End the Big Lie in Middle East Politics

The War Report ^ | 09/11/2004 | John Ransom

[johnransom]

Tragedy often comes on sneaky legs, with a mouth full of malice and leaves a smell so rank that it can last for a generation or more. So it was on Sept. 11, 2001.

As we awoke to a day of bustle and hope, with the sun up-lit and our confidence at full peak, those clouds of hate and despair shaped themselves into a reptile of the worst sort, and began to gather at 30,000 feet.

Mother and fathers in airplanes took peanuts from uniformed employees who walked the aisles, while others anxiously glanced at watches or worried about their notes for a morning meeting. Men and women of commerce took swift elevators, sipping coffee and trying to remember if their children’s soccer games were today or tomorrow night. Some may have even glanced at the wonderful day it had become, and wished themselves at the park or the zoo. It was of course, Morning in America.

But silently, the reptile continued to slither, unheard, with grotesque eyes, determined in its prey.

And when it struck, it struck hard.

It left in its wake great billows of black smoke and black hatred determined to blot out America’s morning sun. And that’s not all.

It left tears and pain and loss. And still that was not enough for the appetite of this sick creature.

In some quarters, at least, it left doubt and fear and twisted our certainty like the rubble of a burned-down building.

But in leaving us these things, it revealed something else. Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the determination to continue to do right and good even though a little scared. With the passage of time fear turns to resolve. And we have resolved to finish this.

As Americans, we know this: that it is not the disaster of today that defines us. No, it is not by our enemies that we shall be known. It is in the character we show in subsequent events, in the heroic stands and the standard heroics when under the hard blast of turmoil and travail that makes us great and good. For both great and good we are indeed.

Our enemies may have rejoiced, but they should not take heart. We expect to have their hearts soon enough. We have not sat by fearfully, full of uncertainty as to the course we should take. These reptiles are known to us; we know where they sleep. When we have struck, we have struck hard no matter the chameleon colors they have adopted. And the world has held its breath for they know now that we shall hunt terror down to its ultimate extinction. And we shall stand steadfast for the civilized world and show them that morning is not confined only to America.

We shall take courage from our convictions. Courage. We are Americans after all.

This publication is dedicated to the truths for which we now fight, and the truths in how we fight. For though America reigns supreme in the might of our armies, it is not through them that we shall see victory. It’s the propagation of our ideals that shall see us through to the end.

For 80 years or more the Arab Middle East has wallowed in the lie that nearly everything that is wrong for them is the fault of Israel. For 30 years or more they have blamed the rest on the U.S. They have blown up our citizens over Scotland, held hostage our diplomats, brutally beheaded our journalists and businessmen. They have embargoed trade with us, killed amateur athletes participating in the Olympics, they have engaged in genocide against others of their own faith. In an era of unparalleled progress for women they have sanctioned female circumcision, stoning and amputation for alleged moral offenses, and denied women even the most basic human dignities. They have successfully plotted to kill our soldiers upon the land and our sailors at sea, while stridently blaming the U.S. and Israel as a cover for the overwhelming failure of Arab politicians to provide an outlet towards progress for their own people. At a time when even the most remote villages in Communist China are making great strides in joining the global economy, the Arab Middle East, despite controlling the literal life-blood of industrialized nations, has been sinking backward into reaction and stagnation. But they needn’t get comfortable there because today democracy is on the march.

In Afghanistan and Iraq we see the first steps towards democracy. And yes, they are halting and often unsure steps. But at least they are forward progress. Although born through war, these fledgling democracies will be sustained by the natural energy and creative enthusiasm that shines through a free people.

Our enemies forget that Democracy is so much more than the sum of its parts. They see the debate and discord, rely upon the gullible, and think because the gullible are noisy that they have fooled the rest of us. Well they haven’t fooled us. We were just being complacent. Despite protests from peaceniks and pacifists complacency crumbled with about 200 stories of glass and steel three years ago. And if you want proof of it you need only look at a map. From Kuwait to Afghanistan American soldiers with boots planted firmly on the ground are announcing that the days of the big lie are at an end. And the stakes for the world community are no less than its survival, its fortune and even its sacred honor.

Wow. What a revolutionary idea.

[Bad Sheep]

bump

Amen Brother

[Bahbah]

Nice. Welcome to FR.