In one way, the Israeli loss hurts the US, because, Israel, as the USA's proxy, using USA weapons and intelligence, was unable to conquer a band of terrorists. This suggests that the US military, with a lesser reputation for smarts and success, already struggling with a reputation for poor planning and underestimating the enemy and the needs of the troops, will do equally badly and probably even worse, since American troops are not fighting an enemy that is raining bombs on their families.
But in another way, the Israeli loss helps both the US and Iran and Israel. There has been a powerful group within the Bush administration, including Cheney, Rumsfeld, Perle, Wolfowitz and Bush himself, who have wanted to take the "war on terrorism" to Iran. These are the same "chickenhawks," war hawks who never fought in a war themselves, who led the charge into the disastrous Iraq quagmire. And having failed to see what a catastrophe Iraq has become, what a failure and distraction from actually protecting the US from terrorism, these misguided "leaders" were hoping that a quick, successful Israeli "clean-up" of Hezbollah, would have been a great practice run for a go at Syria and Iran, and the anger it would have produced in Iran and Syria might have even erupted into such a war.
That fantasy didn't happen, just as the Iraqis didn't welcome the Americans bearing flowers. The Israelis demonstrated just how difficult a war with Syria and Iran would be. Yes, the US could take out their infrastructure in a few days. But that would lead to an Iranian resistance which would quickly take out their oil production, which would royally piss off their main customers, including Japan and China. Anyway, now that Israel has so helpfully demonstrated what a mess the US would be in if it attacked Syria and Iran, perhaps the people of the USA and the people of Iran will not have to go through such a horror. And on that account, the Israelis may win too, because clearly, if the US ever does attack Iran, one of the first things Iran will do is to fire bigger, much bigger rockets, probably Chinese and Russian built, at Israel's biggest cities. It is highly likely that the death toll and destruction to Israel will be massive, since the Iranians, taking after Hezbollah, well, actually having coached Hezbollah, will probably shoot to produce the most destruction and carnage.
Then there the American Jews who blindly support Israel no matter what it does. These are the people who talk about killing all of Hezbollah and while they're at it, all the Muslims. These are the people who have been so proud of Israel's tough, mythic facade of smart, military invincibility. Well, it's over. Israel finally lost, and lost big. All the weapons, all the soldiers, 100% US cooperation, intelligence and support and this experiment in dealing with middle east conflict was a failure. It showed the American Jews who have been using Israeli toughness as a form of Viagra, as a vicarious way to feel macho that the Israeli army is not all powerful and it can't just go out and kick ass anywhere, any time it wants to. These Jewish American chickenhawks (not the ones who went off to fight in the Israeli army, they're a different breed, like crusaders, going off to fight in God's name,) particularly the Orthodox religious extremists who fill up with pride over Israel's military glory, will have to reevaluate their external sources of self esteem. It's about time. Israel needs to drop back a few yards and turn down the macho factor, maybe let the women figure out how to find peace where war has been the habit for so long.
* * *
This is where I go way, way out on a limb, in very speculative territory.
Maybe we can learn from evolution. The dinosaurs kept getting bigger and bigger, then geological and climatological changes developed that were so severe, the big creatures, with their specialized environmental needs could not adapt. Much tinier mammals were able to survive. Today, we have giant superpowers with massive weapons that can obliterate bridges and cities, yet these superpowers can't deal with the asymmetric warfare waged by guerillas who blend in with the civilians, who are not even nations. The way to deal with terrorists is to send out thousands of people who seek peace and understanding, to field armies of people who respect local cultures and who offer education without evangelism, food and health care without requiring Christian conversion and listening to preaching. Communism has, for the most part, fallen in the face of consumerism and digital communications. Perhaps it is necessary to allow the Shiites to conquer their monarchical rulers, to let them go through the process of strict cultural rigidity, just as the Soviets and the Maoists did, before they came out the other side of the revolution.
I'm certainly not saying we should encourage Sh'ia theofascist governments, but maybe, if we, instead of supporting and protecting dictatorships and monarchies, we helped fromt he perspective of freedom, the terrorists would not see us as their enemies. Their enmity towards us might melt away and disappear.
The US, with its corporately dominated "democracy" at risk, may not be the best example of what this world needs. We certainly need to clean up the mess we have here, with the bill of rights in tatters and corporations, more and more setting the rules for how humans live, eat and even breath and an environment that corporations define.
We have to face the facts that war ain't what it used to be, Democracy and the USA ain't what they used to be, and we haven't reached the ninth inning yet, but the people in congress and the Whitehouse have been striking out for over five years. We need to figure out what we want to win, and then, just maybe, we can figure out how.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
