The parallels between 20th century Japan and today's Middle East serve not only as an excellent example but as a model - maybe the only model - for how the war on terrorism can be won.
The nationalist movement of Japan in the 1930s used terrorism internally to eradicate western ideals and cultural structures. The result was a one-party government, complete with a state religion, and a bent on engaging in wars of principle through non-traditional means. Sound familiar?
After the end of the war, the real work began, and it had to do with the culture. Once the people of Japan no longer felt beholden to conform only to their own ancient culture, that, combined with the more easily achieved economic results of capitalism, erased the foundational need for wars of principle.
Certainly there are differences with today's Middle East. Japan carried out its attacks as a unified nation, and modern terrorists generally don't wear the uniforms of the nations whose policies they most espouse. However, the mono-religious, anti-capitalist, closed-market structure of the Middle East is similar enough to believe the results of cultural infusion would be the same.
Unfortunately, this seems to be the opposite of our current strategy in the Middle East, where military action is the only action, and the spread of a more stable culture is rarely discussed. In fact, some even consider it offensive to do so.
- GROWING PEACE ORGANICALLY -
The ugly secret about using culture as a weapon is that it has no respect. This is also why it works. A nation cannot destroy irrational, religious-like fervor simply with "better" principles and bigger bombs. Those things may open the door, but after any initial success, you'll find the same institutions being rebuilt that help sow the same seeds of zealotry. You also cannot simply destroy these institutions or make them illegal. That is an effort doomed to failure and sure to provoke outcries of acts against humanity.
The one thing you can do is plant the seeds of an organic and free socio-economic culture. It'll do the work on its own. Think of Vietnam's doi moi policies of the mid-1980s. Decades of Western military intervention did nothing on its own, other than continue a bloody stalemate of principle in Southeast Asia. However, once the injection of even a little bit of capitalist culture caused an 8 percent annual economic growth, wars with Cambodia and Laos became meaningless. While Vietnam may not be the single shining example of economic progress for the globe, one thing is for certain - it's no longer a threat to anyone.
The reasons are fairly simple: The healthy, organic, internal struggles prescribed by a Western-style socio-economic culture generally force unhealthy, external struggles of principle and religion to cease. You can't spend your energy everywhere.
Organic is the operative term here: Such a culture needs to grow from within. It can succeed - and has succeeded many times, in places previously thought of as completely anti-capitalist and anti-Western.
