Beheadings are a shock after 911?

Stefan Beck thinks so:

Besides, all the planning and musing and nuance in the world couldn't have prepared us for the breathtaking savagery of our enemy.

Rubbish.The very fact that we are surprised is convincing evidence of the lack of planning. Had no one ever heard of the savagery of the Russian war in Afghanistan? Such whining excuse is what happens when you put children in charge of the White House.

In fact I remember quite distinctly hearing a Chris Mathews talk show, just right before we invaded Afghanistan, in which he alluded forebodingly to the savage tortures inflicted on Russian soldiers by the Afghans. So let's not have any nonsense about "couldn't have prepared us."

Comments

[bkmiller]

Well. One could argue that the American people as a whole are quite childish in their beleifs about the world. Plus the fact that half the population is willing to "trust daddy" when daddy is a torturing, ignorant fool.

[David Sucher]

Do you really think that Americans are more childish than Egyptians or Japanese or the French? I couldn't agree with such a broad brush; I see little evidence of it either in our immediate time or if you take a longer historical perspective. Or are you simply saying that all people are really rather simple? I could agree with that one.

But I'd also add that I believe that Americans are probably more sophisticated and evolved than are the populations of virtually any nations except a few boutique countries such as Holland, Switzerland etc. And that's just a maybe for them.

As a benchmark, take integration. I do not believe that there is any instance in world history of a population moving so far and so fast in its attitudes towards a once-enslaved people who lived in their midst and who were for so long a pariah people. I take that as an example of real maturity, not childishness at all.

[bkmiller]

You're probably right, David. I'm just being crabby and negative, as the polls suggest that Bush may actually be reelected. I am more negative towards him, his policies, and, most importantly, the circle surrounding him, than you are, so that colors my off-the-cuff negativity.

I am not a rah-rah kind of guy, so the one aspect of American culture that does bother me is American Exceptionalism. I have no problem with loving my country and recognizing its virtues, but not feeling that "the American Way" is the only solution-and one that we can easily impose on other, completely different countries. Not that I worship "third world" cultures, either.

[TM Lutas]

In defense of Mr. Beck, it's possible to build a case that 9/11 was not a war crime but an attack on an economic target vital to the US ability to maintain its war machine. In the end, the case might not be successful but it isn't outrageous to even consider the matter. The later trend towards beheadings is simply a war crime and thus a possibly unexpected development.

We have to remember that we have all been rather deeply conditioned not to take darker skinned people very seriously. If half the things that came out of the average pain in the butt 3rd world leader's mouths were to be said by the leader of one of the G7 nations we would immediately go to a war footing and the world would be in crisis. As for the Caucuses Wars, the russian people have something of a reputation for military brutality that makes the idea that it was just tit-for-tat barbarity a defensible idea.

We are still not taking the pronouncements of Arafat, Assad, Khameni, Kim Jong Il and company completely seriously. If we did, we would be forced to conclude that our conventional forces are completely outmatched and we would pick a country and turn it into molten glass just to buy time.

I would not recommend picking on someone else's incapacity to judge savagery unless you are quite sure you've truly plumbed the depths of how bad things can get. As always, the Thirty Years War and WW II are two very good models for comparison.

[David Sucher]

TM,
I'd comment back if I had any idea what your comment means to say. But I find it too confusing to venture a guess.

In general, and no reference to Beck particulary, it seems to me that only a naive girlie-man would be surprised that war produces "breathtaking savagery" such as beheadings.