Knowing Is Half the Battle

Reading the Guardian's online coverage of this stillborn "terrorist" plot against airplanes in the United Kingdom, I was struck by the number of stories devoted to the War on Terrorism, or the Long War or the Struggle Against Extremism or whatever the hell they are calling it this month.

First there is the obvious coverage of the "Aircraft Terror Plot". As I scrolled down, I read about the mighty Israeli Defense Force struggling to take a single hill occupied by determined Hizbullah soldiers. Then this was followed by a story on yet another daily bombing in Iraq and one comparing the current level of fighting in southern Afghanistan with that of the Korean War. Reading these stories, one would be inclined to think that we're not doing so good in these wars; we might even lose.

First of all, I must say that I consider very few of these wars to be just. Some might have just aspects but with all the vice it's hard to recognize. We have gotten into these wars for childish reasons, dressed up as serious, humanitarian motivations; essentially, you hit me so I'm going to hit you back. The truth is that we reacted thoughtlessly and now we are paying the price. Mindfulness is always a virtue. So let's think about our spending priorities given the front page of today's Guardian Unlimited.

Given that the US spends $400 billion on defense annually, surely we should be receiving a better return on investment. Add to that the military budgets of other NATO and "Coalition of the Willing" countries and the total probably climbs to maybe $450 or $500 billion (way to blow away the competition US). I propose that it's time that we rethink our priorities. Guns and bombs and tanks are inherently disposable whereas goodwill isn't. The 20 tanks that Hizbullah destroyed today aren't coming back, but rest assured that Israel will replace them at great expense. Seems to be a moronic waste of money given that having these advanced and deadly weapons can't prevent a determined guy from blowing up his shoe in the mid-Atlantic and spreading panic in the airline industry.

How about for one year, just one year, we divert our defense spending? With all that money, we could treat and possibly even cure all the major diseases like HIV, malaria, tuberculosis that torment millions of the world's poor. We could even use say $10 billion to bribe the Israelis to leave the West Bank and Gaza Strip because God knows they're not leaving any other way. And then spend another $10 billion giving the Palestinians rock solid infrastructure and housing as the foundation of their new state. Instantly most of the support for Islamic extremism would dry up. Hell we might even be able to bribe India and Pakistan to leave Kashmiris to decide their own futures which would further erode popular support for Islamists in South Asia. Ultimately we could spend this vast sum of money differently and I would argue better. Slowly we are realizing that warheads and tanks don't provide security. Only solidarity and cooperation builds security.

You see my fellow Canadians, foreigners can smell our hypocrisy every time we enter a room. We think that by being a rich donor nation that we are entitled to respect; that's our tax dollars after all right? And when we lecture the powerless on the need to make peace at any cost, while we never would, they retch. There comes a point when our hypocrisy, which we are blind to, drives them mad and they decide to take up arms (or shoes) against us. They have tried to explain their grievances to us peacefully but we are blissfully unaware and laugh them off. In response to their crimes we claim they merely use violence for violence's sake (as so many ridiculous politicians claim and we ape) without any actual, tangible grievances. But in as much as we have justice on our side so do they. Once we recognize this we'll be able to move forward.

And last but not least, it's interesting that the UK's emergency committee that meets when a major attack is underway is called COBRA. I hope that wasn't a Freudian slip. Tony, I guess you didn't you watch G.I. Joe. Lots of young males like me were raised on that trash so when we read that you're calling yourself COBRA we are understandably confused. Are we the good guys or the bad guys? Perhaps there is no good or evil, just choices with consequences? Do you really want us peons asking those questions, or any questions for that matter?