Well, our Middle Eastern operations are in quite the disarray at the moment. According to a recent study conducted by the Congressional Research Service, "With the July 27, 2010 enactment of the FY2010 Supplemental Appropriations Act (H.R. 4899/P.L. 111-201) Congress has approved a total of $1.121 trillion for military operations, base security, reconstruction, foreign aid, embassy costs, and veterans’ health care for the three operations initiated since the 9/11 attacks: Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) Afghanistan and other counter terror operations; Operation Noble Eagle (ONE), providing enhanced security at military bases; and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)." Thus, we have now spent trillions of dollars and thousands of lives and seem to be no farther along than we were ten years ago in our "War on Terror." Every time we seem to make some progress, a new problem appears in the horizon, and with the recent increase in Talibani activity in Afghanistan, we have a significant reason to be worried.
Where will our War on Terror lead? Do you think a permanent fix to this conflict is somewhere in our near future? Is Middle Eastern peace but a figment of naive American imagination? Just how many more lives must be lost to bring about the change that the Western world wants to see?
10 comments:
I am sorry to sound so unpatriotic, but I think we will lose this war on terror. Terror is an abstract noun and therefore leaves us without a concrete goal or a way to definitely win. Amrit wrote that "every time we seem to make some progress, a new problem appears." Well, the war on terror is so badly defined, the problem will keep changing. We made this war hard to fight because we did not challenge a leader or a country, but instead this abstract idea. I do not think there is a permanent fix in the near future.
I'm a bit confused about what I see in this cartoon. It makes sense to me that gaining peace in the Middle East may feel like a maze for the White House; I think that aspect of the drawing is clever. However, is there a reason that there is an Israeli flag on the construction machine? I don't see the flags of any other countries in the cartoon...am I missing something? Clearly, there are many countries involved in the Middle East situation. Each country plays an active role in gaining or preventing peace. But this cartoon seems to be suggesting that Israel alone is "building the maze" and creating the obstacles, which doesn't seem like a fair assertion.
We have been fairly victorious on terrorism. Our country has shifted away from the prospect of being bombed to one worried about the economy. The Middle East still is a hot spot, but has our country been attacked on a large enough scale as September 11th? In the end, as long as we can have "domestic tranquility" I would consider terrorism as not succeeding. Though in the end, I do not believe that we cannot stop terrorism. There is always going to be that one person who wants to do more harm than good. I am not trying to sound naive, but most of the Middle East is peaceful. Other than a couple of hot spots, most people live in peace. This war will continue for quite some time and may just end up like Korea with a stalemate. There is only so much the Western ideals can be forced on the Muslim population. Even Turkey has gradually started to turn back to a more Muslim mindset potentially dropping the idea of joining the EU all together. In the end, compromise will be necessary just as any action within our government. In all truth, we have much to learn from them as they do from us. Many have lived so well for so long, can we really force them to listen to us because we have more "wealth" and better "ideals".
On another note, I think the cartoon is trying to depict Israel as the only nation in the Middle East that is different from the others. Israel is one country that stands alone among the others. Many Muslims are not very happy with Israel's existence, so it may be a slow roadblock to achieving stability.
This article has an interesting perspective on terrorism. It is a little dated though, but it does put some tangible fact and figures on paper. One word of caution, it does considers itself a "conspiracy" website, but take what you will. http://www.theinsider.org/news/article.asp?id=0472
@Jessia: I don't believe that the cartoonist is trying to insinuate that Israel is the sole cause of Middle Eastern obstacles (which would be an egregiously spurious claim). On the contrary, the cartoonist is just providing some witty commentary on Israel's recent East Jerusalem construction plan. Check out this for some context: http://articles.cnn.com/2010-11-10/world/israel.us.clinton_1_palestinians-hope-palestinian-state-east-jerusalem?_s=PM:WORLD
I think that winning the "war on terror" and pursuing peace in the Middle East are two completely seperate question, first of all.
(I did have a big paragraph here, but then I read Nichole's comment and that basically summed it up, so copy/paste that, add "I agree", and that'll do. Let's move on.)
The issue of peace in the Middle East, is a complicated process, but it's at least theoretically possible. I know it's not easy for any of us.
My great-grandparents came to this country from Lebanon, and my grandmother says they would always talk about what a beautiful place it was. Of course, it isn't really anymore; Hezbollah has run it into the ground while provoking, prodding, and just plain irritating Israel, resulting in the country being bombed out and torn apart by that nation, to say nothing of the complex internal strife. It's a mess, and it saddens me, to be honest, because I had always wanted to visit. Now, not only would I be unwelcomed, but I'd probably get shot or otherwise blown to pieces anyway. Some blame for that is on Israel for responding, but that's not totally fair, of course; just as much is on Hezbollah and its corrupt (at best) and downright destructive (at worst) policies for instigating the incidents. The point of this story is that the problem isn't usually a problem of the people; it's a problem of the government. The citizens of the Middle East may not love their neighbors, but they can at least tolerate them to a level such that they don't all kill each other. The ruling organizations are usually the ones in the way of peace, not any ideals of the people themselves.
In essence, both sides are at fault. Israel continues to push forward with settlement construction, even when they know it creates more strife; the Palestinians refuse to stop trying to blow the settlements up, which also creates more strife. And that's not even including the actions of many other nations surrounding their two countries.
The biggest obstacle is to convince the two sides to realize that they want, and would benefit from, peace. That sounds silly, but if the two sides can stop pushing eachother away from the negotiations table with new settlements or new bombings, change can be worked out. It worked for Egypt, it worked for Jordan. I'm sure it can work for the rest of the nations, as well.
(One final note: I apologize in advance if anyone takes offense to any of this statement. I'm sorry, this was not intended to blame one side more than the other. Please, I'm trying to argue for tolerance. I'm sorry if some of it was strongly worded, but this is an issue I do have some connections to and so might have used some bad word choices I did not catch. Again, please don't be offended.)
Oh yeah, a couple of other small things:
1. I missed the pun in the title. Gah.
2. @Jessia, I think the sign that says "Bibi's Construction" is referring to Osama Bin Laden, so I think the artist is saying both sides are at fault. He owned (owns?) a construction company, a fter all.
3. I tried doing the maze. There's actually no way out. I wonder if that's part of the artist's point?
@Brendan: I believe that "Bibi" actually refers to Benjamin Netanyahu, the current Prime Minister of Israel (Bibi is his nickname).
Oh. Well, that's my fault.
("Bi" is the first two letters of his last name, after all, so it's not a totally bizarre assumption. Still, pardon my ignorance.)
@Amrit: I thought it may have something to do with all of the settlement-building in Jerusalem...it still just seemed a little one-sided to me. But thanks for clarifying!
@Jessia: No problem, thanks for bringing it to our attentions. I didn't give the Israeli flag much thought during my first cursory glance at the cartoon.
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