Israel Matzav

Why not talk to al-Qaeda too?

In the Wall Street Journal, Bret Stephens asks, if the US is going to have a conversation with Syria, Iran and North Korea, why not talk to al-Qaeda too? His answer makes a case for not having a conversation with Syria, Iran and North Korea:

Imagine an anonymous, virtual association of murderers and rapists who promise, via an Internet manifesto, to desist from wrongdoing altogether in exchange for immunity from prosecution and a yearly stipend of, say, $15 billion, to be deposited in a numbered bank account and divided equitably among the association's members.

Practically speaking that's a pretty good deal, sparing the public both grief and money. But the first objection is that no collection of murderers and rapists could ever be trusted to keep their word. Why? Because it is in the nature of such people to be untrustworthy.

This goes almost without saying. So why is it any less true of sociopaths who happen also to have political grievances? Or the sociopaths who run entire states? From Stalin to Hitler to Kim to Saddam, tyrants don't exactly have an excellent record of honoring their treaty commitments.

But the deeper argument against making a deal with the hypothetical Murder and Rape Association isn't empirical. It stems from the fact that the concessions the Association has to offer aren't properly theirs to give. Rather, they are a form of extortion.

In the real world, this is what the Syrians have spent the past several decades doing, extracting concessions from the West by winning the release of hostages taken by groups they secretly support, or by promising to rein in Iraq-bound jihadis to whom they also give sanctuary. Iran does likewise by bargaining over a nuclear program that it has no right to possess. Kim's talents for extortion are legendary, as were Yasser Arafat's.

But the Obama administration doesn't see any difference among Syria, Iran, North Korea and the United States (by the way, Stephens points out that neither does much of England). To President Obama, all our equally valid cultures that have nothing to recommend one more than the other. So if that's the case, why not talk to al-Qaeda? Is al-Qaeda any less valid than Iran, Syria or North Korea - or for that matter the United States?

Maybe someone should ask the question at Obama's next press conference.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:54 PM