Failures of Imagination

Let' talk about the Embassy Bombing:

"'It is regrettable that U.S. policies in the Middle East have fueled extremism, terrorism and anti-U.S. sentiment, the Syrian Embassy in Washington said in a statement. 'The U.S. should ... start looking at the root causes of terrorism and broker a comprehensive peace in the Middle East'."

It curtly said that Syria 'performed its duties' under the Geneva Conventions to protect the embassy."

Now, before the right comes for my head, I am not defending the rather shady dealings or Syria's past, present or future terrorist links, but, let's remember something here: They are Ba'athists, same as Saddam Hussein, so any links to Al Qaeda are unlikely, since they are secular. A dictatorship to be sure, but then again, when has that ever prevented the U.S. from getting in bed?

But it seems to me that the statement in the 9/11 Commission Report that we failed to imagine such an event rings true, but I would add an additional layer: Perhaps we have failed to listen.

This is what Bin Laden said in 2002:

"[...] to prevent another 9/11-type attack, they had to elect leaders who would change U.S. policies toward the Islamic world. He focused especially on the U.S. presence in the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, and Afghanistan, unqualified support for Israel, as well as support for Muslim tyrannies in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere."

Kind of uncanny, really, how a secular, socialist government and a jihadist terrorist are kind of pointing out the same thing, though they are, ideologically opposed at least as much as, say, Noam Chomsky and David Horowitz? Just maybe....we should take this into consideration. Maybe...they are trying to tell us something.

Of course, the howls of execration will ensue from the right, but ponder this: A failed policy got us bombed at Pearl Harbor, and since the said folks love talking about "appeasers...Neville Chamberlain...blah blah blah", let us not forget our own shortcomings during that era. Our policy failed us there, because it failed to account. We failed to listen. Both parties were unwilling to commit to Europe or defend Asian until Pearl Harbor, even after the pleading of Winston Churchill, even after reports of Fascist Atrocities, even after Nanking. Our policy was wrong because it did not account for these things-it was obsolete for these reasons. We were wrong.

It seems that, now, we are facing a similar crisis, and I wonder whether we, as a nation, have the strength again to say "We were wrong" on this matter.

What possible benefit is there in our current course except as a recruiting film for millions of pissed off, disaffected young people in the Middle East, sending them on an errand of death?

What possible benefit is there in our current course except the murder of our own children on a fools errand. Who wants to explain to our grandchildren that their parents were killed because we couldn't imagine that we had made a mistake, that we just had to keep bases in Saudi Arabia, we had to, like it or not, bring "democracy" to Iraq, that we could not or would not find the people responsible?

If you're going to try to say that, somehow, I'm letting Bin Laden off the hook, let me stop you there: I abhor violence. Period. Understanding why, learning from it, trying to prevent it the next time, perhaps even acknowledging that we didn't know what we thought, or failing to listen is not condoning the act. If that were the case, all investigations of murder would end up with the law condoning murder.

Maybe if we would finally stop trying to cover our asses over these failures of imagination and fess up, we could begin to stop this insanity.

"Oh...Blame America First!"