Defending the Borders
The problem with Faith Based Wars such as the Republican led invasion of Iraq is that the righteous faith of President Bush and Vice‑president Cheney depends on an obtuse set of rights and wrongs.
In yet another consequence of this morass, Kurdish thugs have been infiltrating Turkey and killing people. For some strange reason, the citizens of Turkey don’t want that to happen. Turkey has threatened to invade the Kurdish area of Iraq to take on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) terrorists and defend their borders.
Our President and State Department don’t want that to happen. After all, the Kurdish area of Iraq has been fairly stable. Any military reaction by Turkey will inflame passions and cause turmoil. Although Kurds in the region will be worse off under the thumb of the PKK, there is a tendency for people to believe that they must be a part of their group no matter the consequences.
Then, the patriotism gene rises to the surface and results in more carnage based on claims to a long ago homeland. The Kurds who are now living in relative peace and prosperity would do well to eschew the actions of the thugs known as the PKK.
For obscure reasons, the news media insists on referring to the PKK as rebels but will not treat the Palestinian organizations the same. The Palestinians have a much better claim since it was in modern times that Zionists stole their property and forced people to leave their homes and hearths at the point of rifles and remaining only under the pain of death.
The policy of the United States has been to support Israel for its killing of noncombatants in the Palestinian areas. For a while, the US gave tacit approval to the extremist Jewish settlers who moved into Palestinian areas and stole even more land and houses under the claim that their God had given them the entire area millennia ago.
The recent destruction of much of Beirut was accomplished with a go ahead from the United States. The destruction and cost to innocent persons have no justification.
So lets see. The United States had to invade Iraq to defend our borders. Israel is justified with spreading carnage to protect its borders. But, Turkey should not act to secure Turkish borders and lives. The brilliant strategists in the White House have decided that this is a logically consistent stand.
The problem is that the United States cannot have it both ways. The idea that our own benevolent thuggery is sufficient to impose contradictory rules depending on whim is the result of faulty policy with too much dependance on faith and too little use of reason.
As far as the borders in the region go, they are the result of British meddling after World War One. The Great Power loonies of the time believed that their arbitrary drawing of lines on maps was something born of wisdom. They saw no need to consult with the people who actually lived in the region.
Notwithstanding this kind of arrogance, the attempt to move those lines too often results in the kind of thuggery shown by the PKK. Kurds were not driven from their homes like the Palestinians. The main change was the removal of the Sultan and the dismemberment of the corpulent Ottoman Empire. That is not a reason for some renegade Kurds to go on a killing spree.
A little more consistency from the Executive Branch is certainly in order. The same rules should apply to all parties, including the United States.
by Brian McCorkle
in category Rants
