Root Causes, President Bush, and the Art of War
by Glenn R. Jackson
As Secretary Powell returns from the Middle East, and the President’s war plans slip further off course, it is always worth noting the art of war. Two maxims of war require repeating. Nation’s to succeed in a new war must not be caught fighting the last war. The second from the writings of Sun Tzu, “appear unexpectedly at points your enemy must hasten to defend.” It is surprising to see this administration full of old hands being caught so completely off guard by both.
The Bush administration, in fighting the last war, is engaged in a strategy developed to overcome the threat of Saddam Hussein and Iraq and is missing, to the detriment of U.S. success, a chance to defeat the true enemy. The enemy we fight is not a nation-state but an ideological variant that has gained a great following. It holds people and nations captive much as the false philosophy of communism did. The enemy in this new war is a militant Islamic philosophy, and it has been gaining ascendancy for the last 50 years.
During the Fateh offensive of the Iran/Iraq war, Robin Wright writing in her book “Sacred Rage,” reported that she saw “scores of boys, aged anywhere from nine to sixteen, who said with staggering and seemingly genuine enthusiasm that they had volunteered to become martyrs.” These youth’s, “known as baseeji,” had a unique mission. “They led the way, running over fields of mines to clear the ground for the Iranian ground assault. Wearing white headbands…shouting “Shaheed, shaheed” (“Martyr, martyr”), they literally blew their way into heaven.”
While young children cannot fly planes yet, do we think for a second that under their current captivity to an evil philosophy that they will not grow to learn?
The problem we face as a nation is staggering. The U.S. must defeat and destroy a philosophic infrastructure that is not constrained by national borders…not even our own. This evil variant must be completely eradicated and discredited, and then the people enlightened. Now that is a tall order.
To win this war the President should keep his eye on the root cause, militant Islam, and not pursue a continuation of the last war. True Saddam is a very bad man, but he is not the source of the current Terror War. Saddam has no love of militant Islam; after all it will destroy him as eagerly as it will seek to destroy us. It is only that we are first on the list that saves him now.
No, if the President commits to fighting our last war, he will leave our true enemies at our backs. They will not hesitate to use that advantage.
Over the last month the maxim of Sun Tzu has been forcefully brought home to the President, as he hastily sought to defend the flash point in the Middle East and dropped his advancement on other war fronts.
Let us take advantage of our momentary succumbing to the wiles of the art of war and re-evaluate our next steps in the Terror War.
Iraq is a distraction not a main event. Keeping Saddam pinned up with “internal strife” is the best course of action. The President must seek a policy that makes Saddam hasten to defend the unexpected, not expose America’s back and flanks to the enemy. Putting Iraq on a “back-burner” gives the U.S. a chance to strike another unexpected blow at the real enemy.
Saudi Arabia and the oil princes must move to the top of our list. All roads of the Terror War lead through Saudi bank accounts. From bankrolling Iran’s Khomeini, to bin Laden’s finances, and even to the recent Saudi SuicideKids Telethon, the Saudi’s are at the heart of the Terror War. Imagine a swarm of Ted Turner’s with a real nasty religious fervor and you have the picture of the oil Princes.
The President’s policy must shift now, and dramatically, in order to strike a real telling blow in the Terror War. It will mean abandoning whatever love of Arabian oil he has inherited from his father, but it will win significant ground in the Terror War without firing a shot.
While the President still has the political capital to expend, he should immediately and forcefully push the ANWR oil drilling. President Bush should convey that it is not only the reduction of American foreign oil dependence he seeks, but also a studied and serious blow at the financing of militant Islam that he seeks to undercut. With apologies to the President’s anti-Drug campaign, our oil policy really IS financing the terrorist and we must end that immediately.
With Russian oil as our backup, it is better to fund the Russian economy with oil money then the Saudi’s, we will “appear unexpectedly at points our enemy must hasten to defend.” Saudi oil revenue must be slashed. At this point it will also be time for “our good friend” Mexico’s President Vicente Fox to put up or shut up and to ensure a flow of cheap Mexican oil.
President Bush has the political capital and prestige to convey to the nation the truth of our Terror War. Such truth will not betray his current approval ratings with the American people. And he will have struck a real blow against Terror. The Saudi’s can return to the President’s good graces with a hard pledge to promote both regional peace and a Saudi “Marshal” plan to promote liberty and undercut poverty.
In the Art of War you are either the puppet or the puppet-master.
Glenn R. Jackson is Chairman of the American Reformation Project, former State Chairman for Buchanan Reform and former state Chairman of the Georgia Freedom Party. Glenn also served on the Executive Committee of the Reform Party USA. Glenn holds an MA in Philosophy from Georgia State University in Atlanta.
© Glenn R. Jackson