Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon wrote an article to say that Afghanistan has created a new-world situation, thus made it possible to do away with the forever wars, because we now have new tools and new weapons with which to combat terrorism.
The
problem is that Benjamin and Simon proceeded to describe the same false image
of the same old world that American analysts had in their view. The two also
proceeded to describe the tools and weapons that were developed to use in that
old world. These were tools and weapons that proved to be so ineffective, the
Taliban conquered Afghanistan as easily as the Vietcong conquered South
Vietnam.
So,
we must ask what is the real world that American analysts failed to see, and
remains unseen to Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon even today? It is the world
that took shape as a result of the Israeli surprise attack on its neighbors in
1967. Two messages came out of that event.
One
message served to alleviate the pain of the Americans who were feeling dejected
by their losses in Vietnam. The Americans were so alleviated, they embraced the
Israelis even if the latter were not using American weapons at the time. They
were using French weapons, which meant Western in any case, whereas Israel’s
neighbors were using Soviet weapons, the same as the Vietnamese enemy. And that
was good news for the Americans. It was so good, in fact, that the American
Congress gave away the store and the plantation to the Jews … and went to
sleep.
The
other message served to tell the Palestinians who were counting on Israel’s
neighbors to liberate Palestine—that this was not going to happen any time
soon. It motivated the Palestinians to verbally attack the Arab governments,
and militarily attack Israel. They also called on the Arab masses to stand with
them against their leaders. And when the Jews began to talk about a
Judeo-Christian alliance, the Palestinians called on the Muslim masses
everywhere to help them.
The
narrative that developed among the youngsters who view themselves as the
freedom fighters who will win the war for Islam, went something like this: If
they go kill our people such as in Afghanistan and Iraq, we go kill their
people such as in America, Spain and England. If they come to interfere with
our political development such as they did during the Algerian election, we go
disrupt their way of life such as we did in Paris. If our governments are not
radical enough to stand up to the West come what may, we attack our governments
and force them to radicalize, come what may.
These
are the ideas that continue to motivate the Muslim youngsters who are out to
change the world by defeating the Western powers the way that they defeated
both the Soviet Union and America. Look now what Benjamin and Simon say is
motivating these people. The two writers explain their theory under a subtitle
in the article that says ALIVE AND WELL. Expressed in condensed form, this is what
they wrote:
“Islamist terrorism never
disappeared. Global levels of terrorism have remained relatively high. The
failure of the Arab Spring, the defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS), and the
Syrian civil war all rechanneled Islamist energies inward on the Muslim world.
As a result, jihadi groups focus more effort on Muslim societies in the
developing world and less on the Western nations they blame for supporting
apostate regimes. The Sahel and West Africa are currently the most active
fields of jihad. In Egypt, the repression of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s
regime may outstrip that of its predecessor. Across the Arab and broader Muslim
world, corruption flourishes and disregard for civil liberties remains common”.
Benjamin
and Simon got it all wrong; it wasn’t the Arab Spring, ISIS or the Syrian civil
war that caused the Islamist energies to be channeled inward. These events were
the manifestation of the Islamist energies that were turned inward in 1967. As
to the Islamists blaming the West for supporting apostate regimes, this negates
the reality that the Islamists blamed their own leaders for cozying up to the
Western powers instead of turning radical and fighting to liberate Palestine.
As
to the story of Egypt, this is a country that is so pivotal, there is no Jew in
the world, and there is no lackey of Jews who would not give an arm and a leg
to see Egypt go the way of Libya or Iraq or Syria or Lebanon. Ever since the
1952 Egyptian Revolution, the two colonial powers have been giving refuge, aid
and comfort to every dissident that has tried to sabotage the country’s
achievements, hoping to see Egypt fail and offer themselves as alternative to
the government.
What
happened instead is that the plotters were the ones to fail, but they never ran
out of energy trying again and again. It’s been 69 years now that they are
trying. And you can count on them trying for 69 times 69 more years, but Egypt,
along with the pyramids, will still be there, still intact and marveling at the
power of hate that is fueling these born-to-do-evil specimens.
Without
promising that America will live another 4761 years to meet Egypt when it will
still be there, Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon went on to assure the readers
that America has little to fear from the jihadists for the following reasons:
“The United States and its allies have gotten
better at neutralizing threats from groups such as al Qaeda and ISIS thanks to
armed drones, special operations forces and long-range surveillance. The United
States has also strengthened its border and aviation security, expanded
intelligence collection and analysis, improved communication within and between
law enforcement and the intelligence community, and forged a global network of
like-minded spy agencies to track and fight the terrorist threat”.
Which
are the tools that were used in the Afghan War that America just lost. And
because a caveat must come with every promise made, the two writers covered
their behinds with this caveat: “The terrorist threats the US faces are
manageable. The question is whether the country’s political leaders can rise to
the occasion and manage them”.
We’re back again to square one.