World War 3 / 4?
Jul 18th, 2006 by Jordan
Surely everyone has heard the hoo-ha about the world being in the middle of World War 4 (or 3, depending on whether you count the Cold War as a World War). For a few hours, I thought maybe the ruminations were valid. It does rather seem like the whole world is involved in an ever-escalating mode of violence.
I have run across an article called “WW4? Don’t Flatter Them,” by John Derbyshire that makes the case against calling what we’re involved in a “World War.” Here’s the money shot:
In the current conflict, all the modern industrialized nations are opposed by a loose rabble of religious fanatics, whose sole claim on our attention so far has been (1) to conduct some sensational, but suicidal, and — by comparison with WWs 1, 2, and 3, trivial — raids into civilized territory, and (2) to seize control of some worthless countries (Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia) and, by misgovernment, make them even more worthless. This is not a war, and by calling it one, we flatter the jihadists far beyond their deserts. No jihadist nation — let alone any jihadist group — can field an army against us. We are frightening ourselves with bogeymen.
(Emphasis mine.) Quite well said, I think. And the more I consider this line of thought, the more perplexed I am by the whole thing. Do I think Iraq was a bad idea? Probably. But would I be less angry about it if we had not gone in under false pretenses? Probably. If Bush had said “This is a war to remove a brutal dictator that is torturing and murdering people on a daily basis,” then the world (and me) probably would have followed — assuming, of course, he had some evidence.
I don’t want to meander too much, but I do realize that there is a lot of grayscale here. Can you draw a line between who’s an extremist, and who’s not? Hard, sometimes. (Is the cleric who advocates suicide bombing just as bad as the suicide bomber?) But really, aren’t we all just throwing up a bunch of smoke and mirrors? If the whole civilized world can agree that Iran needs to lay down its nuclear arms, then why aren’t we making it happen? Why hasn’t all of the civilized world simply put their foot down and said no? Sanctions, blockadges, do what you have to do? There are ways to make someone do what you want them to do without firing a bullet (or a missile) into their head, right?