Roadmap to Peace: Tattered, but still intact
In the recent Palestinian elections, the Hamas Party probably wanted to make a decent showing against Fatah, the political movement founded by the late Yassir Arafat; however, Hamas probably didn’t want to win a landside and then have to take on the responsibility of ruling the nascent Palestinian State. Why? Because Congress forbids the sending of foreign aid to governments that advocate the destruction of democratic governments like Israel and the killing of Jews. So, since the main purpose of Hamas is the killing of Jews, it appears the American taxpayers will now be saving $150 million-per-year.
Meanwhile, let’s consider why what we think of as “democracy” doesn’t always work out the way we Americans think it should. Recall that Hitler came to power in Germany via the ballot box. But the mechanics of Democracy 101 are probably not as important as concepts such as: security, freedom and liberty.
For example, most Americans think of “freedom” as the freedom to attempt just about anything we would like to do as long as it doesn’t infringe upon the rights of others. But Middle Easterners and even Western Europeans see “freedom” as less interference from corrupt governments. For example, the Arab or Iranian merchant selling rugs or camels or whatever is content if the unelected elites running his government do not interfere with his business dealings and/or do not take too much in bribes while providing “security” from foreign invaders.
Moreover, what we think of “liberty,” the true Islamists think of as license. Hollywood feeds that misconception with its depiction of life in America and the West as nothing but Sodom and Gomorrah and Las Vegas on steroids. In truth, Germany and the Netherlands have long histories of legalized prostitution and Denmark has long permitted live sex shows as public entertainment. With Oregon on the verge of allowing sex shows, the true Islamists’ fears of westernization may be well founded. Ironically, while in “training” in the U.S., the 9/11 hijackers indulged in licentious behaviors involving, booze, pornography and prostitutes – all forbidden by their Koran.
So, what were 60-percent of the Palestinians thinking when they voted to make the Iranian-funded terrorist organization, Hamas, their ruling party? That brings us back to “security.” For the Arabs and the Iranian people (remember Iranians are not Arabs) their best hopes have been for their unelected rulers to provide them some form of security in exchange for an almost complete loss of the freedoms we Americans take for granted.
Interestingly, “security” is where the thinking of Middle Easterners, Old Europe and Americans come together. We Americans want our government to perform two basic tasks: (1) Defend us from foreign aggression and (2) keep us safe in our persons and our property. Anything beyond that heads down the slippery slope toward socialism. But we want those two basic tasks performed with as little intrusion into our conceptions of freedom and liberty as possible. Historically, in wartime, we have been willing to err a little bit more on the side of security rather than on the sides of freedom and liberty. That is the essence of the current debate on Capitol Hill.
But, the real security problem we face is Iran. Up to its hips in oil, Iran has no need for nuclear power plants. What Iran wants is to have its own nuclear weapons so that it can: (1) Become the leader of the Islamo-fascists -- as opposed to the Arab-led al Qaeda --and (2) “wipe Israel off the face of the Earth.”
Again, Israel will not tolerate an Iranian nuclear-weapons capability. Given that reality, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) would destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons in a New-York minute. So, while the loss of Fatah’s Mahmoud Abbas and Israel’s Ariel Sharon working, as they were, on the Roadmap to Peace creates a major pot hole, an IDF attack on Iran would blow the Roadmap, like Oprah Winfrey’s book-vetting process, into “a million little pieces.”
William Hamilton, a syndicated columnist, a featured commentator for USA Today and self-described “recovering lawyer and philosopher,” is the co-author of The Grand Conspiracy and The Panama Conspiracy – two thrillers about terrorism directed against the United States.
©2006. William Hamilton.
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