As President Bush is wont to say: “If you’re not with us, you’re against us.”
Who is with us in the War Against Terrorism? The vast majority of the citizenry – and the government – of virtually every member of the United Nations.
Who is against us in the upcoming unsanctioned invasion of Iraq? The vast majority of the citizenry – if not the government – of virtually every member of the United Nations.
We are in real danger of transforming – by a single unilateral act – a world where everyone is with us into a world where everyone is against us.
Of course the warhawks – who turn chicken when confronted with nukes – don’t care. They are hell-bent on establishing an American hegemony, which will be – almost by definition – a world where everyone is against us.
They don’t care – but should you?
According to Osama bin Laden, you have become the principal target of al-Qaida because a decade after the Gulf War, Yankee infidels still occupy – and thereby desecrate – portions of the Arabian peninsula that are sacred to Islam.
It will be worse for you under the American hegemony. The warhawks intend to invade, soon, and occupy – indefinitely – most of the Middle East, including all that is sacred to Islam. Invade soon, before they get nukes. Occupy indefinitely, because simply changing the regime of an Islamic state won’t make it less hostile to Israel.
Making the Middle East safe for Israel is, of course, a principal goal of the American hegemony. But how about making America safe for you?
To do that, the warhawks would have to confront North Korea.
Kim Jong-Il has just abrogated the Clinton-Carter Agreed Framework, withdrawn from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, thrown the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors out, ripped the IAEA padlocks and seals off the plutonium-producing nuclear reactor and has begun recovering plutonium from spent-fuel. The CIA and the IAEA independently estimate that, by June, Jong-Il will have recovered enough plutonium from his existing spent-fuel to make 6 to 10 nukes.
There has been no reaction to the Korean nuke threat, yet, by the neo-chickens.
Nor to North Korean fighter jets violating South Korean air space. Nor to the attempted force-down of a U.S. spy plane flying just off the coast. Nor to Jong-Il’s chilling announcement that he is no longer bound by the 1953 Korean War Armistice.
So, shortly after we violate the 1991 Gulf War Armistice, Kim Jong-Il may well send his million-man army south to “peacefully” unify the Korean peninsula. The South Koreans want unification and may not offer much resistance.
What about the 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea? Won’t they resist? Yes, that’s why the neo-chickens want them evacuated from the Korean peninsula as soon as possible.
So, while the warhawks annex Iraq, Jong-Il will be allowed to annex South Korea. Meanwhile, what will be going on in Pakistan?
Dictator Pervez Musharraf has been key to the success we have thus far had in the War Against Terrorism. Immediately after Sept. 11, he turned against the Taliban, which his own Inter-Services Intelligence agency had essentially created and sustained. Despite fierce opposition from Islamic fundamentalists, he allowed us to invade Afghanistan through Pakistan, defeat the Taliban and rout al-Qaida.
Consequently, Musharraf’s hold on power is tenuous. Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida continue to have enormous support among Pakistani citizenry and elected officials. The al-Qaida “mastermind” just arrested by the ISI – and turned over to us by Musharraf – was reportedly staying in the home of a high-ranking Pakistani elected official.
Iraq has neither nukes nor ballistic missiles, so Iraq is no threat to you. But, Pakistan has both nukes and ballistic missiles. Furthermore, the Pakistanis traded lots of their nuke stuff to North Korea for those ballistic missiles. North Korea has, in turn, sold ballistic missiles and some nuke stuff to Iran.
Now, Musharraf says he won’t allow Jong-Il or Osama to have Pakistani nukes or nuke stuff. But what good are the promises Musharraf makes if he is assassinated for making them to us?
Of course, we don’t know that Kim Jong-Il will seize the opportunity to “unify” Korea. Nor do we know that Jong-Il – or Musharraf’s successor – will sell nukes to Osama. But, no matter how the unsanctioned U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq turns out, you probably shouldn’t ask our former allies in the War Against Terrorism: “Are you with us, or against us?” You may not like the answer.
