24 December 2007
Friends in Baghdad
Attacks on America in Baghdad or elsewhere in the Muslim world result from the fact that opponents of the U.S. treat as one our government’s policies and the behavior of American corporations (cf. “Our Friends in Baghdad” by Frederick W. Kagan in the December 21, 2007, Wall Street Journal). In cultures where it is assumed that everyone and everything belongs to the state, no allowance is made for divergence of nationals’ actions and those of the government. This is just as true of societies in the Middle East as of civilizations that have devolved from traditional monarchies including, to a large extent, even France.
Americans, in another debt to the founding fathers of their government, distinguish the actions abroad of their fellow citizens or businesses from those of their state. While the government is charged with protecting each of its citizens from the actions of other members of the society (citizen or not) and from harm caused by foreign persons or entities, it has been slow in taking on this responsibility for shielding the rest of the world from harm caused by its own citizens.
The curse of the Middle East, Iraq one of the main sufferers, is its oil wealth. Oil has made it hostage to the predations of Western corporations as the price of enjoying the resource’s benefits. Now that the radicals of the region have found a way to retaliate for what they see as a common antagonist, perhaps it is time for the governments of the U.S. and its Western allies to control and moderate the actions of their corporations abroad so that their victims are not led to react and jeopardize their nationals’ security.
Attacks on America in Baghdad or elsewhere in the Muslim world result from the fact that opponents of the U.S. treat as one our government’s policies and the behavior of American corporations (cf. “Our Friends in Baghdad” by Frederick W. Kagan in the December 21, 2007, Wall Street Journal). In cultures where it is assumed that everyone and everything belongs to the state, no allowance is made for divergence of nationals’ actions and those of the government. This is just as true of societies in the Middle East as of civilizations that have devolved from traditional monarchies including, to a large extent, even France.
Americans, in another debt to the founding fathers of their government, distinguish the actions abroad of their fellow citizens or businesses from those of their state. While the government is charged with protecting each of its citizens from the actions of other members of the society (citizen or not) and from harm caused by foreign persons or entities, it has been slow in taking on this responsibility for shielding the rest of the world from harm caused by its own citizens.
The curse of the Middle East, Iraq one of the main sufferers, is its oil wealth. Oil has made it hostage to the predations of Western corporations as the price of enjoying the resource’s benefits. Now that the radicals of the region have found a way to retaliate for what they see as a common antagonist, perhaps it is time for the governments of the U.S. and its Western allies to control and moderate the actions of their corporations abroad so that their victims are not led to react and jeopardize their nationals’ security.
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