Other Columns by Thomas D. Segel
Thomas D. Segel Bio

Printer-Friendly Version

Let's Face It America - We Are Fighting World War III
By Thomas D. Segel
July 29, 2004

America, we are very busy fighting World War III, while at the same time our Homeland Security efforts are a study in complete futility. Most people fail to understand we are in the middle of a global war, while others feel we are much safer because of our internal security efforts. Both observations are wrong.

In a most impressive essay by one of the foremost physicists in Israel, Professor Chaim Harai offers a frightening observation. His family has lived and worked in the mid-east for more than 200 years. So, his roots are deep and his understanding of that particular world is valid. He claims that regardless of what you hear, see or read in the world media the 100 year Israeli-Arab conflict is not the central issue related to the upheaval in that region and around the world.

He says," The millions who died in the Iran-Iraq war had nothing to do with Israel. The mass murder happening right now in Sudan, where the Arab Muslim regime is massacring black Christian citizens, has nothing to do with Israel. The frequent reports from Algeria about the murders of hundreds of civilians in one village or another by other Algerians, has nothing to do with Israel. Saddam Hussein did not invade Kuwait, endanger Saudi Arabia and butcher his own people because of Israel. The Taliban control of Afghanistan and the civil war there had nothing to do with Israel. The Libyan blowing up of the Pan-Am flight had nothing to do with Israel."

The professor goes on to point out the root of trouble is that nearly the entire Muslim world is totally dysfunctional by any standard of the word. The 22 member countries of the Arab League have a total population of more than 300 million people and a land area larger than the United States and Europe. They have oil, gas and other natural resources but cannot generate a GDP combined that is even equal to half that of the state of California.

Within that same Arab world the gaps between rich and poor are larger than the Grand Canyon. Adding fuel to the fires of discontent is the fact that those with wealth did not earn it through strong business practices, but through the support of corrupt leaders.

The social status of women is below that the western world experienced 150 years ago. Human rights are almost non-existent. Intellectual properties are few. According to the United Nations, the entire Arab world has translated fewer books than are translated by Greece alone. The total number of scientific publications for the 300 million people of the Arab world are less than those offered by Israel, with its population of six million people.

However, birth rates in the Arab world remain high, with almost half of its population less than 20 years of age. With that high birth rate has come increased poverty, cultural decline, educational distortion, and rage.

Professor Harai also points out it was less than 30 years ago when internationally we believed the Muslim countries, which at one point in history was one of our most advanced cultures, would again become the richest region of the world.

The promise of great wealth followed by the darkest of poverty creates a vast breeding ground for fanaticism, terror networks, suicide murders, and kidnappings and total decline. This situation becomes more prevalent with each passing day, as cruel dictators, corrupt leaders, crazed clerics and all those who hate life combine their efforts to shift the countless blames for such miseries on to the backs of Israelis, Americans, Europeans, Christians and western civilization.

The populations are kept in check by clerics who preach this hatred, madrasas which teach death and destruction, and leaders who keep out news of the world, with the exception of those stories which will continue to ferment western hate. The logic behind what they are doing is sound. As long as the Muslim population can be kept ignorant of their countries degradation...as long as their hate can be channeled to non-Muslim elements, those in leadership positions prosper and keep their places of power.

Most know the best defense is a strong offense, and we have been taking the war to the terrorists. At the same time, we must defend ourselves...and that job hasn't been one of our most glowing efforts.

We hear all of the efforts to improve security at our airports. Then we hear of the multiple failures in that security system. Lip service is paid to protecting our borders from illegal immigration. This has been so effective we have only between 8 million and 12 million illegal aliens in the country that we can't even identify or round up for deportation. The politics of both major political parties tell us to turn a blind eye toward our borders and pretend they are secure. And while we engage in that pretence...we have no idea of how many illegal aliens there may be who are plotting our destruction.

Thousands upon thousands of ships enter our harbors, where we screen or inspect only the smallest fraction of arrivals. Those we miss could very well be loaded with a cargo of death. This is how we are protecting ourselves, even as we are engaged in fighting World War III.

We are told that all possible terrorist targets are being "hardened". This is the buzzword for making targets safe from attack. The only problem is...terrorists don't attack "hard" targets. They aim at the soft ones. If you harden airports to the point where they are difficult to attack, the terrorists switch targets to ships. Protect the ships and they switch to railroads. Make the railroads safe and they try buses.

If it were even possible to secure all transportation they would go for sporting arenas, convention halls, theaters, night clubs, hotels, churches...or any place where large numbers of people gather. Just think about the shopping malls, the farmers markets, the dance halls, amusement parks and even government buildings we would need to fortify. It is an impossible task. That is why politicians who advocate such measures and the busy work of Homeland Security are such sad jokes.

The only chance we have to slow down the process is complete control of our borders, our ports and our airways. They are impossibly porous right now. But, even if they could be completely fortified, terrorists can still find ways of penetration. All we can really hope for is a reduction in the enemy ability to do us harm...and be prepared to suffer those losses we will face in the not too distant future.

No right thinking person can believe all of this is anything less than World War III. What we must decide as a nation is...do we fight it here, or take the battle to the enemy. We can't talk to those who only want our death and are willing to pay their own lives to obtain their objective. We can only take the battle to their part of the world and hope we can inflict enough wrath upon them to make them have a change of heart. Even that, considering the poor, young population they are training, will be many years in the future.

--------------------

Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.