As any western movie aficionado, and therefore a connoisseur of that most western of events, the OK Corral can tell you, according to Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp never sought revenge, only a reckoning.
The arabs I know have looked upon WW2, as they tell me, as a war of revenge. And as we see form yesterday's literally unbelievable poll the rest of the world is not exactly a place of fact and science either.
They just don't get us, and I suppose they never will.
And so to the 7th anniversary of the real world, the modern world of Huntington's unassailable conclusion.
We have not yet reached a reckoning. Nor will the capture and humiliation, or death of every Al Qaeda fulfill anything but the end of the beginning.
But the form of this reckoning is not what the world really expects. Obviously the world expected revenge, but we wanted a reckoning.
It may well turn out to be an arab democracy at war with the Quran and unable to realize it, until the reality of fact triumphs. Or it may turn out to be a failed state turning back to tribal superstitions of a failed culture.
The result of WW2's reckoning, the modern states of Japan and Germany represent not only triumph of force, but also of culture, and spirit. These states as they are today have set the bar for OUR KIND OF RESULT very, very high.
The reckoning is that some folks have been given a chance without the material obliteration of their nation, at great cost to this nation, AND despite the disbelief of the world, at great restraint and forbearance.
The arabs I know have looked upon WW2, as they tell me, as a war of revenge. And as we see form yesterday's literally unbelievable poll the rest of the world is not exactly a place of fact and science either.
They just don't get us, and I suppose they never will.
And so to the 7th anniversary of the real world, the modern world of Huntington's unassailable conclusion.
We have not yet reached a reckoning. Nor will the capture and humiliation, or death of every Al Qaeda fulfill anything but the end of the beginning.
But the form of this reckoning is not what the world really expects. Obviously the world expected revenge, but we wanted a reckoning.
It may well turn out to be an arab democracy at war with the Quran and unable to realize it, until the reality of fact triumphs. Or it may turn out to be a failed state turning back to tribal superstitions of a failed culture.
The result of WW2's reckoning, the modern states of Japan and Germany represent not only triumph of force, but also of culture, and spirit. These states as they are today have set the bar for OUR KIND OF RESULT very, very high.
The reckoning is that some folks have been given a chance without the material obliteration of their nation, at great cost to this nation, AND despite the disbelief of the world, at great restraint and forbearance.
2 comments:
Well said, Epaminondas!
Yes, it is.
Post a Comment