(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
I don't believe this. Major danger stilll remains. Iraq could still spiral into civil war without the steady focussed hand of President Bush.
President Bush will continue as long as necessary. And I don't believe for one minute he is unaware of the dangers in Iran.
Thank you for using "normality" and not "normalcy."
Imagine how even patriots felt after years and years of losing battles in the American Revolution?
We've got to last and endure in our resolve to see this Iraqi war to a victorious end. Everything depends on it. And we are winning!
There is only one way to wake everyone up and it is to call the war by its proper name. Few are brave enough to do that.
Sorry, Danny--I love ya, and I read your Mid-East reports religiously, but I can't follow you there. Sacrifice liberties? I'm willing to die fighting militant Islam, and I'm willing to die fighting government tyranny. And if it has to be one or the other, then I don't much care which it is. As for me, give me liberty or give me death.
In a broad way I agree with this. But I'm not sure how important the Patriot Act is, for instance. It seems to me that Homeland Security is a monstrous, badly run bureaucracy that has done a mediocre job.
It's much more important to weed out all the deadwood in the system. The well-known rogue leftists in the CIA. The corrupt leadership in the FBI. The weasels in the Department of State. The clintonoids in the Justice Department.
It's also time to start holding the press accountable for treason. Maybe they have a right to constantly undermine the country with lies, but they don't have a right to publish classified information. The leftists themselves made that argument with the bogus Plamegate matter. We should hit back where security has actually and flagrantly been violated by the press and those in government who break their oaths by leaking to the press.
Many of these offenders are well known. A list of guilty parties in the CIA was posted here just a couple of days ago.
I know what it would be if I were President, but that's been beaten to death and proposing an overwhelming and final finish to the 1300-year-long war between Western Civilization and barbarism would prevent my election!
--Boris
Cannot forget the social, cultural anesthesia of the Left's 'political correctness'. . .
Pipes knows better than that. The danger that remained in Iraq was that it would experience a period of instability culminating in a government that would offer state support to terrorism a la Saddam Hussein. There is no guarantee that a democratically-elected government will not do so in the future; however, it is considerably less likely than one consisting of a single autocrat. People who insist on perfection in the upcoming government are not only being unrealistic (mostly deliberately) but nearly certain of disappointment.
Iraq was a major battle won in the overall campaign against Islamist terrorism, but the Iranian-influenced arm that is now predominant remains to be addressed properly. Pipes seems to think that Americans have been lulled by the inevitable wind-down in Iraq, and he may be right, but the Iranians themselves will see to it that the condition does not stay very long.
I think the real issue is whether the American electorate will tolerate proactive efforts with respect to Iran or wait until Iran forces the issue by an act of terrorism that must be answered. Pipes fears the latter if I understand his argument correctly, and I'm inclined to agree with him, but the fact is that it isn't just the U.S.'s responsibility to confront the Iranian aggression and, I am afraid, the Europeans (especially) who have had such a field day in endless criticism are going to have to step up to the role. That involves more than endless negotiation and hand-wringing. Are they up to it?
No, they aren't. So I'm stuck agreeing with Pipes in pessimism here.
What a revoltin development. This article crystallizes many of the trouvling thoughts I've had about America's resolve 4 1/4 years post 9/11. I hope it doesn't take a WMD attack on American soil to jolt us back to reality.....