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EDITOR'S
NOTE
This essay appears in The
American Conservative magazine on July 19, 2004 and is
reprinted here with permission.
Playing Into
the Enemy's Hands
By Patrick J. Buchanan |
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While America has the
weaponry and resources to win the war against Islamic terrorism,
there remains a question as to whether we have the wisdom and
maturity.
 Watching
reaction to the beheading of Paul Johnson by an al-Qaeda cell in
Saudi Arabia, one is reminded anew of Burke's insight that great
empires and small minds go ill together.
When the news hit on
June 18, some talking heads on cable TV demanded immediate U.S.
retaliation. Others urged withdrawal of all Americans from a
kingdom that could not or would not protect them. Still others
began hectoring the Saudis and demanding instant reform and
democratization. Otherwise, we get out.
Adopting any of these
courses would have made the al-Qaeda atrocity a success. For
while these acts of terror are satanic, they are also
diabolical. They were purposeful. They were designed to provoke
Americans into reacting emotionally, in a way certain to injure
ourselves and damage our interests in the Arab world.
| Al-Qaeda
knows it cannot defeat the United States. Only Americans
can do that-as we did in Vietnam. Yet, again and again,
as with our invasion of Iraq, we respond as al-Qaeda
could only hope we would. We must begin to ask ourselves
not only "Why do they hate us?" but,
"What are their war aims?" and "How do
they expect us to respond to this outrage?"
With the
beheading of Johnson, that al-Qaeda cell seems to have
had several tactical goals: to show the Arab street that
al-Qaeda at least was paying America back for Abu Ghraib
by executing an enemy who kept the Apaches flying; to
terrify Westerners into fleeing the kingdom, thus
crippling its economy and advancing the revolution; to
drive a wedge between Riyadh and Washington. |
Al-Qaeda's
strategic
goal, which even
Saudis belatedly
realize, is to humiliate,
isolate, and bring
down the monarchy
and deliver up the
world's oil storehouse
to an Islamist regime.. |
Al-Qaeda's strategic
goal, which even Saudis belatedly realize, is to humiliate,
isolate, and bring down the monarchy and deliver up the world's
oil storehouse to an Islamist regime that will use it as a
weapon against the hated infidel, the United States of America.
| Thus,
al-Qaeda's acolytes in the Arab world must have rejoiced
at the reaction the beheading provoked in the United
States. For any American attack on Saudi Arabia or any
hectoring of the monarchy or any wholesale withdrawal of
Americans would advance their goal of isolating and
dethroning the government and replacing it with an
Islamic revolutionary regime. |
But
why would
Americans, unless they
are unthinking, stupid,
or malicious, advance
the very outcome
al-Qaeda seeks? |
But why would
Americans, unless they are unthinking, stupid, or malicious,
advance the very outcome al-Qaeda seeks? Can anyone believe
that, should the 7000 princes go to the wall, 7000 liberal
democrats will replace them? After Afghanistan and Iraq, do we
still not know that when a state is destroyed, it requires years
to rebuild, and the men with guns fill the vacuum? In the Middle
East, Saudi Arabia is Big Casino. Lose that one, and we have
lost the game.
Yet there are forces
building both here and in the Middle East that seek precisely
that outcome.
| Islamic
radicals preaching revolution and purification, who have
won the hearts and minds of many of the devout Saudi and
Islamic young, want to bring down the monarchy. The
Israeli Right loathes the House of Saud for its support
of the Palestinians and uses every opportunity to
undermine it in the United States.
Sharon's
neoconservative allies here in America have called for
the overthrow of the monarchy, declaring it an enemy,
not an ally, in the War on Terror. And, after 9/11, when
15 Saudis were used in the attacks that killed 3000
people, Saudi Arabia has few vocal friends and defenders
among America's elites or the people. |
Sharon's
neoconservative
allies here in
America have
called for the
overthrow of the
monarchy, declaring
it an enemy.. |
Islamic radicals
preaching revolution and purification, who have won the hearts
and minds of many of the devout Saudi and Islamic young, want to
bring down the monarchy. The Israeli Right loathes the House of
Saud for its support of the Palestinians and uses every
opportunity to undermine it in the United States.
Sharon's
neoconservative allies here in America have called for the
overthrow of the monarchy, declaring it an enemy, not an ally,
in the War on Terror. And, after 9/11, when 15 Saudis were used
in the attacks that killed 3000 people, Saudi Arabia has few
vocal friends and defenders among America's elites or the
people.
And, indeed, past Saudi
support of Hamas, Islamic extremists, and radical Wahabbi
clerics has helped put them in the situation they are in today.
| Yet,
that does not excuse Americans for a lack of thought. If
the Saudi monarchy goes down, who and what do we think
is going to replace it? History has shown repeatedly
that mindless support of revolution almost invariably
leaves Western Man worse, not better off. The
progressive world rejoiced in the overthrow of Louis XVI
and Marie Antoinette, and got revolution, Robespierre,
the Terror, and Napoleon.
Progressive
opinion, including Woodrow Wilson, was delighted we no
longer had the embarrassment of Czar Nicholas II as an
ally in the war to make the world safe for democracy. We
were soon coping with Lenin and Stalin. That blunder
almost brought an end to Western civilization. Now the
idiot savants are calling for the overthrow of the Saudi
monarchy. |
If
the Saudi monarchy
goes down, who and
what do we think is
going to replace it?
..Now
the idiot savants
are calling for the
overthrow of the
Saudi monarchy. |
Again, the question: do
we Americans have the maturity and wisdom to lead the West, let
alone run an empire?
Reprinted with
permission of The American
Conservative.
Also:
Fatal
Friendship
Our ill-conceived vendetta against the
Saudis
By Patrick J. Buchanan
Terrorism
Timeline - Saudi-US Relations Information Service
Pat
Buchanan has been an advisor to three presidents and
has thrice sought the office. A founding panelist of four
political television shows, he currently hosts MSNBC’s daily
news program, “Buchanan & Press” and appears on “The
McLaughlin Group.” He writes a nationally syndicated newspaper
column and is the author of six books including the recent
bestseller, The Death of the West, which sold over
200,000 copies.
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