What We Really Need...?

When it comes to the war on terror, most people would think of the saying that goes: "The best defense is a good offense". And that means some good old, military whoop-ass in whatever "flavor" that we can muster up.

But there can be some inherent problems with that methodology.
1) We can wind up pissing off the terrorists even more, strengthening their resolve further by a show of military force.
2) We will invariably wind up loosing good soldiers, thanks to the fact that this type of war is fought in a most atypical manner
3) We wind up polarizing our nation with people either (strongly) FOR or AGAINST any war, police action, or military presence in foreign lands.

Now that's not to say we can't or shouldn't protect America's interests abroad (as well as here)...we should...and must. It also doesn't mean that we have no way of effecting a victory that will please all the people. I've always felt that as soon as POLITICS enters ANY conflict, that reason, along with an assured victory soon goes out the window. And as we all know, NO victory comes without sacrifices.
Oh, we might still be able to win a war...we DO have the military technological means to accomplish that. And we have the best trained forces in the world. Still, as is the case with today's warfare scenarios (just like at the end of Napoleonic-era warfare), we have to "adapt" our style of fighting. That might mean a whole new approach. There are those that feel we need a better WORLDWIDE POLICE agency, group, force...whatever you want to call it. Most people call it INTERPOL. With a more extensive force around the globe, we can better head -off these "bandits at the pass", as it were.

And that brings me to the movie "The Day The Earth Stood Still" - 1951 (a personal favorite of mine for so many reasons).

In this movie, Klaatu ("...I'm impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it.") gives our planet the chance to become part of their peaceful, coexisting worlds. In a speech given at the end of the movie he states:
"There must be security for all, or no one is secure. Now, this does not mean giving up any freedom, except the freedom to act irresponsibly. Your ancestors knew this when they made laws to govern themselves and hired policemen to enforce them. We, of the other planets, have long accepted this principle. We have an organization for the mutual protection of all planets and for the complete elimination of aggression.
The test of any such higher authority is, of course, the police force that supports it. For our policemen, we created a race of robots. Their function is to patrol the planets in spaceships like this one and preserve the peace. In matters of aggression, we have given them absolute power over us. This power cannot be revoked. At the first sign of violence, they act automatically against the aggressor. The penalty for provoking their action is too terrible to risk. The result is, we live in peace, without arms or armies, secure in the knowledge that we are free from aggression and war... free to pursue more... profitable enterprises.
Now, we do not pretend to have achieved perfection, but we do have a system, and it works. I came here to give you these facts. It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet, but if you threaten to extend your violence, this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder. Your choice is simple: join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration."

That always got a rise out of me. Here was this outside agency, a third party willing to "take us in"...or let us be, with all our crimes, hatred, and war, allowing us to determine our own fate. This group of other planets didn't want us to bring our problems out where it could affect them, and had the perfect solution to quell our bellicose nature.

Maybe we need something like that HERE....some agency that can be a global police force. We already KNOW the United Nations isn't up to the task by ANY stretch of the imagination. The only problem would be that politics would most assuredly enter the fray, thereby subverting the purpose the whole-earth police would be created for in the first place. And how many of us would be comfortable with giving ANY group THAT much power....(to act swiftly and with such finality)?
That race of robots had no vested interest in ANY political motivations, so know that showed no favoritism. How can we be assured of the same with any agency created by man and staffed by man? Doesn't every person have their own "price", and can therefore be bought? But more importantly, do we pursue a non-human alternative as a global police force, giving "them" total authority? That would seem that we'd be heading down a road much like "The Terminator", or perhaps even "Colossus: The Forbin Project".

Would we be OK with letting something like that be "in charge" of everything and everyone? Personally, I find that machines (of any type) serve a useful purpose, but I have no desire to live "under" their watchful eye to that degree. And neither should you.

Creating a global police force would have it's share of vicissitudes, but in a war against terrorism, might we all be a tad better off with something in place that can reasonably guarantee our safety to a greater extent? Better intelligence is the key, Being able to stave off attacks long before they can occur is paramount.

So maybe such a whole-earth police force might better serve us all.
We'll never know unless we are willing to try.