By Dave Marin
Other Voices
“These are the times that try men’s souls.” So begins Thomas Paine’s first crisis paper written in the midst of the American Revolution.What an appropriate thought for our current moment of terror!
The purpose here is not to offer “the solution” but to raise some issues which we must confront every hour of every day.While we readily refer to our contemporary anti-drug campaign as a war, The War On Terrorism comes much closer to General Sherman’s definition as “hell”. As a veteran of WWII, Korea and the Cold war, I am well aware of what war can do to a nation. While nationally unscathed since our own Civil War, Pearl Harbor and the Twin Tower attacks proved to be horrendous exceptions. Yet each differed in impact. Pearl Harbor provided us with an immediate enemy and the general reaction was metamorphic. It went much deeper than the display of flags. The Twin Tower-Pentagon attacks aroused immediate terror, but also left us confused. Where, what, who was the enemy? This ephemeral assault spread immediate fear and panic in epidemic proportions, yet without any clarity. With the estimated total expenditure of about one half million dollars, this mystic enemy was about to break our bank. We witnessed the Reagan administration bring the Soviet Union to its knees economically and we saw immediate signs of it happening here, with over 5,000 deaths, a declining stock market and mass unemployment.
Still largely confused, we seem content to choose naivete over pragmatism. We seem indifferent to our tremendous dependence on foreign oil or the fact that every 18-year-old in this country is eligible for the draft system which could be activated in a matter of hours, if necessary. It took us a long time to recognize our mistakes in Vietnam, having the French record laid out before us. We observed the Russians chasing phantoms in Afghanistan for over a decade before they pulled out. And the same thing could happen again, if we don’t know where we are headed.
We have spent approximately $30 billion a year on intelligence. We developed expertise in keeping the cold war cold. Yet these massive bureaucracies seemed incapable of switching their focus from a Soviet conflagration to a potential religious war. It seem almost improbable that the CIA, NSA and the FBI had not run through a scenerio involving hijacked commercial planes as weapons of mass destruction. Why we stood by as these religious extremists were successful in spreading their fundamentalist hatred through all the media.
Now the question is what steps we as individuals can take immediately. First off, let’s get real. For example on the oil dependency problem, let’s get real about car pooling and lowering the speed limits immediately (it worked before). Let’s get real about how essential Israel is to our security in the Middle East. As my wife put it, there probably would not have been a Gulf War if Kuwait raised bananas. In a period that will see more unemployment, let’s put our tax money (surplus?), to work improving our mass transit systems, our bridges, our railroad beds, as well as securing our more than 100 atomic power plants. Display your flag every day, but also consider enrolling in an American Red Cross emergency class. Support your churches in their efforts to raise money for the victims of the attack, as well as to feed and shelter the homeless. Serve in any way you can. And when you grow concerned about human rights violations in China, take a look at Saudi Arabia, our ally.
Finally, before I leave the Israeli issue hanging, let me suggest that you review the history of the Middle East prior to WWI, when it was under the total domination of the Islamic Ottoman Empire. Check out the true histories of modern Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, not to mention Saudi Arabia.
Then ask yourself how important is the security of Israel to your getting enough gas to commute to work each day.
Consider seriously the problem of landing American ground troops in Afghanistan, a country whose territory resembles the moon and faces the arrival of winter before a month passes. Recall General MacArthur’s warning about getting involved in a ground war in Asia. Or think about last week’s warning by Stephen Ambrose, America’s leading authority on war history. “Fighting In Afghanistan,” he wrote, “may be similar to the battles for Iwo Jima and Okinawa … where Japanese soldiers endured American bombardments in 1945 by hiding in caves and tunnels.”
I won’t shock you here with the total losses we suffered in both of these battles.
In closing, let me return to the prophetic quote of Tom Paine: “The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of his country.”
But for the future of your country and mine: “DON’T.”
Dave Marin is a Los Altos resident.
