Which Will it Be?
by Ron Smith

Nietzsche said out of chaos comes order. The Second Law of Thermodynamics says otherwise. As we enter into “Phase Two of the War on Terrorism,” we are going to find out whether we and our progeny will live in a “New World Order” or in a state of extreme entropy.

Why do I say this? The astonishingly easy dismemberment of the Taliban government in Afghanistan, made possible by devastating American aerial bombardment has strengthened the case of those in the Bush Administration who want to use the same formula against any number of other so-called rogue states. If it worked so well against the Afghans, why not apply the same technique against Iraq, and Somalia, and Yemen, and Iran, and anyone else who opposes American hegemony?

As Thomas Ricks pointed out in Sunday’s Washington Post, the cost of “smart” bombs has fallen like a rock, lowering the bar for initiating military action. Instead of cruise missiles costing more than a million dollars a copy, we get the same destructive effect from weapons costing as little as $18,000 apiece. We have, in other words, nearly perfected a cost effective method of waging war without the risk of significant casualties among our troops.

The hawks now feel free to openly scoff at the more cautious Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and his allies. In fact, one of Powell’s close friends, Richard Armitage, the Deputy Secretary of State, has claimed that America “is on a roll.” The president has given an apparent green light to the Israeli government to respond however it wants to the synchronized suicide bombings in Israel over the past weekend. After all, if we are to respond to the 9-11 attacks on us with such overwhelming force, how can we logically urge restraint on Ariel Sharon?

Sharon wants to remove Yasser Arafat from the scene. Israel and the U.S. have made demands on him to end the violence through mass arrests of suspected terrorists. These are demands that cannot possibly be met, which means the demise of Arafat and his Palestinian Authority either at the hands of the Israeli military or of his own disgruntled people. After Arafat, what? Almost certainly a leadership of Hamas-types who prize martyrdom over anything else.

What’s little known here is that the militant Islamic terrorists don’t have a strategy designed for victory, only one designed to sow chaos. They teach that the highest goal that their followers can achieve is death as a martyr for their cause; that only God can decide the outcome of their struggle. When they blow themselves up in order to kill Israelis they know the outcome; that fierce retaliation will take place. It’s what they want.

The Israelis want the present Palestinian leadership exiled or dead, which is the desire of the most extreme Palestinians as well. The United States is full of itself for so quickly settling the hash of the Taliban and now eyes other unfinished business. An uneasy world watches as this plays out. The stakes are unimaginably high.

- Ron Smith is a Baltimore radio talk show host and columnist