What Would Jesus Do?

More to the point: What would Pontius Pilate do, if the Romans were in Iraq, as they pretty much were. Short answer: Much grief. Washed his hands of the decision. Left it to proxy forces to settle things.

Gee, that’s what we are trying to do: palm it off on the locals, take a tax and hold it to a minimum. Before you say this didn’t work remember how long it took for Rome to fail. Kinda makes all other Empires in that part of town a one-night stand by comparison.

Was P.Pilate Right? Dunno. Not the point. Point is: Let’s do something different. America, great inventor of government, Great promoter of democracy, Let’s not come up with just another variation on the Centurion’s Square.

What other options could there be? We all know the stupid "institutional change" lingo. The presently invisible Condi Rice likes bureaucracy speak, let her facilitate.

All distain aside for the dismal lack of imagination in the plan for Afghanistan and Iraq, the war on terror, the tax cuts, health care, etc., etc.…can’t we put our efforts into some solution other than war or peace, some new cold war with the new whackos? What matter the ideological details, there’s a new oppressor in town. Oppresses women. Oppresses Christians (Given the chance). A movement, just as they all are: an idea. It will have to be dealt with. But don’t get your knickers in knots. There are always ways to contain, wear down, defeat. DMZs, tactically defensible strongholds (I’ve been on this before).

Perhaps something new in the lines of a NATO for more progressive Muslim countries. Support them? Arm them?

Well, here’s the thing, we have no way of gathering real intel on the ground unless we work with the people who are actually on the ground. Rather than letting OBL and the radicals destroy the bureaucracy that keeps chaos in check, maybe we should work with them. Forget getting the real NATO to pitch in. They are as alien and out of the loop as we are. Let’s work with those who have a vested interest in making joints like Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, etc. work. Sure they hate us. So what? The quiet prejudice of redlined neighborhoods and cultural slurs is far preferable than the slaughter of innocents. Only those who desire a peaceful, albeit non-Christian (even hostile to Christian) society can keep their brothers and sisters in line. The alternative is all-out war and if that’s the way we are going to play it, then we are wasting time dancing around that painful, bloody fact.

The good news is that our strange bedfellows seem to be awakening to the facts. There seems to be some growing nervousness through all their usual rage. The Pakistanis, now the Saudis, are certainly making it clear with their crackdowns on extremists that while they may support, or have supported, in their hearts, such religiosity as displayed by the Taliban or OBL, they certainly don’t want their neighborhoods to look like Najaf, etc. And they don’t want their economies to fall into chaos, either. They must make an accommodation with the modern world, and stop scaring people who have plenty of nuclear bombs. That’s why they’re cracking down; nihilistic chaos is not their idea of a good-time Muslim society, either.

Of course, the liberation of many in these societies will take time. But would you have preferred a second Civil War here to give women the right to vote? Wasn’t one bad enough? War is not the last resort because it is bad, but because it is inefficient, dumb, a waste of blood and treasure, and only the last desperate measure after diplomacy and trickery fail. Just like real life, kids, it’s always cheaper to settle.

So why haven’t we Americans, so inventive and clever, come up with something better than the sorry failed policies of Empires past? Can’t we rise to an occasion anymore? I say yes. I say stand tall, be proud, let go of the false choice between oppression and assimilation. We do not need to agree to get along, to do business in an aggressive but peaceful way. And to influence, one hopes, for the better. After all, look at our dealings with the French.

I think it might be because we’ve forgotten something from those dark and dusty historical times, like say 100 years ago when the industrial age and the first steps towards globalization made intercontinental (both meanings) transportation a reality. We’ve forgotten what drove the great explorers, inventors, and the like the Wright brothers. In many cases it was because there was a large cash prize for doing it. Plus fame and fortune.

Maybe we should have a prize now, just like back them. It was a pretty common thing to offer a big amount of dough for the first to do something. Helps fund the folly.

So let’s offer $25 million for a way to get our troops home, or at least safe, and deal with the terrorist issue that has sprung, unanticipated, like 527s from McCain-Feingold. Let’s invent a new business model, a new diplomatic model, to deal with this outbreak of anarchy.

After all chaos at the fringe of the Empire is not a new problem. And chasing banditos endlessly will not quiet things down. Locals, alone, keep the peace in their neighborhoods.

So let’s take a deep breath and figure out a new, hopefully graceful, way to help them to manage the discontented, to isolate or integrate, using tactics that make sense to regular folks, just like they always have to if you want something that will actually work.
¶ 11:01 AM