, maybe riots and violence wouldn't have been the result of a toppled dictatorship. Would Saddam allow the books of John Locke, Thomas Paine, and John Stewart Mill in Iraq? Probably not. But then again, would the Iraqis have stood for that? Would the military? Would even the Royal Guard?
Unfortunately, we won't know for many years now whether or not this war was a sucess or not, IMO. Many woul like to say it was, but that's more so out of hopeful ideology and politics that they do so (ie. Vince and Ronnie). Look at the Soviet Union, people are STILL analyzing post-Soviet Russia, evaluating its demise, judging its decisions. We can't look at Iraq now, with the images of flag waving happy Iraqis, and say "SUCCESS!". That's incredibly short sighted, and will be disasterous. We need to look at Iraq 10, 20, 30 years from now, and THEN decide, if it's even then possible. Unfortunately, if 10 years from now Iraqis are poor, suffering, and torn by civil strife over land and lines, most Americans will probanly chastize them, and call them ingrateful for the service we have rendered. Then the cycle of ignorance begins again.
Sorry for the rant.
Linear Mode
