Pre-emptive U.S. policy on terror may be working

Arizona Daily Star ^ | Jan 13 | William Safire

[SandRat]

ping

[risk]

No, no, no -- Appeasement works! If we just do what OBL asks, everything will be fine. /sarcasm

[Atlantic Friend]

Why, Risk, you are getting unfair : appeasement DO work ! Look : it worked for Hitler in Rhineland, Austria and Czechoslovakia, Mussolini in Ethiopia, Tojo in China, Lenin in Russia, Stalin in Eastern Europe, etc...

It's like what Shakespeare wrote about treason : appeasement never fails, because when it fails none dare call it appeasement...

[risk]

It's like what Shakespeare wrote about treason : appeasement never fails, because when it fails none dare call it appeasement...

bttt

[SandRat]

Lord Chamberlain of Peace in Our Time fame is deeply proud of all appeasers.

[risk]

Actually, he died a bitter and dissappointed old man. He knew he had failed, and I doubt he would have advocated appeasement again.

[SandRat]

The funny part is he serves as such a fine example of the cost of appeasement.

While assigned in Germany when Jimmie Carter was elected a British counter part accused us of bringing Lord Chamberlain back from the dead; and this was on the day Carter was elected.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

perspective ping

[wayoverontheright]

Pre-emptive U.S. policy on terror may be working

First humiliation, then denial. Then restoration of respect, accompanied by more denial. Then frustration, accompanied by the realization of defeat. Then capitualtion, accompanied by realignment of power. Then peace.

[wayoverontheright]

Oops. Capitulation.

[Cronos]

It is working, but we still need to hit the mother lode of terrorists -- Pakistan and the banking behind most of them -- Saudi A.

[EQAndyBuzz]

A reverse domino theory?

[wayoverontheright]

The role which lack of respect played in 9-11 was pivotal IMHO, and cannot be underestimated. Our response has surprised them, the consequences to the "Arab street" replete with the humiliation factor necessary to stunt their will to hit us again.

Those who rejoiced in our comeuppance now join us in silent pleading for an end to this madness, and this particular enemy requires an applauding audience to raise the curtain on another play.

This war is not yet won, but we must realize what we have done right, and the role psychology plays in all wars. There are more snakes in the grass, but they are scurrying, hissing and feinting, but no longer feeling invited to approach us with impunity.

[getgoing]

good news ping

[Cronos]

and the role psychology plays in all wars

Psychology works with sane folks. The Soviets didn't nuke us as they knew the consequences. The slammies don't have such sane thoughts -- they'd nuke us even if we blow them out of existence. If we don't go out and attack and destroy this vile cult it's going to spread -- as it has spread for the past 1400 years, as a virulent disease, destroying individuals, nations, civilisations. And now it's coming for us.

[wayoverontheright]

The Japanese and the Germans are living testament to the fact that abject belligerants can be turned into ultra pacifists through humiliation and dire consequences. I am confident, however, that at some point a huge conflagration (read nuclear) may have to befall this particular enemy before this is over.

[chiller]

They surely haven't acted sanely to date, but we can hope ME wackos now understand the US will stand and kill them.

Are they sane or not? I have a nagging suspicion that the '72 virgin/martyr bonus' will become a tougher sell, except to the weakest of their kind.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

The strategic reason for crushing Saddam was to reverse the tide of global terror that incubated in the Middle East.

Is our pre-emptive policy working? Was the message sent by ousting the Baathists as well as the Taliban worth the cost?

Set aside the tens of thousands of lives saved each year by ending Saddam's sustained murder of Iraqi Shia and Kurds, which is of little concern to human rights inactivists. Consider only self-defense: the practical impact of U.S. action on the spread of dangerous weaponry in anti-democratic hands.

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William Safire's editorial follows a string of year-end editorials with a common (common sense) theme: the war in Iraq is ~ and was ~ just.

Walter Cronkite and Jane Fonda are saddened.
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[eno_]

This is a very winnable war. Terrorists are not an organized agency like the CIA. Sometimes they are helped by governments, but then we must crush those governments. Even the thousands of terrorists trained in Al Quaida camps can all be hunted down and killed - and that is the task at hand.

George W. Bush, the agencies involved, and his cabinet have done a brilliant job in this part of the war against Al Quaida and their backers. We may yet have to go to war against Iran, but that is for Iranians to decide.

The bad part of the war is the pseudo-war at home: intrusive "Patriot Acts" but no border security. Tens of millions of illegals and no coherent hunt for Moslem illegals. No systematic questioning whether Moslems here legally lied about affiliations to extremist organizations. And the TSA - 'nuff said. This is a war to preserve our freedom, and in the U.S. it is being conducted in a way that is counterproductive to that very freedom.