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It's WWIII, and U.S. is out of ideas
New York Daily News ^ | July 9, 2006 | Michael Goodwin

Posted on 07/09/2006 11:51:14 AM PDT by West Coast Conservative

Last week's headlines prove the point: North Korea fires missiles, Iran talks of nukes again, Iraq carnage continues, Israel invades Gaza, England observes one-year anniversary of subway bombing. And, oh, yes, the feds stop a plot to blow up tunnels under the Hudson River.

World War III has begun.

It's not perfectly clear when it started. Perhaps it was after the Berlin Wall fell and the Cold War ended. Perhaps it was the first bombing of the World Trade Center, in 1993.

What is clear is that this war has a long fuse and, while we are not in the full-scale combat phase that marked World Wars I and II, we seem to be heading there. The expanding hostilities mean it's time to give this conflict a name, one that focuses the mind and clarifies the big picture.

The war on terror, or the war of terror, has tentacles that reach much of the globe. It is a world war.

While it is often a war of loose or no affiliation, and sometimes just amateur copycats, the similar goals of destruction add up to a threat against modern society. Even the hapless wanna-bes busted in Miami ordered guns and military equipment from a man they thought was from Al Qaeda. Islamic fascists are the driving force, but anti-American hatred is a global membership card for any and all who have a grievance and a gun.

The feeling that the wheels are coming off the world has only one recent comparison, the time when America's head-butt with communism sprouted hot spots from Cuba to Vietnam. Yet ultimately the policy of mutual assured destruction worked because American and Soviet leaders didn't want their countries hit by nuclear bombs.

Such rational thinking is quaint next to the ravings of North Korean nut Kim Jong Il and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They both seem to be dying to die - and set the world on fire.

And don't forget Osama Bin Laden's declaration that it is the duty of every Muslim to acquire a "Muslim bomb." Is there any doubt he would use it if he had it?

I sound pessimistic because I am. Even worse than the problems is the fact that our political system is failing us. Democratic Party leaders want to pretend we can declare peace and everything will be fine, while President Bush is out of ideas. Witness Bush now counseling patience and diplomacy on North Korea. This from a man who scorned both for five years.

But what choice does he have now that the pillars of his post-9/11 foreign policy are crumbling? As Harvard Prof. Joseph Nye argues in Foreign Affairs magazine, Bush's strategy of "reducing Washington's reliance on permanent alliances and international institutions, expanding the traditional right of preemption into a new doctrine of preventive war and advocating coercive democratization as a solution to Middle Eastern terrorism" amounted to a bid for a "legacy of transformation."

The first two ideas have been repealed. The third brought Hamas into power and has so far failed to take root in Iraq or anywhere else.

I believed Iraq was the key, that if we prevailed there, momentum would shift in our favor. Now I'm not sure. We still must prevail there, but Iraq could mean nothing if Iran or Bin Laden get the bomb or North Korea uses one.

Meanwhile, I'm definitely not using any tunnels.


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government; Israel; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; United Kingdom; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: bush; bushbash; coward; idiot; iran; iraq; israel; moron; northkorea; retard; wetthebedchoir; worldwar3; wwiii; wwiv
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1 posted on 07/09/2006 11:51:21 AM PDT by West Coast Conservative
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To: West Coast Conservative


Whatever...


2 posted on 07/09/2006 11:53:12 AM PDT by in hoc signo vinces ("Houston, TX...a waiting quagmire for jihadis. American gals are worth fighting for!")
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To: West Coast Conservative
World War III ENDED with the fall of the Berlin wall.
3 posted on 07/09/2006 11:53:44 AM PDT by BenLurkin ("The entire remedy is with the people." - W. H. Harrison)
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To: West Coast Conservative
Yet another anti-Bush spin from a quivering little coward.

I weep for the future of this country if the liberal/progressive/socialist portion of our society have their way.
4 posted on 07/09/2006 11:54:49 AM PDT by Pox (If it's a Coward you are searching for, you need look no further than the Democrats.)
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To: West Coast Conservative
This kind of article and this kind of defeatism (including panicking, helping Kim escalate it to a contrived crisis, and accordingly falling hook, line and sinker for the DPRK's tactical intents for us) would bring a smile to the face of the Dear Leader, either sauced on Hennesseys at Mt. Paektu, or stone sober.

5 posted on 07/09/2006 11:55:43 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo (A few clever bones tossed on gay unions, flag burning & Iraq still don't absolve GWB over BORDERS)
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To: West Coast Conservative

6 posted on 07/09/2006 11:57:12 AM PDT by Uriah_lost (http://www.wingercomics.com/d/20051205.html)
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To: in hoc signo vinces

Not really.

If we cast off our inhibitions, and fought all-out, we could make short work of our enemies.

After all, we have thousands of times the potential military power of all the countries in the Middle East put together. We could put an army of 15 million men, with 100,000 tanks and 500,000 artillery pieces in the field.

We have not done this because we have correctly assessed our enemies as a bunch of losers who are unlikely to succeed. If it turns out this assessment is wrong, watch out! It will not be pretty, but you will remember how Germany ended up in April-May 1945.


7 posted on 07/09/2006 11:58:23 AM PDT by proxy_user
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To: BenLurkin

WWIV started about 700 AD.


8 posted on 07/09/2006 11:58:23 AM PDT by Paladin2 (If the political indictment's from Fitz, the jury always acquits.)
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To: BenLurkin

How 'bout WW IV?


9 posted on 07/09/2006 12:01:34 PM PDT by demlosers
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To: in hoc signo vinces
Witness Bush now counseling patience and diplomacy on North Korea. This from a man who scorned both for five years.

That's true. He was a fire breathing dragon at one time, now however.......

10 posted on 07/09/2006 12:02:18 PM PDT by processing please hold (If you can't stand behind our military, stand in front of them.)
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To: BenLurkin
World War III ENDED with the fall of the Berlin wall.

Bang on. Millions of people died during the Cold War, it was one of the bloodiest wars ever, and our crack journalists missed it.

This is WW4. It promises to be as bloody as its predecessor.

11 posted on 07/09/2006 12:02:31 PM PDT by marron
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To: West Coast Conservative
I think this post is unduly pessimistic. You would think that we are all going to die!! Soon!!

Take any point in history and you will find conflicts. It is just now the world is "a small world afterall." With Nukes in third world countries like Pakistan and N. Korea (Iran to come) the problems are magnified. However, if the USA and West is diligent and persistent, and refuses to yield, we will win.

The biggest problem with Islam is probably that they are reproducing so fast, and in places that are predominately Christian.
12 posted on 07/09/2006 12:03:03 PM PDT by GeorgefromGeorgia
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To: West Coast Conservative
A few errors in this article:

It’s not WWIII, but WWIV.

It’s not a war on terrorism, but a war on Islamofacism.

Although our opponents are anti-American, we are really just a handy symbol that stands in for the infidel in general.

The U.S. is not “out of ideas,” rather it has some good ones: to favor representative government over Islamofacism; to fight the enemy in their lairs, not ours; to interdict Islamofacist funds transfer. (Of course, there could be a few more good ideas, like prohibiting Saudi Arabia from funding world-wide Wahhabism, developing non-Arab oil lands, and going big-time nuclear for power generation.)

The pillars of Bush’s post 9/11 foreign policy are not crumbling, but working — albeit slowly.

Otherwise, a good article. ;<)
13 posted on 07/09/2006 12:03:42 PM PDT by Sarastro
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To: West Coast Conservative

If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were once our countrymen. - Samuel Adams

You exceed your rights when you urge that laws be made in the shape of your conscience to block the pleasures permitted by mine. When you people prevail, you commit a crime against freedom, and that is the greatest immorality I know. -Vance Bourjaily, Country Matters

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. - H. L. Mencken

[E]lections amount to no more than choosing between the scum that floats to the top of the barrel and the dregs that settle to the bottom. - L. Neil Smith

Giving power and money to Congress is like giving liquor and car keys to teenage boys. - P.J. O'Rourke
Compromise is: getting rid of your principles a little bit at a time. - Patrick Lear


14 posted on 07/09/2006 12:04:22 PM PDT by HuntsvilleTxVeteran ("Remember the Alamo, Goliad and WACO, It is Time for a new San Jacinto")
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To: West Coast Conservative

15 posted on 07/09/2006 12:04:23 PM PDT by John Lenin
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To: West Coast Conservative

Unjustifiable pessimism, IMHO. President Bush and his administration is doing far more than the author has any reason (or security clearance) to know about. The bigger threat is the threat of exposure by a news media committed to Bush's failure, even at the expense of America's security - and paradoxically, to the very freedoms the media take for granted.


16 posted on 07/09/2006 12:04:41 PM PDT by andy58-in-nh
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To: West Coast Conservative

the MSM is in full "the sky is falling the sky is falling" mode


17 posted on 07/09/2006 12:06:12 PM PDT by mylife (The roar of the masses could be farts)
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To: West Coast Conservative; All

.


NEVER FORGET


The man who predicted it all:


9/11 Lifesaver RICK RESCORLA, ..R.I.P.

http://www.RickRescorla.com

http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24361


NEVER FORGET

.


18 posted on 07/09/2006 12:07:09 PM PDT by ALOHA RONNIE ("ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer/Veteran-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965 http://www.lzxray.com)
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To: andy58-in-nh
The bigger threat is the threat of exposure by a news media committed to Bush's failure, even at the expense of America's security - and paradoxically, to the very freedoms the media take for granted.

Which he does absolutely nothing about.

19 posted on 07/09/2006 12:08:33 PM PDT by processing please hold (If you can't stand behind our military, stand in front of them.)
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To: pbrown

Are you aware of the investigations currently being conducted with regard to the sources of national security leaks to the news media?


20 posted on 07/09/2006 12:14:43 PM PDT by andy58-in-nh
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