Mistah Kurtz, He Clueless ("Who now doubts that radical Islam might win?")

Asia Times ^ | May 11, 2004 | Spengler

[quidnunc]

Radical Islam's edge lies in its willingness to horrify the West, I have contended since October 2001. Now this sword is unsheathed, and America is reeling. In the unlikely personage of Private First Class Lynndie England, America has confronted its grand strategic weakness. What has horrified the West during the past week or so is not so much the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, but rather England's clueless expression while holding a naked Iraqi by a dog lead. "We are turning our children into monsters," whisper the mothers of America. Abu Ghraib is only one battle in a long war, but it is the first that strikes directly at America's willingness to wage war in the first place.

"By operating in the midst of civilian populations, Islamist radicals put Western counter-insurgency in a delicate position. The Western response must be harsh enough to humble its adversaries, without turning the stomach of the Western population itself," I wrote on April 26 (Horror and Humiliation in Fallujah). It is quite possible to inure Westerners to an extreme level of violence against civilians, for example, the destruction of German and Japanese cities during World War II, by casting the enemy population as an enemy. But in Iraq, American soldiers were told that their mission was to remove a hated tyranny in order to allow the people to pursue their inherent impulse for Western-style freedom. Instead, the coalition confronts a resistance willing to die to delay the Westernization of Iraq.

Nothing more than this horrifies Americans, who descend from people who willingly abandoned and traded away their culture in return for a fresh start. The dead hand of the past does not weigh on the American mind. Put a young American from a West Virginia trailer park among the diehards of an alien culture, and she will imagine that she stumbled through the silver screen into a monster movie.

"Mistah Kurtz, he dead," was the epitaph for Joseph Conrad's mining official gone native in The Heart of Darkness, as well as the epigraph for T S Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men", a horrific elegy for World War I. At Abu Ghraib, Mistah Kurtz may not quite be dead, but he evidently is extremely confused.

-snip-

[RonF]

So, Iraqi prisoners were subjected to violations of their dignity and human rights, verbal and physical abuse, sexual abuse, rape, and murder?

Sounds like nearly every prison in the United States. What, we were expected to run a foreign jail better than our own?

[Cicero]

Good column. It raises some basic issues. Are we too nice to win? Or will we overcome our niceness only after we have been hurt again, even worse than on 9/11?

The problem Spengler raises is exacerbated by a clueless leftist press, which is perfectly prepared to see civilization destroyed rather than risk having their precious abortion rights and perversion rights taken away from them by a conservative administration. What they don't seem to understand is that life without civilization is nasty, brutish, and short, and that the Mullahs are not likely to cater to their taste for abortion and chablis either.

[mondoman]

Excellent post.

I have long contended that our culture no-longer has the longsuffering intestinal fortitude to win this struggle. Israel has battled terror for over 50 years--this is not a 100-day or 100-hour day war.

Given our contemporary culture of fickleness, I fear we will pull out and pull back from Iraq and Afghanistan. This will encourage further attacks from the Islamists, resulting in an increased call from the public for "security" sacrificing more freedoms and liberties until there is a public acceptance of suspension of the Constitution and a new form of governance different from our Republic. Depending on who is in power at the time, we may see real persecution of their political opposition as they consolidate power, be they Republican or Democrat.

I fear that in my lifetime I will see the end of our Republic.

[Redbob]

"Horror?"

I thought those pictures of a naked Iraqi being led around by an American girl would have been priceless propaganda if 100,000 copies were air-dropped over say Fallujah.

[B.O. Plenty]

("Who now doubts that radical Islam might win?")...We can only hope that the President's resolve to win will get firmer over the next few weeks...to the point where he finally comes to realize that radical islam just might win (with allies like the democrats in our Congress, trying to make everyone in the World "like" us, et al)..unless the United States commences to WAGE A PROPER WAR!

Maybe there is something going on behind the scenes that nobody is aware of....but what some of us see in front of the scene is not good.

[Bahbah]

"Or will we overcome our niceness only after we have been hurt again, even worse than on 9/11?"

I am becoming fearful that this is what it will take.

[T'wit]

The weakness is that American liberals are by nature pantywaists and by ideology they are traitors to this country's traditions and ideals. They tremble and shriek before any bellicose gesture, they immediately point to finger of blame at -- us!, and as soon as they find out who the enemy is, they rush to kiss his feet. Three years ago they paid no attention to Islam. But now that Islamofascists have hurt us, the Left is out in the streets marching for Mohammed and sucking every Islamofascist toe they can reach.

So long as liberals have a significant say in American policy, we will be weak and vulnerable.

[Billthedrill]

I remember exactly the same claims made about the Cold War - the Soviet Union was destined to win it because we shackled ourselves with morality, weren't as resolute, shrank from drastic action, etc, etc...it's a bit silly, IMHO. We are watching the death throes of a dysfunctional, medieval, extremely oppressive culture, and it's going to be violent and unpleasant and we're going to be bewildered at how people can actually fool themselves into liking a theocratic police state. But it isn't new.

If by "win" we mean that the Islamists are going to take over the United States, I'm thinking somebody's got a serious case of the vapors there and could use a little downtime. If by "win" we mean that the Iraqis will prefer a form of government different from the one we've been setting up for them, then that's precisely what we've been saying might happen all along. So be it.

But if by "win" we mean that violent, hardcore Islamists might topple Western governments and intimidate their citizens into cooperation, then guess what? They already did.

[Mr. Jeeves]

"The challenge to the United States comes not from ignorant relics who do not understand the US, but from a generation of Western-educated Muslims who understand the US perfectly well, and would rather be dead than be absorbed into it." -- Victor Davis Hanson

Since this has turned out to be true, any hope for "democratizing" Iraq has vanished. The Bush Administration is in a tough spot - and I'm not sure how they are going to get out of it gracefully.

[claudiustg]

Seeing all the Dems calling for Rumsfeld's resignation should show everyone who's side they're on. The Dems haven't the faintest clue about how to wage and win the WOT and the American people can see that.

[BillyCrockett]

"Or will we overcome our niceness only after we have been hurt again, even worse than on 9/11?"

In America, overcoming niceness only lasts as long as the public can remember the tragedy. About 15 minutes. We will only overcome this "niceness" for a longer period after another attack which dwarfs the 911 attack, making it look more like a fender bender by comparison. I expect this "niceness" to become a more sober reality soon enough.

[OK]

The way to defeat radical Islam is simple; just educate people about what it is.

The U.S. should offer free books of translations in the local languages of the Sunnah, the holy haddiths of Ishaq, Tabari, Bukhari, and Muslim.

Any decent human who reads that would vomit and run away from Islam.

http://www.prophetofdoom.net/

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Reminds me of the Jeffrey Toobin piece in The New Yorker immediately after the 1998 elections - when he declared "Mistah Impeachment - he be dead". I never saw a retraction of that by Toobin after the impeachment in fact happened. But, then again it's The New Yorker.

[headsonpikes]

I have perused this man's oeuvre, and have but one comment to make - for a writer who styles himself 'Spengler', he seems startlingly oblivious to old Oswald's penetrating analysis of the Arab worldview.

[Post Toasties]

I don't see why the US can't turn over power to the new Iraqi government as planned in June & then make any significant adjustments as needed, say, six months later.

[tonycavanagh]

A hardened band of fighters sheltering among an apathetic Operations of this sort require excellent intelligence, which the British and Israelis had.

True They also require a somewhat callous attitude towards the surrounding civilian population, which must learn the hard way to steer clear of the resistance.

False

The only way to fight insurgency in built up areas, is to be out there all the time, on foot patrols talking to the natives, treating them with respect.

When u stop and search someone yes they will be angry, when you enter there premises yes they will be angry but you don't turn that anger into hate, by humiliating them, smashing there stuff showing them whose the boss.

Hard force tactics have never worked.

The only way is to patrol patrol and patrol again, getting used to your patch getting to know names getting to know faces.

It took a long time for my country to develop those tactics, but it did work, you got to know the area the people you started to spot who was a stranger, and also the people got use to you, and eventually in even some of the more hardened areas we formed community relations. And amount of Intelligence we picked up was phenomenal

I speak from experience of almost two years in North Ireland during the height of the conflict.

Softly softly in an insurgency is very good tactics. It doesn't mean leaving terrorists go but more a case of either making the environment (local population) if not friendly at least neutral.

Tony

[Khurkris]

Astute observation.
From the old Chairman himself - "Swim among the fishes."
To paraphrase: swim among them, create stability and show a chance for a better future. It isn't fast and may sometimes be nasty. But that is what will generate success.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Until the power of the RATmedia is destroyed it will not matter how many times we are hit. Our greatest enemy is the RATmedia not Islamaniac terrorist.