Wars at the End of the World

I just finished reading Mario Vargas Llosa's 1981 novel 'La guerra del fin del mundo,' published twenty years before the reckless misadventure started by Bushito. It should be read by every politician who wants to wage war in the Third World. The novel centers around a fundamentalist religous fanatic who believes democracy and small 'r' republicanism to be the work of the devil (we all know capital 'R' Republicans to be so, of course). He takes his followers into the hinterlands of Brazil to set up their own little realm, much to the concern of the rich landowners and royalists who rule their. The central government sends in the troops to eradicate them, but fanaticism turns out to be a bigger weapon than bullets. Maybe when we look at fanatics like Osama bin-Laden or Islamic fundamentalists/terrorists (and let's not be naive:those Islamic fundamentalists--for that matter Christian fundamentalists as well, or any religion fundamentalists--are the enemy of democracy, human rights and humanist values, women's equality, tolerance and freedom of thought and expression; religion and democracy, religion and freedom are in real ways always opposed to each other) we'd be better off letting them wallow in their own shit than trying to show them the light. This novel illustrates so clearly something I've long believed: the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.