Letters to the Editor
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Islamic totalitarianism
I was against the Iraq war from the beginning. But Beinart is right on this one. The problem isn't a small group of terrorists. There are very few places anywhere in the Muslim world where people can choose their own religion, express themselves freely in art, choose their own clothing, or make their own decisions about their personal sex lives. That's totalitarianism. The Danish cartoon incident shows Muslims would like to extend these restrictions to everyone. I begin to understand why Reinhold Niebuhr et al were frustrated at the refusal of many fellow liberals to be upset about the Soviet Union. And if liberals leave it to the right to be concerned about this threat, then yes, we will see fascism continue to grow here in the west.
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Threat vs risk
Think of it this way: an asteroid's falling to Earth and ending all human life is a much greater threat than your falling in the shower and breaking your neck, but the latter is much likelier to happen, and so is a greater risk. I believe George W. Bush is perhaps only one one-hundredth as evil as Usama bin-Laden; unfortunately, he's perhaps a million times more powerful (if my pocket meters can be trusted---Usama clocks in at one deciheliogabalus and half a caesar, Bush at about one milliheli and five-hundred kilocaesars).
America is very strong; if we should let it fall completely to the complete control of religous/corporate/government fascists (and I do not use the term lightly or loosely), then the entire world would be in trouble.
It is important to remember that (unless we get our priorities straight) we will all die; perhaps forty thousand persons per year give their lives for our freedom to drive. I'm willing to be at greater risk of being blown up by a religious Muslim jerk from (say) Sa'udi than to cede my civil liberties to a religious Christian jerk from (say) New Haven. The Muslim will find almost all Americans against him, and must work in secret; the Christian will receive the enthusiastic support of perhaps one-fifth of us, and the grudging support of another thirty-one percent, and is proud to do his deeds in public, for the most part. It would be more shameful to live having allowed ourselves to become a massively powerful self-parody of America (which is preventable if we grow eyes and ears, and especially noses) than it would be to be blown up by a random asshole after giving stopping him a free people's try.
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The Right is Concerned for the Wrong Reasons
It's true that the Islamic world is terribly illiberal and that we should be concerned about it but leaving it up to the right is not any kind of option because they are not concerned about the Islamic world because of how illiberal it is. They view the Islamic world as a natural enemy. They need an enemy to feel that they are in a righteous struggle and Islamic fundamentalism serves their purpose. It also gives them increased power at home because it keeps people scared and inclines them to support leadership that promises protection.
So then it comes back to the question, 'are they really such a threat?'. The answer is no. They are a mirage like the Wizard of Oz. Zarqawi was a nobody. A simple thug. They inflated him to create the impression that 'Al Qaeda' (a name created to use an obscure law that was designed to fight organized crime, against someone involved in the original bombing of the World Trade Center) has a powerful presence in Iraq. The whole thing is blown way out of proportion and Beinart is fueling paranoia about it.
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Please Don't Stop Making Sense, Even If Someone Tempts You
After reading this article, I'm inclined to ask why you don't run for President, Mr. O'Hehir. Of course I know why you, or any sane person, for that matter, wouldn't even consider the attempt.
Still, it would be refreshing to have someone who has as much sense as you have running for any national, state or local office. Just once, please, before I'm called to Jesus.
Of course, no candidate dares risk making any sense these days -- look at Hillary Clinton. Which is why, after pondering my question a bit longer, I realize how much more valuable you are where you are. Since politicians can't frame the debate we desperately need to have, I'm afraid writers must, and no other writer I've read recently, except perhaps Glenn Greenwald, does it as well as you've done here.
Thank you.
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Americans are so stupid!!
I'm absolutely stupefied that most people in the US take the "war on terror" seriously, and even think the Iraq War is a part of it. Do people honestly believe that rabid jihadists are going to take over the US and force us to wear burkas? Although anyone who really studies the foreign policy of the USSR can see that in fact there was pretty much zero chance Russia was going to invade and make us all wave the red flag, at least the whole Cold War farce was pretty plausible, considering the USSR was economically and militarily not such a shabby power. To compare al-Qaeda and the Communists, though, is just a bad joke!
Now if the enemy is not al-Qaeda but Islam, we may as well give up now: there are what, a billion Muslims? And yes, quite a few regimes in the "Muslim World" are culturally and politically repressive: so what? You want to go drop bombs on them for being like most of the rest of the world? (come to mention it, lately things have been pretty repressive here in the good ol' USA too!) And most of these regimes (Morocco, Algeria, Indonesia, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Bosnia, Pakistan, Turkey, UAE, Kuwait, to name a few) are materially and diplomatically supported by the US anyway!
Anyone who uses the "war on terror" (as many do) to group together al-Qaeda, political Islam, the Iranian regime, the Iraqi resistance, the Palestinian resistance, Arab nationalism, Islamic religion of all stripes, Communism, fascism, totalitarianism, and god knows what else, is not just a sloppy thinker, but a moron plain and simple.