As we win on the ground, and after we win on the ground, it should be the goal of America and every Western nation to desire for the people of the Middle East what they gave to Israel in 1948: A state of their own. In the above conversation, Netanyahu identified the core of the Palestinian and Israeli conflict as “persistent refusal to accept us [a Jewish state] in any boundary.” He is absolutely right. The Arab nations run by radical clerics in the heat of their medieval primitiveness will respect no boundary and no equal until all have bowed the knee and breathed “Alla u Akbar,” even under threat of sword.
Two instances can help us achieve the goal of a state of their own: Firstly, Anwar Sadat’s example in Egypt. Secondly, Netanyahu’s desire to see stable states in his region. Before we can get there, we have to understand the people we claim we want to help.
The most salient fact for Americans and the American government to grasp about Iraq (or any non-Western country) is that there is a non-Western paradigm and worldview which exists and is valid. There is another way of living life, practicing economics, and governing than the Western style.
Certainly, I am not equating paved roads and plumbing with cultural imperialism. I am referring to relationships, political negotiations, how people value their own sense of well-being. Debate the merits of the two all you want, but respect the anthropological identity and the philosophical system of other races and cultures.
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