LP Presidential candidate Michael Badnarik has filled in his previous too vague position on the War on Terror/Iraq invasion.
I think I liked him better vague. That status is much better than what he's come up with after more careful thought.
He claims that the Middle East "do not hate us for our freedom. They do not hate us for our lifestyle. They hate us because we have spent many years attempting to force them to emulate our lifestyle." This is simply, demonstrably false. Like most regions, there are several political currents in the Middle East. One, the Islamist current, absolutely hates us for our lifestyle and say so loudly and proudly. You only have to read what they write and listen to what they say.
The Islamist current is the animating force behind Al Queda, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hezbollah, and most of the rest of the Who's Who of Middle East terror groups. Even adopting relatively conservative social customs will not placate these people. They, by holy writ, are obligated to humiliate christians and jews, treating us as second class citizens with circumscribed rights and differential taxation. It is a religious commandment to make "people of the Book" dhimmis. For atheists and other religions humiliation is not enough. Only death will do for the Shinto faithful, the Buddhist, and the atheist.
It is true that the US has made a hash of things by supporting authoritarians over the past several decades. President Bush has admitted it and has turned over a new leaf in US foreign policy, trying to undo the damage we have done, a task that has been very much advanced by the invasion of Iraq. Whether active attempts to undo prior damage is a better strategy than withdrawing and letting the locals sort themselves out is debatable but we have multiple stories, multiple threats, and with Islamists on the rise it is impossible for us to responsibly leave the area entirely.
Badnarik has a long way to go before he achieves a responsible libertarian Middle East policy.
Posted by TMLutas at July 7, 2004 06:56 PM