Law, Law. Not Jaw, Jaw or War War.

Dear Editor,

Thomas Sowell demonstrates lethal pre-9-11 thinking by comparing the lead up to World War II with his belief that we will soon end up like France if we don’t “do something” to stop Iran. (Morally Paralyzed, July 26, 2007)

First, our ‘war’ against terrorism and Al Qaeda’s declared war against us is nothing like World War II on any level. There are no massed armies (except ours). No foreign invaders or occupiers (except us). No weapons of mass destruction (except ours, Russia’s, Pakistan’s, China’s, India’s and Israel’s). No mass detention of people because of their religion (except by us). No clearly defined battle fronts (except those we create). No axis of nations plotting to take over the world. All there is … is a bunch of murderous cave dwelling fanatics using the aggressive stupidity of their enemies to boost their own murderous ranks).

Sowell is following the ‘war at any price’ bandwagon that a few other Washington Times columnist have jumped onto over the last few months... all arguing for targeted strikes to stop Iran’s nuclear capacity. What about Iran’s biological capacity? In our post 9-11/Anthrax world a biological weapon like small pox is a far greater threat to our freedom, prosperity and survival than a few lose nukes.

Today’s situation is far closer to the world conditions prior to World War I that Harlan Ullman outlined so clearly in the Washington Times earlier this week in “July 1914 redux?” Any military strike on Iran would be like the assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand. It would spark and effectively fuel a real global holy war.

The lesson we failed to learn from both previous World Wars is the need to create an enforceable global system of government that is more than a talk fest. One that can effectively protect human rights and eliminates war a means of solving problems.

In reality, any form of mass murder (war, terrorism, genocide…) is a crime against humanity. Those who commit such crimes of mass murder should be effectively prosecuted and brought to justice. We need a global rule of law…not the continued global law of force. Until we transform the United Nations into a body with such enforcement capacity it will be nothing more effective than ‘jaw, jaw’ or ‘war, war’. We need law, law.

The increasing and irreversible global availability of mass murdering technology (nuclear, biological, chemical and even conventional) can not be controlled. All nations, groups and individuals will be able to obtain it. Not even the most powerful nation (the US) or the most intrusive and repressive world government created by those fearing for their lives, will be able to stop the level of mass murder that will be attained if humanity continues to chose the ‘law of force’ over the ‘rule of law’.

Only an enforceable global bill of rights can effectively replace the right of nations to do as they please in response to any perceived threat. Throughout my childhood I swore allegiance to my flag without fully understanding my words. Now I can only hope we all take that pledge and its first and last words seriously “I pledge…liberty and justice for all”. That’s what our founding fathers aspired to. We can use the powers of this great nation to achieve it… instead of sparking and fueling the next world jihad/crusade.

Should Islam rule the world?

Rachel Ehrenfeld and Alyssa Lappen mislead the Washington Times readers by selectively pinpointing recent historical realities that they believe lead up to the increasingly lethal “global jihadist movement.” (Egyptian Roots of Hatred, 7-6-07)

They accurately identified the “mentality deranged Australian Christian fundamentalist” who “tried to set fire to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem” as the spark leading to the “Saudi” establishment of the Organization of the Islamic Conference “in 1969 in Jeddah”. They go on to accurately identify ”petrodollars” as the predominant source of money “spawning every Islamic terrorist group operating today”. Ehrenfeld and Lappen also usefully quote the Muslim Brotherhood’s “motto” of “God is our purpose, the Profit our Leader, the Qur’an our constitution, jihad our way and dying for God our supreme objective,”

But then Ehrenfeld and Lappen try to blend these facts together and suggest that the creation of Israel and Israeli policy over the last 50 years had nothing to do with the “reason for the decades-long regional violence”. Ignoring the multitude of western errors that resulted in the repression, death and suffering of hundreds of millions of Muslims virtually ignores the real “roots” behind the “genesis of the Muslim Brotherhood”.

I’m sure there are members of the MB who want to become suicide bombers and smash “Western Civilization” to replace it “with Islam which will dominate the world” but similar sweeping statements are also made by select fundamentalist Christian leaders and faithful free market capitalist authorities.

Believing these two columnists statement that the “goal” of the Muslim Brotherhood is to “kill as many infidels” as possible and that negotiating with the MB is futile… the only logical solution appears to be an accelerated ‘war’ against them. Thus, killing them first with pre-emptive strikes that will also, go without saying, unfortunately kill other innocent Muslim bystanders.

This current and failed strategy against the real and growing threat of terrorism only feeds the jihadist marketing scheme that Bin Ladin and other radicals use to recruit their mass murdering minions. Since the unwarranted lethal US invasion and military occupation of the Muslim state of Iraq terrorist attacks around the world have soared nearly a hundred fold, and that doesn’t include attacks against US solders in Iraq.

Waging war against all radical Muslims only validates their self proclaimed “warrior” status while increasing their lethal ranks. Accelerating our kinetic war against ‘them’ in general will also bring the various competing radical Muslim groups closer together. More devastating acts of terrorism against the “lawless” infidels will be justified as they maintain their Qur’anic “constitution” while we abandon our US Constitution to root them out.

Ehrenfeld and Lappen correctly understand the magnitude of the terrorism threat but they don’t seem to understand that war is the abandonment of the only thing that can defeat them – the global “rule of Law”. It appears Ehrenfeld and Lappen want to wage a war against all radical Muslims. With no real means of sorting out the radical Muslims from the potentially radical Muslims it will appear from the Muslim perspective as an act of genocide. And, that the predominantly Judeo-Christian “western civilization” is against them and is…perhaps the more “mentality deranged” actor in this increasingly violent world…And, thus Islamic domination becomes the most reasonable path to peace. And, we all know that Islam is the religion of peace.

There are radical Muslims who believe that war is NOT the answer. We will need them to defeat the lethally minded radical Muslims. Creating and enforcing a global rule of law where Muslims have the same rights and protections as Christians and Jews is the only sane path to peace. War is the path to Armageddon. Some believe that’s what the Christian Bible says.