Kristol: The Long War (The radical Islamists are on the offensive. Will we defeat them?)

The Weekly Standard ^ | March 6, 2006 | William Kristol

[LS]

But what I say in the book is correct, no?

[eyespysomething]

The UAE has sent troops to Afghanistan.

The UAE invited the US Treasury, FBI, and military et al departments to examine their banking system and records in the weeks after 9-11 to help them shore up their financial sieve. No other ME country invited our people, even though we sent out feelers to all of them. They tightened up their banking, and have used their records and contacts to arrest those we were hunting, or give us intel where they are.

Everyone has to hang their hat on someone. IMO they have chosen us. They didn't have to. You can't tell me they aren't under threats and pressure from the jihadists and mullahs for aligning with us.

I don't think we need to give them national security secrets or anything like that, but let them run a business? Sure.

Look, unless you're willing to kill them all, and we aren't at that point yet (and if we get there, its going to messy what with the women and children) we are going to have to deal with them, and the best way to win "hearts and minds" is to export capitalism and liberalism.

[LanaTurnerOverdrive]

Pimp.

[TheCrusader]

"The UAE has been solid for us all along. There's no reason to piss on them. This is simply a cynical Democratic game that a bunch of Republicans have fallen for for racialist reasons."

It's amusing to read this from a conservative. Pulling out the "race card" ploy used to be a strictly liberal democrat tactic that conservatives would scorn them for. But since the President has insinuated that everyone who opposes this deal is a racist, it's unfortunately become a conservative tactic too.

This business about the UAE having been our good ally "all along" is totally wrong. Aren't you aware that the 9/11 attackers based their operation in the UAE, where they were provided with fake passports and laundered money? Don't you know that the FBI discovered ties between UAE banks and al Qaeda and had these accounts frozen in the aftermath of 9/11? Then there is still the very much unresolved issue of the UAE allowing their ports and waterways to be used to ship contraband nuclear materials to Iran. And what about the UAE's staunchly anti-Israel policies? They refuse to even recognize Israel as a legitimate state, and Israel is our best ally in the region.

The UAE may be our "allies" in some remote sense of the word because they cooperate with us to a degree, but to say they are "fighting" terrorism with us just isn't true. Where in Iraq or Afghanistan can their troops, airforce or navy be found fighting anybody? All they're doing is cooperating with us because the Royal Families and Sheiks in the UAE fear having their own economy attacked by al Qaeda lunatics.

So while our government and these Sheiks may have a few things in common, it's dangerously wrong to think of them as "friends and allies" in the same sense as Britain, Italy, Australia, etc, are.

Besides, it's not the Sheiks that worry me, it is the people of the UAE that worry me. They are islamists with a completely different world view than the U.S. We believe that democracy is the answer to peace and prosperity in the world, they believe islam is. The UAE is an islamic monarchy, where the Sheiks have total control of the people's affairs, and the people have no voice whatsover; and this is just fine with them because it is "allah's" way. So while the UAE may appear to be cooperating with us, who really knows what lurks inside their islamic minds in the bigger picture and for the long run?

So I submit that they are not our trusted and true friends in any way, shape, form or manner as are our Western friends and allies who have the exact same world view as us. In the end, the UAE want 'allah' to reign over the earth, and their government is based on this reality. You can't even get a bank loan there unless you prove it's in 'allah's best interests.

[dc-zoo]

Bump

[thoughtomator]

Here's one about the UAE and black market nuclear trafficking:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1077543/posts

[capitalist229]

Here is the hidden agenda that Bill Kristol can't state.

The dollar is the only currency accepted for oil purchases, which allows us to print them indiscriminately.

Anybody who threatens the dollar's reserve status (Saddam, Iran, Chavez, Putin) will feel the cold hard steel of the US military.

Any other agenda is a convenient facade (democracy, terrorism, etc.) because the bottom line is our standard of living.

BUMP

[BlackjackPershing]

I'd say kick out the Chinese military that is running Long Beach California Naval Ports before we stop the Dubai deal. At least there is some reasoning to the Dubai deal to gain intelligence and to reward an ally in the war on Terror.

[STD]

"Stand with Denmark, and moderate Muslims, against the radical mob."

Sorry Bill , there are no moderate Moose-limbs, just cowards. Let's start a war they will never forget. When western powers fight they are the most efficient ruthless killing machines the world has ever see. Then and only then will there be "moderate" moose-limbs. Start killing by the clock. It must be "total war"

[highlander_UW]

(The radical Islamists are on the offensive. Will we defeat them?)

Unless there are large changes, no...the liberals amongst us will get many of us killed and will find a way to create defeat.

[reluctantwarrior]

Yes but a UAE company isn't the totalitiy of all UAE residents or their government. If a US company abetted Tim McVeigh or a militia with seditious intent does that mean the US is intent on sedition against itself?

[Caipirabob]

he UAE is an autocracy and one coup could turn it into a Taliban-like enemy overnight.

Still, think how much trouble we could have saved if that absolute imbicile-monkey-in-a-suit Carter had helped the Shah Of Iran when he needed us.

I believe that we should continue to engage the UAE. I'm not arguing in favor of Port Security, because I simply am not comfortable nor familiar with all the facts. Yet we have to consider the implications of alienating yet another even "partial allie".

[thoughtomator]

The company in this case is in fact owned by the government of the UAE - it's not a private company. That goverment is an autocratic minority government where an overwhelming majority of the people whom they rule are enemies of the US. Moreover, it's an Islamic government, one that votes against us in the UN like a Democrat voting against a Bush initiative.

Going back to the fundamentals on this, what makes our port operations the business of the government of the UAE? It just seems so detatched from the legitimate functions of a government that one has to ask how they passed a security review.

Our ports - like our borders - are already a known weakness. Obtaining an interest in those ports therefore is something that could directly further the enemy's goals, and is very likely to be his choice. This administration already has demonstrated clearly it does not understand the concept of sovereignty and thus its word is not good enough in this arena.

[hinckley buzzard]

...supporting moderate and modern government, especially in the Muslim world, to ensure that the conditions and ideologies that promote terrorism do not find fertile ground in any nation;

remarks by President Bush, National Cathedral, 9/14/2001.

[thoughtomator]

Is an Islamic autocracy a moderate and modern government?

[hinckley buzzard]

The UAE are not democratic, but they are not islamic fundamentalists, and they are working through western-style economic systems to modernize. They live in a crappy neighborhood, but they have no use for the savages who lurk around them. They have been partners with us for years, since the seventies, to my personal knowledge, long before the current round of jihad broke out. The President is being consistent with existing policies in supporting trade with them now.

[LibertarianInExile]

"Our ports - like our borders - are already a known weakness. Obtaining an interest in those ports therefore is something that could directly further the enemy's goals, and is very likely to be his choice."

What you said BUMP!

[bayouranger]

The UAE Spec ops soldiers have served bravely in Afghanistan for three years...

That doesn't mean anything in terms of allegiance. Remember the SF soldier that served bravely in our US Army prior to being recruited by Bin Laden for many jobs against our country.

[reluctantwarrior]

It does matter in terms of allegiance. When is putting your life on the line a trivial matter.

I missed that story, who was this SF guy?

I worked with the UAE SOF and they get it. They are in for the win against Islamofascism. I realize that the reaction is not to trust Arabs but this is a Arab civil war, in the end more muslims will die fighting the facists then westerners, et al.

[bayouranger]

When is putting your life on the line a trivial matter?

> When ever they(muslims) die in service to Jihad, which ever one they choose for the moment, death is a trivial matter to them..that's when.


I missed that story, who was this SF guy?

> His name is Ali Mohammud, an Egyptian born Islamic fundie who came to the US in '85. He was an O-3, 180 series, based at Bragg. He went on to arrange meetings with OBL and other associates such as the Hizballah military chiefs in the Sudan. His exploits include the very intensive protection training for OBL's bodyguards. He was later investigated by the FBI & CIA due to his connections but used each agency against each other while postponing his inevitable capture. He played the game well, to say the least. Which is why I cannot look to the UAE, or their soldiers, no matter how many die in service to their countries, as nothing less untrustworthy. Their allegiance is to Allah, and not any member of The Great Satans citizens.

I worked with the UAE SOF and they get it. They are in for the win against Islamofascism.

> I will never Q what they really get based on their "religion", but I am never the less thankful for men like you. Being prior Army myself, I find that intensive training about islams true intentions to be short sighted in this war. A good buddy of mine in the AF thinks that there are only 2 sects within islam, and when I began to enlighten him, he rebuked what I told him by saying, 'This isn't what I was taught."! He's an E8 for crying out loud!

I realize that the reaction is not to trust Arabs but this is a Arab civil war, in the end more muslims will die fighting the facists then westerners, et al.


> Stop right there! I have a very personal relationship with many Christian Jordanian Arabs, but I've distanced myself from their muzzie friends due to their dislike of me being prior Army. When race is brought in for defense..we avoid, by intention, the true nature of the issue: islam. As far as dying by muzzies more than us..we'll see, but history has shown that our infidel necks get severed often by good muzzies.

Hope the info about the O-3 helps.

Of the Troops,
For the Troops!
95B10

Will we win the battle? We might never be around to know. But one thing is certain. Unless we are able to recognize and define the enemy- militant islamic fundamentalists- without fear of being castigated as racist, then we will certainly lose.
-Steve Emerson
Author of American Jihad