In English literature few writers can hold a candle to Joseph Conrad, the Polish-born sea captain turned novelist. Toward the end of his famous story, "The Heart of Darkness," Conrad offers us the last words of a European adventurer, named Kurtz, who went native in the wilds of Africa.
"The horror! The horror!" moaned Kurtz.
"His was an impenetrable darkness," explained Conrad. It was "the heart of darkness." Here we find the underlying spiritual essence of the barbarian -- of anyone who turns against the spiritual superstructure of civilization. "I was fascinated," admitted Conrad, "I saw on that ivory face [of Kurtz] the expression of somber pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror -- of an intense and hopeless despair."
It was the face of a civilized man who left civilization, who lost his illusion of a barrier separating his own soul from that of head-hunters and cannibals. Here we find a person who has lived "beyond good and evil," who has savored human flesh in a grass hut. And those famous last words, uttered by Kurtz, describe the uncivilized course.
"Bid hope farewell, all ye who enter here," wrote Dante of the gates of Hell.
What the West has always faced -- even from within itself -- is that same "heart of darkness" which appeared under the twisted cross of Hitler and the Red Banner of Lenin, Stalin and Mao. Osama bin Laden is but the Arab incarnation of Conrad's fictional anti-hero, Kurtz. He is a man who knows what civilization is and nonetheless rejects it in favor of armed savages hiding in caves. This is the man of Sept. 11, who did not merely speak theoretical horrors, as a Berkeley professor might -- but actualized horror.
If the West is failing in its war against bin Laden, it is because we have ignored a basic rule of all religion and philosophy. That rule is "know thyself." The famous Chinese strategist, Sun Tzu, once said that if a general knows himself and knows his enemy, he will not be defeated in a thousand battles. In the present instance, it is our denial of evil, our flirtation with Nietzschean amoralism that leaves us disoriented and without understanding in the midst of crisis. It has to be admitted, fashionable trends to the contrary notwithstanding, that Good and evil are categories of civilized thought, built up over centuries. Such cannot be broken up without deleterious consequences. And that is what we have done by emphasizing "sensitivity" and "diversity" at the expense of old-fashioned right and wrong.
To flirt with darkness when you've forgotten what darkness signifies -- like a novice conjuror summoning Mephistopheles -- only invites destruction. And when a civilization grown up on notions of good and evil abandons those notions, it is time to "duck and cover."
Reckoning by good and evil the events of Sept 11 should have brought forth a very different set of policies than we see today. As far as Moslems approve of bin Laden, we should disapprove of the Moslems. But that is not our course. The more they hate and revile us, the more we praise their beliefs. By lionizing a psychopath, the Moslem World admits its sickness. By denying that this lionization has taken place, the U.S. also admits to sickness.
None who follow bin Laden's path of terror, with its emphasis on violence and power, can long survive. At the same time, a government as squeamish and politically correct as ours is headed for complete disorder. Anarchy was best described by a 17th century English writer, Thomas Hobbes, who called it "nasty, brutish, and short."
Weakness in the face of evil is the path of anarchy. Such weakness admits corruption and is bereft of spiritual discernment. It is a weakness that has taken decades to develop. In the 1950s we refused to acknowledge the evils of communism. We were then visited by the peace protesters of the Vietnam War era. We suffered humiliation and defeat overseas as a result. Later, when President Ronald Reagan referred to Soviet Russia as "the Evil Empire," he was assailed by critics. And now that we face an Islamic evil, we dare not say that it is Islamic.
Clearly, we have lost those bedrock notions of good and evil that once animated our civilization. We have lost our religion (which long opposed Islam), our patriotism and our common sense -- all at one stroke. Our sense of self preservation is not what it was. It has passed into national consciousness that Senator Joseph McCarthy was a bad man for saying that communists had penetrated our government. And now that Arab terrorists have gutted the Pentagon and the center of Manhattan, nobody in Washington dares to deport Arab aliens.
Surely, if all Arab aliens were sent home, the terror network in our midst would be disrupted -- perhaps permanently. But political correctness is now the main power in this country. It is stronger than the president, and it blots out our collective intelligence in favor of a rotten stupor. The disintegration of our understanding, of our will to survive as a nation is now apparent. Suckled on false ideas since youth, the intellectuals who influence U.S. policy now reveal their final and fatal tendency. They do not understand bin Laden and his "heart of darkness."
Despite the blood and rubble, political correctness has wormed its way past Sept. 11 and now usurps the "war" effort. First, we failed to declare war on the state sponsors of terrorism. Second, everyone now knows that our president was bluffing when he threatened those who were "not with us." Third, we should have sent all Arab aliens back to their homes. Fourth, the alliance with Pakistan was a mistake.
It is easy to predict, at this juncture, that none of these mistakes will be corrected. Washington appears determined to compound these errors by building on them. Rather than being weakened by defections, the Taliban's ranks are swelling with volunteers. According to an Oct. 25 Wall Street Journal story by Chip Cummins and Robert S. Greenberger, "Afghanistan's Taliban regime is showing more resilience than Pentagon officials expected and appears to be opening several troubling new fronts in the war."
Should we be surprised?
Our chief ally in the war against bin Laden is none other than Pakistan, a state sponsor of terrorism and a longstanding ally of the Taliban. Not surprisingly, a New York Times headline of Oct. 29 reads: "Pakistani Intelligence Had Links to Al Qaeda, U.S. Officials Say." From this we learn that the Pakistani security services are penetrated by terrorists to such an extent that any Pakistani assistance offered in the struggle against bin Laden is not to be trusted.
Americans should recall that Pakistan is a regional nuclear power armed by communist China. Pakistan is also wedded to many terrorist groups. Ben Fenton of the Telegraph in England reported on Oct. 29 that an elite U.S. military unit is now being readied for a possible raid against Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. One can see from this what our Pakistani ally is worth.
There is an old joke about Hitler's chief ally in World War II. Hitler is told that Italy has entered the war. "Send one panzer division," he says. But there is a clarification. Italy has entered the war on Germany's side. Hitler is greatly alarmed. "Send ten panzer divisions!" he exclaims.
Such is our ally, Pakistan. Americans have to ask themselves if the Pakistani government is even remotely trustworthy. False friendship is an old game in South Asian politics and the Pakistani dictator, Gen. Musharraf, is no stranger to Machiavellian schemes. In this context, we have to wonder what the real story is behind the death of the anti-Taliban leader, Abdul Haq, who was supposedly caught and executed by Taliban forces last week. The Pakistani intelligence services are now blaming the CIA for "botching" the insertion of Haq into Afghanistan. However, it is just as likely that Pakistani officials wittingly betrayed Haq to their former allies, the Taliban.
It has to be admitted that Pakistan is a corrupt state ruled by political predators. Gen. Musharraf got his position by overthrowing the former prime minister (who was trying to murder him). A charming political culture, don't you think? -- especially for a nuclear power.
It can be argued that U.S. authorities, in courting Pakistan, reveal their lack of discernment. As with other strategic mistakes, a wider field for error will be opened by joining with bad people. This mistake will lead to others. Month after month we will sink deeper and deeper. Meanwhile, we buy off Russia with massive arms control concessions. We also cater to China. Once again, we fail to distinguish friends from enemies.
If "the heart of darkness" were a geographical location, rather than a spiritual state, it would not be limited to the Congo of Joseph Conrad's story. It might well be mapped in Pakistan, China and Russia. It can also be seen in Washington, D.C.
There was a time when the West reached out against the heart of darkness. Now the heart of darkness reaches out for us. The dying words of Kurtz ring out once more: "The horror, the horror."
