Not the War We Needed

Good article by Barbara Ehrenreich in this month's edition of The Progressive. Here's her conclusion:

Whatever motivates current U.S. foreign policy--oil, domestic politics, or the Oedipal rage of a lackluster son--it isn't likely to make us any safer. The war in Afghanistan, combined with Bush's meek stance toward Sharon, has already convinced Muslims throughout the world that their lives have no value to America's leaders. An invasion of Iraq and the attendant "collateral damage" will harden the impression that the United States is pursuing its own kind of jihad--against the Islamic world. Inevitably, a generation of young Muslims in Riyadh or Cairo or Hamburg will seek martyrdom by taking out some of us.

So here we are, caught inside the horror film we know so well from the screen. 9/11 awakened us briefly from our fantasies of sex and murder and weight loss to the existence of an implacably hostile Other. But like the partying teens in the movies, the people in charge can't seem to figure out a way of responding that doesn't recklessly escalate the danger.