World War IV?

[igloo]

Paul Craig Roberts

September 25, 2002

Are your ready for WW IV?

Neoconservatives are preparing the groundwork for far-reaching and interminable U.S. involvement in the Middle East. Neoconservative leader Norman Podhoretz makes the case in the current issue of Commentary, the influential magazine of the American Jewish Committee, that it is not enough for the United States to attack only Afghanistan and Iraq. Podhoretz argues that "changes of regime are the sine qua non throughout the region."

The challenge that President Bush faces, says Podhoretz, is "to fight World War IV -- the war against militant Islam." He identifies the enemies: "The regimes that richly deserve to be overthrown and replaced are not confined to the three singled-out members of the axis of evil" (Iraq, Iran, North Korea). At a minimum, the axis should extend to Syria and Lebanon and Libya, as well as 'friends' of America like the Saudi royal family and Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, along with the Palestinian Authority."

Unlike the Bush administration, Podhoretz realizes that to overthrow the Taliban and Saddam Hussein is merely to stir a hornets' nest, while leaving in place multitudes of anti-Israeli and anti-American militants. Bush must own up to the true task, says Podhoretz, and find "the stomach to impose a new political culture on the defeated" Middle East, just as we did unapologetically to Germany and Japan.

There is logic to Podhoretz's argument. But do Bush and the American people understand that the imposition of secular democracy on Afghanistan and Iraq are merely beginning steps in the forceful political reconstruction of the entire Middle East by U.S. might?

Americans are indebted to Podhoretz for making it clear that a U.S. invasion of Iraq is the beginning of World War IV. President Bush and his strategic thinkers should ponder this carefully and be upfront with the American people. Getting rid of Saddam Hussein will not solve the Israeli-American conflict with militant Islam. On the contrary, it will widen the conflict.

How many sons, husbands, fathers, brothers, grandsons, uncles, cousins and friends are Americans willing to give to a war, the object of which is the social and political reconstruction of the Middle East?

Are the American people prepared to bear the tax and economic burden of such a prodigious undertaking? Indeed, with significant portions of its manufacturing and high-tech capability now located offshore, can the U.S. economy bear the burden?

Would such a struggle leave us exhausted, unable to confront the rising power of an ambitious China?

A more critical question is whether open borders have turned "the American people" into an abstraction. The Washington Post has always favored massive immigration because it builds Democratic voting rolls. But on Sept. 15, the newspaper called the United States a "Tower of Babel" whose sense of community has been shattered by the rise of ethnic media.

The Post reports that the penetration of what we are accustomed to call the major media is down to 43 percent of the U.S. population and dropping. Increasingly, "people in key metropolitan areas now get their news from ethnic newspaper and broadcast outlets."

California has 500 ethnic newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations, and online publications. The Post reports that there are "15 Thai-language newspapers in Los Angeles, several 24-hour radio stations for Pashto and Dari Speakers." Orange County has 30 Vietnamese publications, and California has 7 major ethnic dailies and flourishing Spanish-language TV networks.

The Post asks: "If you can't understand what your fellow subway rider is reading, if you can't follow the opinions he or she listens to each night, how can you hope to hold a discussion about national politics? Aren't our opinions and national discourse likely to become ever more Balkanized?"

Bush should ponder this question before he undertakes to reconstruct the Middle East. He must face the fact that his own country has been reconstructed by massive immigration from the Third World. Are these legions of hyphenated-Americans in sympathy with the neoconservative goals that control U.S. foreign policy?

Before the United Staets finds itself embroiled in a Middle East conflict for which it lacks both economic means and popular support, I propose a different solution: Terminate the Middle Eastern conflict by inviting the 5 million Jews in Israel to settle in the United States.

The entire population of Israel amounts to no more than two years of illegal Mexican immigration. The Jews can function here, if they wish, as an autonomous ethnic enclave just like all the other enclaves created by our short-sighted immigration policy.

Despite extreme measures, Israel is unable to defend itself from Palestinian terrorists. The United States will not be able to defend Israel or itself from one billion Muslims.

Trying to create a small Jewish state in a sea of Muslims was a 20th century mistake. Trying to reconstruct the Middle East would be a bigger mistake. Why not recognize the mistake, evacuate the Jews, leave the Muslims to themselves and focus on saving our own country?

[sassa]

who the fuck does he think he is, that this country can attack anyone they wish just because they deem them unlikeable...fuck the human race. i might as well buy an island in the south pacific and not even hear about this bullshit anymore, let the world kill itself.

[dnice35]

who the fuck does he think he is, that this country can attack anyone they wish just because they deem them unlikeable...fuck the human race. i might as well buy an island in the south pacific and not even hear about this bullshit anymore, let the world kill itself.

Do you think I can join you in your island? I mean you might need someone to argue with, otherwise it might get boring.

[bigpoppanils]

US ignorance of the outside world has led to problems before....remember the League of Nations folks? It was a UN without United States support....if it had been stronger it would have been able to combat the Axis powers much more effectively

and retreating from international relations wont solve our "problems" either....how the fuck are we supposed to counter "China's dominance" in international relations if we isolate ourselves?

[starcapone]

I welcome an Armaggedon. Look at the news, the people in power- people in general, history. One can't cut this countrys' hypocrisy with a chainsaw cuz it's too fucken thick!