It's Very Hard, For Example, To Justify

Captain Ahab Was A Man Possessed With An Obsessional Drive To Pursue The White Whale Which Had Harmed Him - Which Had Torn His Leg Out - To The Ends Of The Earth, No Matter What Happened. In The Final Scene Of The Novel, Captain Ahab Is Being Borne Out To Sea, Wrapped Around The White Whale With The Rope Of His Own Harpoon And Going Obviously To His Death. It Was A Scene Of Almost Suicidal Finality.

The Just Response To This Terrible Event Should Be To Go Immediately To The World Community, The United Nations. The Rule Of International Law Should Be Marshaled, But It's Probably Too Late Because The United States Has Never Done That; It's Always Gone It Alone.

If You Live In The [middle East] Area, You See [u.s Actions] As Part Of A Continuing Drive For Dominance, And With It A Kind Of Obduracy, A Stubborn Opposition To The Wishes And Desires And Aspirations Of The People There.

It Is Quite Common To Hear High Officials In Washington And Elsewhere Speak Of Changing The Map Of The Middle East, As If Ancient Societies And Myriad Peoples Can Be Shaken Up Like So Many Peanuts In A Jar.

Most Arabs And Muslims Feel That The United States Hasn't Really Been Paying Much Attention To Their Desires. They Think It Has Been Pursuing Its Policies For Its Own Sake And Not According To Many Of The Principles That It Claims Are Its Own - Democracy, Self-determination, Freedom Of Speech, Freedom Of Assembly, International Law.