Public policy, social issues, gender politics, religion, civitas, and other taboo topics fall under the hammer of Shava's iconoclasmic force of natural philosophy.
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Can Dean catch Saddam and/or Osama?
Monday, November 17, 2003
9:04 PM
At 04:05 PM 11/17/2003, someone on a Vermont Dean list wrote:
> Do you think that Howard Dean will be able to catch Osamo or Saddam?
I may be the only Vermonter ex-pat (now in Oregon) with a serious background in central Asia, so let me take a personal take on this question -- or two questions...
"Can Dean catch Osama Bin Laden?"
Part one, implied: "Will catching Osama Bin Laden cripple Al-Qaeda?"
If you think getting rid of Bin Laden cripples Al-Qaeda in any way, I suspect you are mistaken. Americans seem fixated on the idea that Al-Qaeda is a top-down hierarchy, which is about as ridiculous as saying that the Religious Right in this country is top down. You could take out Pat Robertson and it would not cripple the Religious Right -- in fact, it would probably bring more people to join them and work harder for them. Al-Qaeda is an anarchist front with various groups that talk to each other a lot. It's a lot like the bomb throwing anarchist types of the previous turn of the century period. The more things change, the more they remain the same, and the fewer people show any historical memory.
Part two: "Will Dean be able to catch Osama Bin Laden?"
Osama Bin Laden is the creation of two influences: Saudi oil money, and Republican cold war idiocy. http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO109C.html Groups which overlap with Al-Qaeda is reportedly still spying for the CIA in certain parts of the globe, so we can't expect the CIA under Bush and maybe even under Dean to catch Bin Laden. Under Bush, they have no incentive. Even under Dean, they would have a disincentive, because they'd be sacrificing some significant assets.
For Bush, the war against terrorism is a useful perpetual war. For Dean, I think it would be an obstacle to global prosperity and peace. So, I believe that it is more in Dean's interest to see that the people who are terrorists are minimally supported by the US, and that terrorist operations are neutralized where that is possible.
"Can Dean catch Saddam?"
Frankly, I half suspect that Saddam will be back in power within the year. It saddens me to see that as the best hope toward deposing Bush, because whatever you think about the Iraq War, SH is not a good man.
This is a terribly ignorant war, a war based on absolutely no understanding on the ground of central Asian politics or culture. Saddam will lie low and fight a war of attrition against the US forces in Iraq, and on our allies such as the Italians, until we are without support abroad or at home. And then he will step in, mobilize the hearts and minds of the country to support him again, and get the trains running on time a lot faster than Halliburton will.
So, will Dean catch Saddam?
Not if SH's the head of state of Iraq at the time, no. It would hardly be proper. It is not in the interest of the end of terrorism in the world to assassinate heads of state of countries we do not like.
Besides, SH has nothing to do with Al-Qaeda, and it's amazing that we haven't supported him more considering he's the only secularist in a very strategic region of the world. Al-Qaeda despises him, yet most of the people in the US seem unable to absorb that, despite the media's amazement at the many polls where Bush's big lie about SH sheltering Al-Qaeda resurface again and again. The hijackers were Saudis. Bin Laden is a Saudi. Why are we in Iraq rather than in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? I wish more people would ask that louder and more often...
If SH is not the head of state of Iraq, then our best bet is to leave this duty to the State Department rather than to the military or CIA. The State Department can encourage other groups in the middle east and central Asia to discover and retain Saddam for us. However, the military will likely *NEVER* find him -- it's not really their job to assassinate heads of occupied states, and they've never been any good at it. The CIA might be able to do it, but they could do it for Dean as easily if not more easily than for Bush.
Asking if a president can "catch" anyone is absurd. Unless you are talking about Teddy Roosevelt, perhaps...;)
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