I focus on the battlefield of ideas, the over-arching proclivities of human nature through which peace may be built between individuals and nations. My focus does not win wars as does the Captain’s so much as it may help us to understand what leads to wars. So when I read “When you protect us, we will be able to protect you,” I’m not always thinking battlefield strategy as the good Captain, I’m thinking instead what humankind might apply differently in the future to prevent war. I question instead, is it possible to circumvent the so-called culture of war so well documented by Martin van Creveld in his book “The Culture of War”?

About a month ago I interviewed Dr. Flagg Miller at UC Davis. Dr. Miller has listened to, studied and evaluated nearly 1500 hours of the captured Al Qaida Training tapes which include Osama bin Laden’s lectures covering many years of the terrorist’s development.

I asked Miller, “Based on your current perceptions of bin Laden, have you formed any overriding or over-arching themes that would serve all religions in the search for world peace?”

Miller’s response: “I would say: Bin Laden and other militants veer off track when they give words of faith fixed and exclusive social or territorial meanings. When religion can only be understood by those born in a certain place, or born into a certain community whose values never change over time, spiritual insights can be more easily conflated with political ends. This might be the lesson for general audiences of the following article, which I’ve written for a more particular audience of sociolinguists and area studies experts”…..

Perhaps there is another way for us to read, “When you protect us, we will be able to protect you”?

Perhaps there are ways to wind down a war and wind up a new understanding among men. If it is out there I have not found it. But like the Captain, I’ll keep working on it.