RE: [iwar] A Modest Proposal

From: Leo, Ross (Ross.Leo@csoconline.com)
Date: 2001-09-18 06:39:36


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Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 08:39:36 -0500
Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [iwar] A Modest Proposal
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In my mind, anyone who preaches peace is headed down a road that I believe
we all want to travel.  However, peace at any price works only for the party
being appeased.  (I recognize this is not what you are extolling here).
Bear in mind that one still must know who your "adversary" (not always a
real enemy) is and what motivates him.  Knowing these things will assist in
getting to core issues when working towards peace or (sometimes) negotiated
non-aggression.  Your adversary must buy in, and put something he doesn't
want to lose into the mix before he has any vested interest in keeping the
peace going  (the same psychology as "what's in it for me?").

As for it being cheaper and more effective - historically many alliances or
peace settlements have been marriages of convenience for the parties
involved (the US included).  This has been especially true for the Arabian
countries in recent history (at least that is what we have learned - they
have probably always done it this way).  But that is their culture.  Part of
the US problem has been, for many years, the understanding of the minds and
true motivations of those we have dealt with, whether they are political,
religious, or neither.  We have often thought that "everyone out there
thinks just like we do", or something along those lines.  More often, I
think we just haven't thought about it period.

Until we truly understand this aspect, we will have (have had) regular
problems dealing with forces and peoples outside the US.  We don't have to
accept or agree with those others, but if we don't understand them in this
way, we will never fathom the extents to which they will go, what limits and
pressure points they may have.  By the same token, we will never be able to
gauge our own responses to their actions effectively.

Nothing justifies what happened Sept. 11, 2001.  However, we had best
understand fully what truly brought it about so that we can avoid being
doomed to repeat history for not having learned from it (I paraphrase).  The
next time might be a whole lot bigger.

Ross Leo
-----Original Message-----
From: ellisd@cs.ucsb.edu [mailto:ellisd@cs.ucsb.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 08:06
To: iwar@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [iwar] A Modest Proposal



Would it be cheaper and more effective to make friends than destroy 
enemies?  We are combating an interpretation of an ideology moreso 
than we are fighting people or an organization.  If we destroy the 
organization (lets just optimistically assume that we can), another 
will just replace it, like a weed-infested garden.  

Another approach might be to invite the peoples of the nations on the 
"black list" to come visit us for a few weeks/months.  We could 
provide government-funded airline tickets (no complaints from the 
airline industry and hurting economy) for any citizen of those nations 
and put them up in hotels all across America for several weeks.  We 
could sponsor tours of our monuments, living elements and 
representatives of our culture and way of life.  Who knows, they might 
even change their minds about the "big devil." They would learn about 
us, and we about them.  Fears would dwindle.  More importantly, they 
would estrange themselves from or refine the ideology.  They would 
destroy the threat.  Sure, some will remain hardened and loyal to the 
adversarial disposition of enmity.  They may even continue to cause 
some real damage for a period of time.  But they will be 
disenfranchised and will loose the support that they so much depend 
on.  The very nature of the soil would change to support the growth of 
understanding and tolerance.

Now, admittedly, I am naive (all grad students are).  I am also angry 
and hurt but what happened last week.  But maybe another approach 
would more effectively heal the wound and prevent further injury.


P.S. -- This is not an attempt to defame the revered Jonathon Swift


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