Osama, Fidel - All the Same to Ashcroft

Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit

St. Louis Post-Dispatch - June 12, 2002
http://home.post-dispatch.com/channel\pdweb.nsf/text/86256A0E0068FE5086256BD600378A21

Commentary:

Osama, Fidel -- all the same to John Ashcroft

By M.W. Guzy

FIGHTING TERROR

What you see is not necessarily what you get. Events must be placed
into a frame of reference to be understood because facts never speak
for themselves. To illustrate the point, consider a whimsical
example.

Imagine a visitor from outer space watching a man jogging on a track.
Ignorant of earthly customs, he reasonably assumes that the purpose
of running is to get from one place to another. The confused alien
notes that the harder the runner exerts himself, the more quickly he
returns to his starting point. He thus concludes that the subject
must be insane as he's exhibiting pathologically self-defeating
behavior. Given the context, this conclusion is warranted.

If our clueless extraterrestrial were to report his findings to a
track coach, however, he'd learn of the physiological benefits humans
derive from exercise. He'd then understand the hidden agenda that
prompted the runner's superficially irrational actions.

Recognizing that there's always more to the picture than meets the
eye helps to reconcile a seeming anomaly in America's current
anti-terrorism effort.

Attorney General John Ashcroft recently announced formation of a
"National Security Entry-Exit Registration System." This operation is
intended to better secure the nation's borders by photographing,
fingerprinting and interrogating foreign visitors from high-risk
nations. Though the criteria for determining which individual
tourists will be subjected to elevated scrutiny remain secret, The
Associated Press reports the only persons certain to be screened are
"those from countries already on the State Department's list of
terrorist nations." That sounds sensible enough until you realize
that Cuba is considered to be a terrorist nation while Saudi Arabia
is not.

Fifteen of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia, as did
Osama bin Laden and several of his key lieutenants. Cuba officially
condemned the attacks and promptly offered condolences and assistance
in their aftermath. Oil-rich Saudi Arabia is a breeding ground of
radical Islam that sponsors madrassas throughout the Arab world to
spread its teachings. Cuba is a poor agrarian nation with a
predominantly Catholic population that has trouble feeding itself.
Any terrorist sentiments it may have harbored clearly evaporated when
its principle military-economic sponsor, the Soviet Union, went out
of business. It would appear that the current criteria have us
fighting the wrong war.

This puzzling development can be explained by understanding its
implications for domestic politics. Cuba, you see, is a captive of
the Electoral College while Saudi Arabia is the cash cow of Big Oil.

If we elected presidents by popular vote, the influence of the Cuban
exile community in Miami-Dade County would be negligible. A small,
but vocal, group of anti-Castro partisans in South Florida could
hardly influence the outcome of a general plebiscite. Because we vote
in national elections by state, however, this group has acquired
gravity disproportionate to its size. Just glance at the razor-thin
margin by which Bush captured the state's decisive 25 electoral votes
in 2000 and you'll understand why neither political party is anxious
to alienate a pivotal voting bloc. With the rest of the nation
largely indifferent to the issue, nobody's going to risk losing
Florida on behalf of the hemisphere's only communist government.

Add to that the fact that the president's brother, Jeb, is up for
re-election as governor of the Sunshine State and it becomes clear
that Cuba is likely to retain its stigma as a hotbed of terrorism for
the foreseeable future.

Unlike their rabble-rousing Cuban counterparts, the peace-loving
subjects of the House of Saud are sitting atop the world's largest
proven reserves of petroleum. Big Oil contributed generously to G.W.
Bush's campaign coffers and provided Dick Cheney with lucrative
employment during his Clinton-imposed interlude from public service.
The industry loves Saudi crude because it turns to American green
once it flows through its pipelines. An uninterrupted supply of oil
is vital to the national economy and the political fortunes of the
men who govern it. Saudi Arabia, then, will formally remain a trusted
ally no matter how many crazies it exports.

While critics worry that the new procedures will be used to racially
profile Arab immigrants, administration officials warn that further
terrorist attacks are inevitable. They might be less so if we could
figure out just whom we're battling.

[M.W. Guzy is a regular contributor to the Commentary page.]

Copyright (c) 2002, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
 
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