I keep wondering what would happen if terrorists demanded something that we wanted to give them anyway. Would we need to concoct some reason why we can’t give it to them so we don’t encourage more terrorism?
It sounds ridiculous, but we’re getting closer to that situation. For example, the terrorists want the U.S. military to get out of Iraq. And so do a lot of Americans. The preferences of the two groups aren’t identical of course. There are questions of timing and continued influence and the sort of government we leave behind. But there is a lot of agreement on the big point. They want us out – American citizens want us out.
The terrorists would like the U.S. to stop meddling in the entire Middle East. And so would a lot of Americans. Again, there are lots of differences in the how and when, but the positions aren’t that far apart on the big picture. It’s still not a majority view in the U.S., but I could see it becoming one someday.
The terrorists would like us to stop raping their countries of natural resources. Likewise, Americans would love to find other economical sources of energy.
Let me emphasize to the slow-witted amongst you that I don’t condone terrorism. And I understand that it’s a bad idea to encourage it by giving in to demands. But what would happen if the majority of Americans eventually started agreeing with the terrorists’ big points, albeit for our own selfish reasons? Must we thwart ourselves in order to thwart them?
I keep asking myself what would happen if we just abandoned the entire region except for buying oil when they felt like selling it. I think the Muslims would get busy with all-out civil/religious war and leave us alone. The funny part would be when Saudi Arabia tries to buy military supplies to defend against Al-Qaeada, and the only country willing to sell it weapons is Israel.
Our oil supply might be disrupted if we pull out, but I can’t convince myself that getting desperate about new energy supplies is a bad thing in the long run. Sometimes you need a little extra incentive to do the right thing. It’s a little like the Y2K problem – when you know for certain the nature of the problem and when it’s coming, you can usually find a solution. We Americans do the best when the threat is specific and imminent.
Now suppose I add one more condition to our complete withdrawal from the region. We state that if needed we’ll support with our military the existing borders for all countries in the region. That includes Israel, of course. But if Iran is attacked by a standing army, we promise we’ll defend them too. That gives all of the leaders the comfort of knowing they don’t need nukes. And it gives them a good reason not to attack us or each other.
Iran and Syria aren’t likely to trust us to protect them. But on the flip side, no one will want to invade their neighbor and test our promise. With Saddam gone, the region doesn’t have a government that is likely to invade anyone else any time soon. I think most of the leaders in that region would be happy with not being deposed.
None of my ideas are practical. I realize that. But I like noodling about them.