According to President George W. Bush in a statement to the press Sept. 18, 'There's an old poster out West, as I recall, that said 'Wanted: dead or alive.''
The American cowboy is alive and well, polishing his six-shooter and saddling his white charger for yet another glorious adventure through the Wild West. Unfortunately, the 'West' that this cowboy is going to ride roughshod over is very different from the 'West' of Will Rogers and Billy the Kid.
This cowboy will have to navigate through a mountainous terrain of diplomacy and power politics simply to reach the 'West.' No Colt .45 will help President Bush convince a skeptical China to support massive military action against Afghanistan or corral Pakistan into providing military assistance. He will need diplomacy, which is not the traditional tool of the Old West warrior.
Although the first week of this terrifying event spurred hopes that the cowboy would prevail by creating a coalition so diverse that it even included our Cold War nemesis, the second week has so far been a sobering reminder of how much the rest of the world hates cowboys.
China has declared it will not support military action without United Nations approval and it has said it will oppose such action without clear and convincing evidence that Osama bin Laden is responsible. Because of China's veto power on the U.N. Security Council, the United States cannot expect United Nations support. The Arab League nations, although initially supporting the United States, have faced domestic pressure from Islamic groups not to cooperate with any military action taken against Afghanistan. For example, Jordan's Islamic Action Front issued a religious ruling forbidding Muslims from participating in any action that targets fellow Muslims.
The world is right. The cowboy metaphor is an anachronism in an age of globalization and international cooperation. The United States desperately needs international support to effectively fight a war on terrorism. Afghanistan does not represent the 'Wild West' of fictional legend where cowboys valiantly protected American settlers from Indian raids or infamous criminals. There will be no clear winner when the United States finishes its attacks because there is no clear enemy.
Examining a map of Afghanistan reveals how difficult the cowboy's mission will be. Not only is the terrain rugged, but there is literally nothing there that would make a good military target. Afghanistan has suffered through more than 20 years of civil and foreign wars, which means there is little left that hasn't already been destroyed.
General Anthony C. Zinni, who headed the United States Central Command until a year ago, said in a New York Times article Sept. 19, 'If you took every terrorist in Afghanistan, you could not make a light brigade. They are spread all over. They hide in mountains and caves. They do not lend themselves to being targeted.' Actually capturing or killing Afghani terrorists will be next to impossible.
However, the war on terrorism is not impossible'it will just take more than a cowboy to fight it. What is needed is an international consensus against all those organizations, businesses and governments that aid or support terrorists. A key component is intelligence. Bin Laden's network of terrorism is not supported by the poverty-stricken Afghanis, but by wealthy individuals and organizations abroad able to hide behind the facade of legality. To defeat organized terrorism will require governments to share intelligence that might reveal the location of these organizations and their connection to bin Laden's network. It will require an unprecedented amount of cooperation between nations whose primary goal is national security, not United States security. It will be up to the cowboy to wrangle up an international consensus strong enough to last for more than just a few months.
Or, the United States could start shooting. In which case, the world will wait from the sidelines with bated breath to see if the American cowboy can indeed triumphantly saunter off into the sunset.
