Political and personal musings

The difficulties of imposing a democratic dogma upon a theocratic society)

On 10 September, 2001, I was fresh into my second enlistment and looking forward to a life of stateside service with the 10Th Mountain Division, out of Fort Drum, NY. I could never have predicted that the next day’s events would follow, but Soldiers are of a different breed, and react differently to situations than the majority of people reading this. I sat there in shock and awe for about three minutes the next day, when the second tower fell. My platoon sergeant looked at us all and said “All right! Everyone go back to your rooms and pack! Meet me back here in two hours!” My life has never been the same. I have deployed to Afghanistan three times since then, and have learned a lot about the Afghan peoples, Muslims in general, the nation of Islam, our own government and the changes in the military. Everything that I have learned has caused me to personally believe that this war is un-winnable. There is no way we as a nation can rightfully impose Democracy in this country without force, nor win the war on terrorism, because of the inherent belief-structure of these people.

From a geopolitical standpoint, the United States is not in a favorable position. Granted, we are the most powerful nation in the world militarily, and we are certainly the most compassionate nation, but we are the most restricted as well. Our social and economic dependence upon the provisions of other nations has caused us to become the global police. We are trapped in our own might, almost as though it is our responsibility to bring democracy to the rest of the world because of our affluence. Without our backing, I believe that NATO and the United Nations would lose much of their influence. It is only rarely, and in small conflicts, that they step in to preach for peace, or to keep peace militarily without our having occupied that territory first. NATO is in the process of taking over operations in Afghanistan, five full years after we first invaded. It took them the better part of seven years to step in and toe the line in Bosnia-Herzegovina (I was there after that transfer, as well), and that was in NATO’s own back yard. Our power seems to have become a bone of contention between the “enlightened nations” (superpowers and second-tier nations), and third-world and tertiary nations (Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Syria, Lebanon etc…), who feel that we are using and abusing our global status to affect democratic change in formerly
autocratic nations (sticking our nose where it doesn’t belong). Public opinion, on a global level can be devastating to a nation’s credibility, and will almost certainly result in future religious and personal bias from satellite nations (the war in Afghanistan causes accusations of impropriety in the form of economic or political sanctions against Pakistan for example).

From a religious standpoint, most of the “war on terror” has, and will be fought against Muslims. The IRA, while dangerous in their area, is a terrorist organization, but not in a nation that the United States is willing to risk its political reputation on. As unfortunate as our supposed bias is, it seems to be the way that this war works. So we are going after the Muslim nations (or, at least starting there), creating a second crusade atmosphere. While comparatively impoverished and militarily crippled, these nations have one unifying factor that makes them more dangerous than we could ever hope to be: A unifying system of beliefs. Our open way of life (as far as decisions and religion are concerned) has made us into a powerful nation, the decisions leading up to this way of life, however, have made us into a soft nation, as well, akin to a has-been prize fighter. We can still pack a hell of a punch, but we are no longer as popular as we used to be.

The religion of Islam actually preaches that Muslims are to heed Allah’s call and wage jihad on the unbelievers in at least 154 verses throughout twenty-four separate Chapters or Suras (for a list of verses please go to  http://www.challenging-islam.org/articles/jihadverses.htm ). Fanatic Muslims preach that we, as Christians in the United States and Europe are the infidels. That belief, though misdirected, gives them a sense of purpose that will unify them in ways that we could never hope for. Additionally, Americans have a short attention span and appear to have lost our sense of community, especially from a
religious standpoint. Because of our lack of unity (or our self-absorbed way of life, as dictated through our advertising and me-first attitude), it takes a disaster to pull us together. We stay around temporarily until things seem to be well underway, and then turn all responsibility over to the government (or, in the case of the global war on terror, NATO). Fanatics (and we are fighting against only fanatics, not Muslims as a whole) make things into all consuming causes. Fanatics have taken the teachings of their religion (possibly misinterpreted. I am actually reading the Koran for research, but it is slow going.), and whipped themselves into a frenzy we can only hope to match briefly. We are too compassionate to outright kill them, and won’t want to stick around for the long fight until they tire out. Their religion gives them their beliefs, and their beliefs give them an edge that we cannot hope to match for any extended period of time. This is a group of people that have held grudges for centuries.

I contest that the people of Afghanistan are too fragmented as a society to accept Democracy voluntarily. For democracy to work without force, it requires a popularized belief system and a common goal that is not based in religious ideology, combined with a non-polarized society. Afghanistan is the antithesis of this definition. I am aware that our money, our courts and our government all trust in God, but our society was founded upon the principle of free worship. This idea of free worship has transcended into a system of freedom in all aspects, and made us into a proud democracy. A society based solely upon secular beliefs is known as a theocracy, and leaves little room for interpretation or outside influence. Imposition of a form of government requiring freedom on to a restrictive society results in little more than a facade, with a puppet leader in place. Hamid Karzai is a well-intentioned man, with the United States backing, but without a majority representation among his peoples. Hopefully his beliefs represent the future of Afghanistan, but I believe that it will be several decades before they can come to fruition. The people of Afghanistan, again, are a fragmented society. They have miles and miles between villages, often with no way of communication besides car (and, recently, cell-phone). Outside of cities like Kabul and Kandahar, they rely on tribal law and religious customs to decide the fate of their peoples. It is not unusual for them to go months without news of any sort from neighboring villages. Their daily lives leave no room for the concerns of others anyway, as making a life in this hardscrabble existence seems to take up all their time, and understandably so.

This is not to say that they were not grateful for our intervention in ousting the Taliban, or unaware. They were extremely grateful. The Taliban imposed a set of rules upon the Afghan peoples that left no room for thought, art, music or joy. What the Afghan peoples did not count on, or condone was a continued military presence from the United States, and a subsequent resurgence of Taliban activity. This, coupled with the war in Iraq has given birth to a wave of anti-U.S. sentiment that is quickly spreading not only through Afghanistan, but through dogmatic and theocratic countries within the Middle East and Southwest Asia then spilling into the enlightened nations in the European Union, and affecting our trade with Europe as a whole.

Problems within our own borders give even grimmer promise to the outcome of this war on terror. As a whole, the American peoples have not only had enough of our self-imposed jihad, but enough of George Bush as well. In a nation that cannot sit through reruns of Hill Street Blues without flipping the channel, how did we, as a people ever expect to make it through a war that lasted in excess of five years? We cry about the deaths of two thousand Soldiers (I feel for them all, and have known a few, but it is the smallest number ever from a U.S. led conflict, especially one spanning two fronts on separate continents.), forgetting conveniently that the death toll for Vietnam exceeded two-hundred thousand American deaths and spanned the presidencies of Kennedy, Eisenhower, and Truman  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/vietnamwar ). For this, I blame pop-culture, 295,000 channels of cable television, and 900 different medications for ADD (and every other psychological disorder that stems from children playing video games instead of getting fresh air). While I acknowledge the uses for Ritalin, I feel that the needs for it are based solely upon our own culture, and of our own making, providing perfect examples of a systemic set of issues that have given justification to the Muslim world for calling us the Great Satan. If we cannot pull together as a nation and back our president in his global endeavors for more than 6 months, especially when it concerns retribution against the Taliban for the intentional murder of 2,819 people, then why are we still in the fight?

Mission migration has proved to be a problem as well. In 2001, the United States worked diligently to hunt down Osama Bin Laden, tracking through the Hindu-Kush mountains during Operation Anaconda and fighting a bitter battle against entrenched Taliban forces. In 2005, I returned for a third tour in country to find humanitarian assistance missions occurring, with food drops and school supplies taking precedence over the original mission. The Taliban are still a credible force, as evidenced by the rising tide of U.S. and coalition casualties. Why, then are we adding a second mission on top of our original?

Financially, this war on terror is a disaster. Kellogg, Brown, and Root in conjunction with other U.S. contractors have cost our nation hundreds of billions of dollars so that we can say that we have reduced our military footprint in Afghanistan. Oddly enough, these contractors do not provide a single service that cannot be provided by ourselves. KBR (known during the Bosnia-Herzegovina days as Brown and Root) has proceeded to charge the U.S. twenty-two dollars per meal, and forty-five dollars for a twelve-pack of soda. These prices are outrageous, but not surprising, as they proceeded to charge the government five dollars per gallon of gas in 2003. Couple KBR with the eleven other contractors near Bagram alone, and then ask yourself why there is no money for public education or cancer research. For years, the government has been paying outrageous prices to contractors that are running dining facilities and fuel points for a fighting force comprised of cooks and fuelers to guarantee the American public that we are not putting U.S. citizens lives at risk (when in fact most of the contractors are American).

George W. Bush has had a hard time of this war. The blame is not only on him, but the American public and their views as well. I am afraid that his reputation will sink even further; and as this endeavor concludes, the next president will have to clean up his mess. In his defense, he made the decisions he thought was best, without concern for the viewpoints of the people. While he tried very hard, the backing just wasnt there no matter his intentions. There is no easy solution to this. We cannot simply pull out
and let these people suffer, because we have began a humanitarian mission, and must see it through. We cannot continue this war, because it is costing us billions with no results. We cannot target other terrorist groups, because we have not been provoked. What a mess that we have gotten ourselves into. I hope that if we invade North Korea or Iran for their nuclear technology that we learn from these mistakes.