France and Germany and Sheryl Crow

Boy, conservatives sure love it when actors, comedians or rock stars take political positions. They must salivate every time Sheryl Crow or any other activist opens his or her big mouth. Of course they prefer dippy rock stars to eloquent and well researched speakers (such as Janeane Garofalo, who remains, in all honesty, a national treasure). So Sheryl Crow saying "I think war is based in greed and there are huge karmic retributions that will follow," is like mana from heaven.

You see it's so much easier to argue with Sheryl Crow who, in these quotes at least, sounds like she's maybe been in the sun to long. And commentators (especially me) are lazy.

Diana West, writing today at Townhall utilizes this tactic in discussing France and Germany. "Remember the "huge karmic retributions" Ms. Crow spoke of? Both France and Germany cite a potentially heightened risk of Islamic terrorism as a reason not to go to war in Iraq, a notion that should perplex the average citizen of the Free World now living with an already heightened risk (and reality) of Islamic terrorism -- without going to war in Iraq."

Of course many people have made sound reasoned arguments suggesting that the war on Iraq could increase the danger we face from Middle Eastern Terrorism. But those arguments are complicated and in some cases difficult to argue against. So instead Ms. West would rather pretend that there is no link between American Foreign Policy in the Middle East and Terrorism. The only link one could imagine, in her analysis, is "kharmic" (shorthand for non-existent.)

She also bizarrely fails to realize that things could get worse, both for us and Israel. Is she really that naive?

The war against Iraq may turn much of the Middle East further against the US, particularly if there are numerous Iraqi casualties (One of the architects of the current pentagon invasion plan, Harlan Ullman, stated that the goal of this war is; "We want them to quit. We want them not to fight. . . . you take the city down. You get rid of their power, water. In 2,3,4,5 days they are physically, emotionally and psychologically exhausted." To this end the current plan put forward by the pentagon calls for us to launch 800 cruise missiles in the first day. Ullman also discussed the possibility of using Tactical Nuclear weapons, which the Pentagon has also suggested as a possibility. For more info see Ira Chernus's article today at Commondreams.).

What effect will this have on the middle east? It means policemen seeking out terrorists who target Israel and the west will be a little slower (except, presumably, in Israel. It means young men will see the United States and the West as having declared war on the middle east and will turn to the only weapons they believe they have. Is this definitely going to happen? No, but it doesn't take any sort of mystical kharma to believe it might.