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--- Wednesday, February 28, 2007
The Heart of War
The most complicated and difficult questions about the war on terrorism have also always been the most fundamental -- whom and what are we actually fighting? Radical proponents of an extreme sect of an otherwise peaceful religion? A fascist culture bent on destroying Western civilization?
Is the war against an ethnic group, a political group, a religious group, or a deranged worldview?
Perhaps it is possible to answer "yes" to all of these possibilities, but Ralph Peters contends that the root of the battle comes down to people and not just ideas.
I cringe each time President Bush repeats his claim that we're engaged in "a battle of ideas." We're not. Our enemies aren't fighting about ideas, but over fundamental issues of identity: faith and ethnicity. Their motivations make them far more implacable, and even crueler, than yesteryear's ideological opponents.
In Washington, Republicans and Democrats alike are lost in history, clinging to an outmoded, if comfortable, view of the world as we wish it to be, rather than as it is. But we face a radically changed global environment that makes nonsense of the last century's theories of international relations and the ability to regulate warfare. An epoch has ended, and a new historical period -- with terrifying new rules -- has begun. This is, Peters suggests, a return to the battlefields of history, where ways of government were not in conflict so much as ways of life. Ethnic groups fighting for dominance. Gods pitted against gods.
There is certainly much truth to this, if only because the battle in the Middle East have quite literally been going on since ancient times. The Western nations, thus, are relatively new entrants into the conflict, bringing different tactics and motivations than our Eastern counterparts.
Peters' conclusion seems to be that violence is the only answer to dispel these attacks. If so, this is a dire prediction that dashes our idealist hopes of a peaceful relationship with the new Iraq and Afghanistan, or their neighbors. But it isn't so clear that this violent attempt at supremacy, particularly if fueled by religion, is not also driven by a clashing set of values and claims of truth.
Such a battle itself exists in the West as well -- mostly in the realm of public discourse, fortunately -- between Judeo-Christian faith and secular ideals. Clearly these wars cannot and should not be fought in the same way.
But what does this mean for the attempts to defend America and bring peace in the Middle East? If Peters is correct, we cannot win the wars by appealing simply to hearts and minds. But neither does there seem to be an amount of bloodshed that will bring its end.
Empty Space
Sorry that posting has been sporadic -- or non-existent -- this year. My day job has occupied most of my time and energy lately. But keep checking in for those occasional entries, and Lord willing, a new format and design coming in the not-too-distant future.
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