"This War" (Hate does not make Right)

March 23, 2003

Prologue:
I am fully aware that the mass media love conflict and thus often choose the more extreme voices to amplify. This column was written with that in mind. While I deal harshly with the radical Islamic leaders I read in the press, I by no means wish to generalize those views to include all, or even a significant number of Muslims. On the contrary, I continue to be amazed by the difference between the Islam I see practiced every day by many of the most decent people I know and that which I read about and see on television.

“Death to America!” and other peaceful slogans seem to be all the rage in many parts of the world as the ongoing war against Iraq touches a surprisingly raw nerve. I say ‘surprisingly’ because there have been many recent wars, a few involving “ethnic cleansing” and other genocide (while the U.N. sat idle) yet most of these peace-lovers chanted nothing. ‘Surprisingly’ because we are in the process of ridding the world of what all agree is one of the most despicable and murderous outlaw regimes on Earth. ‘Surprisingly’ because this force was inevitable, assuming one doesn’t honestly believe that Saddam would have disarmed voluntarily (quite a different thing than merely allowing inspections). Finally, ‘surprisingly’ because those who would oppose the war on the basis of civilian casualties know that Saddam systematically rapes, tortures, starves and murders innocent civilians on a daily basis--and has for decades. While there is clearly no small measure of honest, heart-felt opposition to this particular war, though grounded in weak arguments, there simply is no accounting for the intensity of much of the bile spewed against it...or is there?

First let me say that I will not be addressing the domestic or European protests in this column, and, while I have a particular dark spot in my heart for the French, I will here say only that their true motives, other than magnifying their relevance through the U.N., will become evident once we liberate the crime scene and dust for prints. I will instead focus on some of my observations of the non-Western world where, even the casual observer must admit, this war seems to have little to do with Iraq, and everything to do with the United States. Indeed, one viewing the images and hearing the messages of these protests can quickly identify the underlying emotion: hatred—not of violence but of America. And most of it has no intellectual underpinning beyond “us versus them.”

Syed Ahmed Bukhari, chief cleric of India’s largest Mosque, informs us that “Muslims of India consider the American attack on Iraq as an attack on Islam and humanity.” Excuse me? If Saddam Hussein, violater and butcher of Muslim people, equals “Islam and Humanity” then many of my friends and colleagues have me duped. One wonders what words Mr. Bukhari reserves to describe Saddam’s regime or, say, the Holocaust. One also wonders if similar charges would have been leveled against the United Nations had its resolutions any meaning. No, this is merely a histrionic reaction born of hatred and rage from a religious leader (a religion of peace, I am told) who has been given the convenient opportunity to cloak his venom in noble-sounding concepts such as “the will of the international community.”

Meanwhile, Grand Ayatollah Sheik Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, from Lebanon, states: "We call on the Iraqi people to topple the tyrant who has destroyed Iraq and thrown the Arab and Islamic world into disarray," but proceeds to denounce "Iraq's occupation by the arrogant powers, particularly America." In other words, he wants it both ways: Saddam must go...but not if they have to do it. This attitude is apparently quite popular in the region, as the London Daily Telegraph reported (March 14th) that the coalition would attack Iraq using bases "from nine countries, most of them Arab nations that have secretly agreed to provide bases while publicly voicing opposition to an Anglo-American invasion." Question: Um, what if the Iraqi people can’t topple Saddam? What then? Perhaps we should extend to the Grand Ayatollah the benefit of the doubt and assume he was on the verge of implementing his own (presumably non-arrogant) liberation strategy when America rudely preempted him. Sorry MoHu. (Alas, to assign blame where it is due, the last time the Iraqi people listened to a voice telling them to rebel we, The United States of America, left them to be literally (yes, literally) paved over by an intact Saddam regime. Of that disgrace (another capitulation to the U.N., by the way) this American is ashamed).

But a very large, collective hand was tipped by Mahesh Bhatt, popular Indian filmmaker (you can always count on the movie industry) when he proclaimed: “This is the beginning of the end of the domination of Western nations...They may win this battle but they will lose this war.” Ahh...finally some clarity. It appears the stakes in “this war,” the real war, against which there are no chants or placards, are much higher; much more fundamental: weather the peoples of the world are going to live the righteous way, the fundamentalist way, or continue to wallow in the ever-expanding, and highly metastatic, darkness of human choice and freedom. It is they, you see, who are fighting against a force which, like cancer, can not attack just locally, but must destroy generally. When viewed in this sinister light it’s little wonder that the oppression and torture of the Iraqi people is considered trivial against an American victory, any American victory. One might now understand why the Taliban was tolerated but Elvis is not. And is it any wonder why the Islamic world’s condemnation of terrorism (chemotherapy?) has been, shall we say, subdued? Not at all, for many apparently believe that we occupy a position in history that is rightfully theirs, and any display of our dominance is repulsive to them—much more so than adulterers being stoned to death.

But the good news is that “this war” has already been won—by the “Western Values” of freedom and democracy. The people of the world vote with their feet, and for now they flock to the free land of opportunity, choice, and prosperity. And, by the law of diffusion, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that ideologies of hate and terrorism are increasingly confined to the un-free nations—Iraq soon to be no longer among them.