The Bigger struggle
Reader comment on item: Analyst Calls for Redefinition of 'War on Terror'

Submitted by Glenn Klotz (United States), Aug 9, 2002 at 12:51

In a sense the coming war against Saddam' regime is part of a larger struggle that even Miltant Islam is just a small part of as well, this being the 100 yr. war we've been waging on and off against all anti-democratic states and the cultures they create.

Peace as we all know cannot exist for very long between "Unfree" dictatorships, or totalitarian regimes / societies and "Free" or democratic states. On the other hand history teaches us that democratic states don't fight each other, they compromise and negotiate differences. So once again I would say we should use the old paradigm of the cold war we in the "FREE" world are fighting against a variety of "UNFREE" societies some based on secular tyrannies ( China, Iraq,Libya,Syria N. Korea & Cuba) and others on religious tyranny (Saudi Arabia, Iran & Sudan. )

What they all have in common is that they are ruled by small groups of "unelected" people that don't share our democratic values and beliefs. For the moment it's Miltant Islam and Saddam's form of Near Eastern Fascisim, 50 yrs ago though it was Soviet Communism and 65 yrs ago it was Germany's Nazi Fascism and Japanese Imperialisic Militarism.

What we should be doing is trying to foster democratic values in some of our temporary allied "Unfree" states like Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait etc.. Other wise we'll find ourselves at war with them sooner or later. To that end smashing Saddam's regime and replacing it eventually with a democratic one will have a bracing effect on the entire "Unfree" world. The question is will Bush et al. now finish the job they started in 1991 ( the Gulf War/ Saddam) and 2001 (Afghanistan/Taliban) or once again bow to the kings, dictators, Ayatollahs/Mullahs and the spineless European politicians /parties and the American isolationist that support them? Is America willing to stand up for "Universal" Human Rights and Freedom now or will it wait till one or more of it's cities is obliterated by the terrorist gangs these societies are now breeding to kill us. The war rages on only the tactics change. As it has been said in the past, and I agree, "none of us are free until all of us are!"

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