http://www.uniontrib.com/news/utarchives/cgi/idoc.cgi?403776+unix+alex6+ads.un iontrib.com..80+Union-Tribune+Union-Tribune+Library+Library++%28mickey -------------------- <BASE HREF="http://www.uniontrib.com/news/utarchives/cgi/idoc.cgi?403776+unix+alex6+ ads.uniontrib.com..80+Union-Tribune+Union-Tribune+Library+Library++%28mickey"> <HEAD> <TITLE>San Diego Union-Tribune Archive Document</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#003af7" VLINK="#8f27cb"> <A HREF="/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.cgi/www.uniontrib.com/news/utarchives/search@Top Left,TopRight!TopLeft"> <IMG SRC="/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.cgi/www.uniontrib.com/news/utarchives/search@T opLeft,TopRight!TopLeft" WIDTH=234 HEIGHT=60 BORDER=0 ALIGN=LEFT></A> <A HREF="/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.cgi/www.uniontrib.com/news/utarchives/search@Top Left,TopRight!TopRight"> <IMG SRC="/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.cgi/www.uniontrib.com/news/utarchives/search@T opLeft,TopRight!TopRight" WIDTH=234 HEIGHT=60 BORDER=0></A> <BR CLEAR=ALL> <IMG SRC="/images/utsmallmast.gif"><BR> (Page B-5:1,6,7,8; B-9:2,4; B-7:3,5 )<P> <H2><I>Thomas L. Friedman </I></H2><HR SIZE=3> <H2>America's greatest threat is super-empowered angry men </H2><HR SIZE=3> <B>Thomas L. Friedman </B><BR> <FONT SIZE=-1>(C) New York Times News Service </FONT><P> <B>26-Aug-1998 Wednesday </B><P> President Clinton called Osama bin Laden's terrorist group "a network not<BR> sponsored by any state, but as dangerous as any we face." Nothing better<BR> summarizes the most immediate threat to America today. It is not from<BR> another hostile superpower. There is none -- for the moment. It is from<BR> super-empowered individuals, super-empowered angry men. <BR> <BR> The super-empowered angry men have no specific ideological program or<BR> demands. They are driven by a generalized hatred of the United States,<BR> Israel and other supposed enemies of Islam. Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the<BR> World Trade Center bombing, was a super-empowered angry man. So is Osama<BR> bin Laden. <BR> <BR> Globalization gives them both the added incentive to hate America and the<BR> added power to do something about it. That is, globalization is in so many<BR> ways Americanization: globalization wears <STRONG>Mickey</STRONG> Mouse ears, it drinks<BR> Pepsi and Coke, eats Big Macs, does its computing on an IBM laptop with<BR> Windows 98. Many societies around the world can't get enough of it, but<BR> others see it as a fundamental threat. <BR> <BR> As historian Ronald Steel has pointed out, Americans think of themselves as<BR> having a conservative society. But America today is actually the most<BR> revolutionary society in the world, notes Steel. <BR> <BR> For the rest of the world, we are wild, crazy revolutionaries, with rings<BR> in our noses and paint on our toes, overturning cultures and traditions<BR> wherever we go. "We believe that our institutions must confine all others<BR> to the ash heap of history," says Steel. "We lead an economic system that<BR> has effectively buried every other form of production and distribution --<BR> leaving great wealth and sometimes great ruin in its wake. The cultural<BR> messages we transmit through Hollywood and McDonald's go out across the<BR> world to capture and also undermine other societies. We are the apostles of<BR> globalization, the enemies of tradition and hierarchy." <BR> <BR> The American message tells young people around the world that we have a<BR> better way than their fathers. This is why the Osama bin Ladens constantly<BR> speak of "American arrogance" and how America is "emasculating" the<BR> Muslims. That's why they want to kill America. <BR> <BR> And globalization, through its rapid spread of technologies, also<BR> super-empowers them to do just that. It makes it much easier to travel,<BR> move money or communicate by satellite phones or Internet. Ramzi Yousef<BR> kept track of all his plots on a Toshiba laptop. Osama bin Laden was<BR> running a multinational JOL -- Jihad Online. <BR> <BR> So what to do? <BR> <BR> There is much debate on this question, notes Middle East expert Stephen<BR> Cohen: "Some argue that what we need to do is just boycott Iran, condemn<BR> Egypt for not treating its Christians right, bomb Iraq, treat Yasser Arafat<BR> as no better than Hamas, treat the Saudis the same as the Afghans. In other<BR> words, make this a war of civilization and treat the Muslims as the<BR> successors to the communists. But that is not how you deal with this<BR> problem. It is how you make it worse." <BR> <BR> The key to making the problem better is a three-pronged policy: mercilessly<BR> attacking anyone, anywhere, who attacks our citizens or diplomats;<BR> embracing those who would be friends by constantly trying to build a<BR> moderate political center, particularly in the Muslim-Arab world, and<BR> always showing a road map to a better future for those who waver in<BR> between. <BR> <BR> "For a long time now, the Clinton team has understood how much of a powder<BR> keg the Middle East was," argues Cohen, "but they have been reluctant to<BR> make the hard decisions to defuse that powder keg -- by confronting Saddam,<BR> re-creating a moderate political center to combat fundamentalism, laying<BR> out a pathway for those in Iran who would like to move out of their<BR> isolation and insisting on progress in the Arab-Israeli peace process as a<BR> U.S. national interest. Hopefully that is now changing." <BR> <BR> Indeed, in Thursday's attack the administration has finally begun to show<BR> some resolve. It also deserves credit for reaching out to Iranian<BR> moderates, even though they have yet to respond. <BR> <BR> Getting these pieces in place should strengthen the United States in facing<BR> down the most menacing super-empowered angry man, the one with a<BR> super-demoralized country, Saddam Hussein of Iraq. <BR> <BR> <BR> <HR SIZE=3> <FONT SIZE=1>Copyright <A HREF="http://www.uniontrib.com">Union-Tribune Publishing Co.</A></FONT> </BODY>
