A World War

"On that day [September 11], we learned what we ought to have known already, which is that clerical fanaticism means to fight a war which can only have one victor. Afghans, Kurds, Kashmiris, Timorese and many others could have told us this from experience and for nothing (and did warn us, especially in the person of Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of Afghanistan's Northern Alliance). Does anyone suppose that an ideology that slaughters and enslaves them will ever be amenable to 'us'?"

In this article, Christopher Hitchens nails the point that the war we are fighting is not just a war against “us” the United States, but a war against everyone who has suffered, been oppressed, or done battle with Islamic fundamentalism. I think that all too often we see this as “our” war and not the world war that it is. Of course it is right to mourn for our fallen, but there have been many fallen in many parts of the world at the hands of the same enemy. We should mourn together and find resolve and strength with our brothers and sisters in other oppressed regions.

You may not agree with the tactics that have been taken in this war or how it is being fought, but it is hard to disagree with the fact that there is a war. There have been many conspiracy theories that 9/11 was nothing more than a charade to allow consolidated power and a movement to a new world government by the elite. Personally, I think this enters tin foil hat territory, but I think it shows a certain naiveté in the population that people would be more willing to grasp onto a giant conspiracy theory to explain things instead of what is really happening. There is a real enemy that is not the stuff of graphic novels and pulp fiction.

The question is, how do we shake this image, and in some ways it is deserved, of the giant un-feeling hegemon? A hegemon we most certainly are, but this is a war that needs allies. In a battle such as this one even the smallest player has a role and we would be foolish to ignore any and all help that we can get.