Posted on 09/22/2004 12:17:13 PM PDT by rface
Leftists are using the word 'crusade' again. I thought they claimed it was a dangerous word to use. What about the Muslim's F E E L I N G S ?
First of all this kind of talk always irritates because it is so ahistorical: Americans did consider precisely this issue, back in the summer and fall of 2002. Through their representatives in Congress, America answered in the affirmative by passing the War Powers resolution authorizing use of military force against Iraq. That's a decision we have made. Ever since that time we have had yapping pests like this letter-writer pretending that somehow the debate is still open and acting like they are doing us a favor by constantly, endlessly nipping at our heels as we are engaged in a war. I swear, the idea that "should we fight this war??" is somehow a useful question to still be asking at this point is beyond moronic to the point of being downright irresponsible. If people like this were trying to cause us to lose there would be no more effective way to do it.
2. "However, the Middle East is not Europe, and Islamic Iraq is not Christian Germany. Perhaps he doesnt understand these differences."
Actually he does, and thinks that this is no reason to preemptively decide that Iraq can't have consensual government, has said so repeatedly, and has repeatedly criticized those who think otherwise. There is what's known as a "debate" about matters like this. This letter-writer is so arrogant and condescending in his bigotry that he seems to think that "the Middle East is not Europe" as a self-contained argument for why consensual government cannot exist there, is somehow a matter of settled fact rather than something about which reasonable people disagree.
3. "A democratic Iraq would be about as successful as a democratic Israel has been in spreading democracy to the Middle East - by aggression and occupation."
This is a nice, baseless assertion. It's not even worth responding to. He's stated his assertion and one can take it for what it's worth. (Not much.)
4. "President Bush apparently is searching for a mission sufficiently noble to justify the expense and loss of life in Iraq, which he failed to anticipate."
I don't know exactly where the letter-writer gets this "failed to anticipate" jazz. Bush was initiating a war. Bush knew this. Some number of soldiers, and some amount of money, will be lost in war, neither amount small. Presumably Bush knew this also. (Does the letter-writer have evidence to the contrary?) Thus far we have lost some 1000 soldiers. If you had asked me to make an over-under bet on how many we would lose in the initial invasion I'd have placed the even-money bet at about 2500. So, apparently that's how much I "anticipated", and we aren't even halfway there after a year+ of occupation. I have no idea how much Bush anticipated but neither does the letter-writer. As far as I know Bush anticipated more or less the same that I did. If so, he, like me, overestimated how many we'd lose in the invasion and underestimated how many we'd lose during occupation, but not by a huge or catastrophic amount.
By any rational historical standard, of course, this war has been an astounding success. Of course, someone who opposed the war has a standard for success which requires that zero lives are lost and zero money is spent, which makes these complaints here ring rather hollow.
Or perhaps he understands better than you think... could he be bringing "God's gift" into the world of bloodthirsty moonbat terrorists and thugs? Are you claiming these people are too backwards and savage to make use of that gift? What the hell is your point anyway?
It all depends on your perspective. Who walks with you, John Ikerd?
After the Russian school, I lost all pity or forebearance for any jihadist. I say turn Meca into a large, smoking, radioactive, glass lined crater and then ask the muslim world if they want some.
Unfortunately, this seems to be how we operate. One president starts something. The next president abandons it for partisan political reasons. This is why we must get Bush back in office. He's wallowing in P.C. himself, but Kerry would be a disaster.
I agree completely although I had not pity long before the Russian school.
That's right, the US is expected to live up to a false standard of "fair play" when fighting the terrorists,when they make no bones about the end justifying the means. A lot of the rest of the world would like to hamstring us in this fight and then cry that we're not winning,when they disallow us the means to win. Hypocrites! It also gripes my azz that a lot of these countries sit back in their smug self-assumed "moral superiority" and accuse us,while they accept the protection we afford them by doing the "dirty work". If they had to defend themselves,they'd have to get off their high horses in hot minute,unless they're truly so stupid that they'd LET the terrorists conquer them. I wish we COULD leave them to their own devices and let them be responsible for their own defense,but fighting guerilla terroism doesn't work that way.
Excellent!
The history channel ran a series on Rome recently, and showed the wall collapsing because barbarians wanted in. I had that deja vu feeling. Logically speaking, we can't put up a wall and keep the world and assorted barbarian hordes out. The alternative is to see to it that they prefer to stay home, which is what GW is trying to do. There are other ways to live than eating dirt in North Korea or blowing yourself up because some bearded insane mullah says it's your mission in life, while he squirrels away billions in foreign aid in some Swiss bank. Freedom releases the best in mankind.
Think of it as a really cool car. In essence, that's why America is so seductive. We are a dream, a box of fireworks that goes off 365 days a year, new ideas, original thought, inventions, small businesses, drive, ambition. Truly, you can be anything you want in America. The only limits are those you impose upon yourself. You decide what your dream is and go for it. Not surprisingly, we get so caught up in this that we don't have time to spare for what Europe wants or thinks. Stream of consciousness...sorry, but despite their envy, etc., we do owe the rest of the world a shot at individual liberty. They can take it or leave it, but they'd be well advised not to tread on America.
It should be noted that Columbia is a college town with an above average percentage of nut-case lefties.
A quote from a Concise History of the Crusades: By the eighth century, Muslim armies had conquered all of Christian North Africa and Spain. In the eleventh century, the Seljuk Turks conquered Asia Minor (modern Turkey), which had been Christian since the time of St. Paul.
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