Tough on Terror or...Military Solutions Are Not For Pussies

Pakistanis were in an uproar over the weekend after remarks made by two '08 candidates, crowd favorite Barack Obama and Colorado's resident racist, Tommy Tancredo.

Obama's statement supporting a possible military strike against al-Qaida inside Pakistan's borders, IF the intelligence supported it, ignited anti-U.S. sentiments among Islamic groups. These were further inflamed by Tancredo's solution for deterring a nuclear terrorist attack against the U.S.: threaten to bomb Islam's two most holy cities, Mecca and Medina. This is not the first of Tancredo's ridiculous statements during the few short months since the campaign started. He also supports deporting ALL illegal immigrants as soon as possible, and referred to Miami as a third-world nation.

While yes, Sen. Obama's view on the issue of strikes within Pakistan are a slight misstep on his part, by itself it is out of context with the rest of his foreign policy. Earlier this week he was attacked by Hillary Clinton again for ruling out the use of nuclear weapons in the war on terrorism. Clinton claimed that "presidents never take the nuclear option off the table". Well they sure as hell should. If anyone fired a nuclear weapon, we would all be in a dire situation. America should lead the way to disarmament and be the first ones to take it off the table. Many could see Obama's hopes and goals as foolish and a pipe dream, but maybe thats what we need these days.

As for Tancredo. It is easy to understand, from his willingness to launch a strike against Mecca, that he is a nutjob. But it exposes a dangerous belief that is popular among the ignorant and the religious right. That is, that the actions of radical terrorist groups are rooted in the Islamic faith, that they hate America because we're a Christian nation, and that Muslims are our "enemy". All of this is fundamentally moronic. The actions of al-Qaida are politically motivated, admittedly fueled by a radical fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. Their goals are not actually to destroy America or kill Christians, they are to unite the region's Islamic nations under the rule of a single caliphate.

In fact, many views about the motivations behind violence in the Middle East are similarly erroneous. I have heard it said that the Sunni-Shi'a conflict is "all about religion", which if you think about it, is ridiculous. They aren't yelling about the Prophet's nephew's being the true source of guidance whilst firing their Ak-47's. No, the conflict is more akin to the Rwandan genocide, in that the Sunnis, a minority in Iraq, were in power for the years leading up to their "liberation", and they were a bit on the oppressive side towards the majority Shi'as. Now that they have a majority-rule "government", the Sunnis feel threatened. True true, there are about a million other factors, but what it all boils down to is this: power. Political power through control of the government, oil fields, killing fields, whatever. Power feels good. And they both want it.

Sunni's don't hate Shi'as because they follow Imams, they're afraid of their power. Just like Muslims don't hate "us" because we're Christians, but aren't too fond of us for invading their countries and killing their kin.