Osama Bin Laden turns 50 years old today. The man named public enemy number one by over a hundred countries around the world is still at large. More than ever, it's become obvious those countries who've declared their intent to stamp out terrorism picked the wrong fight. If all those hundreds of thousands of American troops were in Afghanistan and not Iraq, and Pervez Musharraf was more serious about stamping out Taliban sympathies in the northwest of Pakistan, there's a good chance OBL would have been behind bars by now. The message would have been sent that terrorists can run but they can't hide. Instead, they've been drawn like a magnet to Iraq and making the war there even worse.
Some think that because of OBL's "silence" since the 2004 US election, he must be dead. Highly unlikely. He's lying low, because he knows that even most Americans now realize the high price the Iraq War has exacted and he's waiting for the moment when opinion might even begin to rally the other way even slightly to strike again.
However the real issue, as former CIA agent Michael Scheuer keeps reminding us, is not that the terrorists strike us for who we are, but what our governments do. We keep hearing the myth that we're attacked because of our general tolerance for all religions and for giving at least nominal equality to women. Not true. We're attacked for supporting Israel; our indifference to the Palestinian issue and for backing the corrupt Arab sheiks that plunder oil royalties for themselves rather than diversifying their countries' economies; and our general reluctance to criticize their human rights records for fear the oil will be cut off.
Scheuer also developed the "extraordinary rendition" process during the Clinton Administration, something escalated big time under Dubya and rightly criticized, but from a general standpoint his analysis about what's really going on in the Middle East is absolutely bang on. The influence of the pro-Israel lobby in DC ensures these issues are never debated in the halls of Congress; and while Scheuer doesn't say we should stop supporting Israel, he does say we should at least talk about whether it's appropriate to continue giving foreign aid to a developed country -- the only developed country that in fact receives such assistance -- or ask questions where the money's going. I for one don't mind such money going to health care or low-income housing (on Israel proper, not the Occupied Territories), but if it's plunked into military hardware or the "security wall" that's wrong -- Israel should use its own revenues for that.
OBL's success lies in that he makes complicated issues simple ... and that the source of all of the Middle East's ills is NATO. I will never condone what he does, but it's way past time we heard the grievances of those who are suffering. Otherwise, we'll keep getting attacked.
So it's important to remember that while the struggle to end terrorism must never end, we must also alter our policies to link energy purchases to democratic reforms. It simply doesn't make sense only one country in the region, Israel, is a democracy while the rest are dictatorships.
That being said, we need to see measurable results in Afghanistan -- not just the capture of OBL, but sowing the seeds to help develop a self-sustaining economy and government that can both deal with terrorism within that country's borders. Otherwise, even I would be prepared to drop my support for the war effort there; and demand that when our current tour of duty ends in 2009 the Canadian troops come home -- and be redeployed to Vancouver, where a real threat of attack exists in the run-up to and during the Winter Olympics the following year.
Tanks in the streets there might put off some people, but at least one can be assured the Canadian Forces will not turn their guns in anger against law-abiding civilians -- unlike the Chinese Army who's just dying (pardon the expression) to massacre people in Tiananmen Square again during next year's Summer Olympics.
The fact remains, it's been over five and a half years since 9/11. On May 18th the War Against Terrorism will have lasted longer than World War II did in Europe. Isn't it time we finished the job so we can bring all the troops home early, so we can actually have something to celebrate?
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