"Oceania was at war with Eurasia and in alliance with Eastasia. In no public or private utterance was it ever atmitted that the three powers hat at any time been grouped along different lines. Actually, as Winston new well, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control. Officially the change of partners had never happened. Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible." George Orwell (1949), 1984, p. 34.

Whether or not one agrees with the current situation in Iraq and Afghanistan the quote above has a disturbing resonance in current geopolitics. During the 1980's, the Reagan administration supported both Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. The former was provided assistance to fight the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and was a part of a broader anti-Communist fight (with similarities in the current world, but those are not for now), while Saddam Hussein was supported to ensure that the Iran-Iraq war would end in a stalemate so there would not be a large dominant Middle Eastern country. However, both have fallen out of favor and the public's (as well as politicians') memory seems to be very short and selective. Very little talk has been made of this change in policy over the past twenty or twenty-five years. As of 1991 in the case of Saddam Hussein and 2001 in the case of Osama bin Laden, we have been at war with them and therefore they are the 'absolute evil' (reminds me of the phrase used by George W. Bush describing Iraq, Iran and North Korea as the 'axis of evil'). Although there is not much that can or should be done about the examples presented above, it would be wise of the government to more closely examine the people we find to be convenient allies (mostly based on the misguided policy that our enemy's enemy is our friend), which has, in turn, led to a policy of judging countries as to whether they support us and upon any difference labeling them as cavorting with the enemy. This has led us to befriend until recently shunned nations such as Pakistan and shun recent allies such as France and Germany. Before quickly finding new friends when our more traditional allies disagree, it might be wiser to, in times of crisis, pull our more traditional allies closer and be wary of hasty alliances with countries that may only be looking out for their own gain.

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©2003 Richard B. Goud, Jr.
Updated 20:11 on 22 September 2003