The Osama Tape

HE'S ALIVE!!! Everyone is talking about the recently released tape and trying to spin it as a plus for either Kerry or W. But I think we have to look a little deeper at this tape and the candidates' responses to it.

Sure Uncle Osama is bad, a bad man, a very bad man (Remember Babu in the Seinfeld final episode - in the witness chair, index finger wagging, "A bad man, a very bad man"). There is no excuse for the innocent lives that were taken on 9-11. But is the solution, as Kerry and W say, to "hunt him down" and kill him? So far this hasn't worked and has, instead, swelled the ranks of ati-American groups. Our violence and killing has spurned violence and killing. Oh the vicious cycle of war.

Osama basically has said that this war. in which we find ourselves in, is caused by our policies in the Middle East. I (Okay I can hear the shoes being thrown at your PC screen) have to agree with him. I think our lack of respect for other cultures/traditions/religions sets us up as overzealous missionaries. Instead of trying to install our form of democracy, our sense of consumerism, our "right way" of doing things; I wish we could work within other cultures instead of working from without. Easier said than done - I know. But we have to start soon.

The thing that really strikes me about Osama and our adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan is that our enemy today was yesterday's ally. Just think of our support of Saddam during the Iraq-Iran war. Think of our cheers when the Taliban and Freedom Fighters were trying to take back their land from Soviet Union control. Think back to Iran-Contra deals. How did these "allies" screw up? Why did they fall out of favor? Sure there is the issue of oil and money - but there is also the issue that our "friends" wanted our help but not with the strings we usually attach to them. They wanted our help but not at the price of their culture, religion, self-control.

So what to do with Osama? Bring him to justice yes. But the "how" is very important. Killing him will only allow a new "Osama" rise to take over. Instead we have to try to make his cause meaningless. Make his recruiting efforts impossible. And that is where our respect for other cultures comes in. Work with all sides in the Palestinian-Israeli issue. "De-occupy" Iraq (Is de-occupy a word?) Rebuild Iraq. Get out of bed with the Saud leaders. Have real dialogue with Iran, Syria, North Korea. Put a cork in Ann Coulter's mouth and everyone else who calls for a "conversion" or death to all Muslims. Learn to respect. Teach our kids and our troops that we are all brothers and sisters. Stop naming enemies and Axes of Evil. Change our mentlity from war to PEACE. Work with other nations.

Naive - pollyanna - idealist - dreamer? Maybe yes, but I wouldn't have it any other way.