Wretcherd is spot on in his analysis that the West runs a risk of losing those characteristics that make it special in the face of perpetual war. This is one of the great sources of discomfort I have with our present War on Terrorism. There aren't good enough victory metrics. This doesn't mean that the war should stop, as some on the left would advocate, but we do need a sober examination of what would constitute victory and how to get from here to there as quickly as possible without becoming monsters.
The problem is that we might not be in a strong enough position to engage in that necessary, honest discussion. Frank talk about the tyranny in Saudi Arabia, the aggressive nihilism of palestinian arabs and the widespread financial support it receives in so many OPEC states, these are all subjects that could upset the current state of OPEC and actually cause the authoritarian and dictatorial OPEC states to band together and exercise their ability to tank the modern worldwide industrial economic system.
Is there a solution for this? Wretchard's articles are a good start, and everybody else should follow up on them with their own observations. The problem is that our official representatives in government may be, no likely will be restrained from openly addressing these topics as long as the age of oil continues.
Posted by TMLutas at January 16, 2004 11:10 AM