Robert L. Canfield
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The following is an outline of concerns I put together
after trying (with little success) to explain to someone with a very different
point of view why I am so concerned about the world situation at this time.
I fear that many of the values that most Americans take for granted are
at risk. This is my own list
of worries. It does not include
the kinds of things that many people would include.
There is nothing here about the environment or homeland security, etc.
The statement seems at this moment to have two foci:
my problems with the American administration;
my problems with circumstances in the Muslim world.
>Why
am I so troubled about the contemporary situation? >The
Bush administration has not made a serious enough commitment to Afghanistan/Pakistan >They
secured >They
have not found a way to deal with tribal territory, which currently >not
only protects Osama but is >still
running madrassas that teach young men to hate the West. >The
Bush administration invaded >The
administration flouted the advice and opinion of other state leaders and
so created distrust among our closest friends. >They
invaded preemptively, a very un-American action >They
supposed that Saddam has WMD and could
use them to shut down Saudi oil flows with nuclear blasts [and thereby
cut world oil supplies by 12% [the worst we have seen so far was only 3%]] >They
thought it would not cost much because the oil production of >They
thought it was a way to break up money flows that nourish the radical movement
against >They
could shut down >They
used the attack on >They
expected the Iraqis to welcome us as the Afghans did >They
thought we could set up a ruling council similar to that which was put
in motion in >They
seem to have underestimated Saddam’s radical supporters. >They
seem to have prepared inadequately for the post-war situation >The
presence of American troops in >In
general, the approach of the Bush administration and the elected representatives
in congress and the senate has been to defer all the big problems/ questions
to later.They are spending money
in huge amounts but have no idea how it is to be paid for.They
are leaving all the fiscal issues to be dealt with by the next two generations
– “as far as the eye can see”. >In
general the Bush administration seems essentially responsive to large business
interests and are secretive about the way they have come to their policies
[Chaney re energy; Bush/Chaney are known to have personal connections with
Kenneth Lay, former head of Enron.] >The
religious communities within the >The
“left” in the West seems fixed on opposing Bush policy in >The
American public is dangerously apathetic:we
are still getting less than 50% of eligible voters to participate in elections. >In
the mean time moneyed interests exert controlling interests on the behavior
of elected officials, whereas the ordinary public – many of whom have no
institutions to lobby for them – are apathetic. >In
particular, there is a dangerous informal tie between the leaders of our
country and those of >There
is a movement against the >What
I think about most Muslims: >Most
Muslims are not Arabs >Most
Muslims are not much concerned about the >Most
Muslims are not radical >But
many are enticed and/ or offended by Western culture [ >What
I think about radical Islam >This
is an infinitesimal number (out of 1.4 billion) but they are politically
active and dangerously committed >Islamists
are a creation of radical strains of Islamic doctrine, some of them very
old [Wahhabism, Deobandism].Some
are modern applications of old traditions in more modern form [ >Wahhabism
[ >Muslim
Brethren [a modern movement in >Deobandism
[a reactionary movement in >Sudanese
Islam [a recrudescence of 19th c. Mahdism?] >Islamists
were emboldened by >the
Iranian Revolution, in which after an internal struggle Shi`ite clerics
took over >the
war in >ManyIslamists
are being recruited from the ranks of the young and unemployed.In
much of the region of the >Islamists
are being created and perpetuated >in >where
mujahedin are needed to wage a war in the name of Islam in >where,
in >whose
tribal peoples have traditionally seen themselves as faithful defenders
of Islam against the encroachments of outsiders and outside religions into
their territory.Their people are
protecting Osama and Mulla M. Omar. >in
the >in >And
they are being deployed in wars they take to be holy wars, >in
the >in >in >in
Chechnia which was a secular Muslim movement originally and has become
co-opted by radical Muslims, >In >And
there are other wars where radical Islamic fighters are likely contributing
to local conflict: >In
the >In
the >In >Islamists >believe
the existence of the oppressive regimes of the >believe
their zeal won the war against the >believe
Westerners are effete and will cut and run if warfare becomes too costly
in lives:Examples are the flight
of American Marines from >are
well funded by huge amounts of money:some
of it in legal enterprises [oil industry, other local industries], some
of it in illegal trade and barter [drugs, weapons, other contraband] (Napoleoni,
Modern Jehad;
Baer, Sleeping with the Devil) >At
the same time the peoples of the Muslim world are diverse and very divided >Many
of the most educated people in >Pan-
Arabism (which held several states together, including Saddam’s Iraqi state)
was a secular movement encouraged by Christians (Saddam’s PM [or foreign
minister?] came from a Christian community) >There
is among the Muslim populaces a strong distrust between Shi`a and Sunni >Al Qaeda
and Taliban in >Iranian
Shi`a are distrusted by most other Muslim nations because of theirShi`ism:even
Iraqi Shi`a distance themselves from the Iranian Shi`a >However,
at higher levels there seems to be a clandestine accommodation between
leaders of the two sects: >Son
of Osama has been living in Teheran >Saudi
and Iranian regimes seem to have made an accommodation on some issues (at
the highest levels) >Virtually
all the oil resources of the >In
eastern >In
southern >In >In
the Muslim world a struggle has been going on between secularists and Islamists.[Will
it continue and become more serious within the Muslim community?] >Egyptian
government vs Muslim Brotherhood; the radical elements of the Muslim Brethren
fled to > > > > >Some
important Muslim countries are divided in multiple ways > > >A
question: Is the younger generation up to these challenges?They
will have to do better than my generation has done. |