Or Maybe I'm Just Naive

Mr. Rumsfeld said in his speech to the American Legion –

“We need to consider the following questions, I would submit:

• With the growing lethality and the increasing availability of weapons, can we truly afford to believe that somehow, some way, vicious extremists can be appeased?
• Can folks really continue to think that free countries can negotiate a separate peace with terrorists?
• Can we afford the luxury of pretending that the threats today are simply law enforcement problems, like robbing a bank or stealing a car; rather than threats of a fundamentally different nature requiring fundamentally different approaches?
• And can we really afford to return to the destructive view that America, not the enemy, but America, is the source of the world's troubles?

These are central questions of our time, and we must face them honestly.”

Mr. Rumsfeld, I agree, these are (some) of the central questions of our time.

So here’s honesty:

• Yes, we may not be able to appease them, as it is most often difficult to appease angry, young radicals. But we can put boundaries around them and limit their behavior, just as we do with any dangerous misbehavior. Social boundaries, economic boundaries, legal boundaries, political boundaries. We will only be successful if we do this in healthy harmony with the rest of the peace-loving world. World leaders, who work together at the community level, can influence communities, parents, families, and religious clerics to stop their young people from violence. And yes Mr. Rumsfeld we can use our military, in concert with other militaries, to enforce these boundaries. Always remembering that the military big stick is only one of the many big sticks available.
• Well, maybe negotiation will be an option once the boundaries are in place. Even hardened criminals sometimes get lesser punishments from the courts. Forgiveness can be a tool of peace.
• Yes we can view the threats today as a law enforcement problem. An international law enforcement problem. This view is certainly not a “luxury of pretending” nor is it simple. You are correct Mr. Rumsfeld; it is not a problem “like robbing a bank or stealing a car”. It is a problem of killing people and destroying stuff. Law enforcement works at the community level where the terrorists live. The local police, their ties to the community, are so vital in a community based solution. I wonder what Iraq would be like today if the Administration had not dismantled the Iraqi army. Many, many men lost thier jobs and were suddenly unemployed, unable to take care of their families. I know a lesson has been learned in that decision. It will take vision, leadership and wisdom. Yes, the threats are of "a fundamentally different nature requiring fundamentally different approaches“. But the use of our military is not a “different approach”. I speak of other “fundamentally different approaches” supported by military might. I do not hear the Administration speaking to this. I don't hear any of our leaders in this country speaking for a community solution for terrorism.
• Mr. Rumsfeld, please look around. America is a source of much of the problem. For so many decades since WW2 we have disrupted communities around the world. Much of it was good, such as bringing health and infrastructure to struggling people. Of course we are not THE “source of the world’s troubles”. We, this country of immigrants, are a role model. But I fear that our often brash and heavy handed ways have grown thin. Let’s create and not destroy. We are pushing many a young Muslim into the camps of the terrorists.

Or maybe I’m just naive.

Here is Mr. Rumfeld's speech to the American Legion