The lessons of history

CONSTANTINE, ALGERIA -- History is the consequence of consequences. Barbara Tuchman, the Pulitzer prize-winning historian, pointed out history might also be a "march of folly."

Fifty years ago this month, Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Egyptian dictator, unleashed a torrent of rhetoric in nationalizing the Suez Canal. The soldier-politician carried his country and Arabs beyond Egypt's borders on a tide of nationalist sentiment to the high noon of pan-Arab politics.

A few months later, Nasser's rhetoric brought the tripartite response of Britain, France and Israel in the Suez War of October 1956.

Egypt was rescued from the humiliation of military defeat by U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower -- a result of Cold War politics in a world then divided between Washington and Moscow. But Nasser learned very little from the episode of which he was the architect.

Nasser remains the archetype of the Arab demagogue, despite his legacy of defeat. Most Arabs recall Israel's stunning victory in the war of June 1967 -- also provoked by Nasser's folly -- as a catastrophe. But for nearly 40 years and counting, the Egyptian tyrant's pale shadows -- such as Iraq's Saddam Hussein, Libya's Moammar Khadaffy, Palestine's late Yasser Arafat, Syria's Assads (father and son), Algeria's late Houari Boumeddiene -- have loomed large among Arabs as they suffered repeated self-inflicted disasters.

Nasser's progeny largely turned into Islamists, envied the cult of the Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran, and learned the rhetoric of mullahs (clerics) in order to provide demagogic legitimacy to the terrorism they adopted as a weapon of war against the civilized world.

This week, I visited the Algerian city of Constantine, named for the Roman emperor. Lebanon is a continent away, but the criminal folly of Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah -- a petty warlord in the service of Iran's brutal clerical regime -- in provoking Israel's retaliation is writ large across this North African state, which is still recovering from the madness of its own savage war of the past decade.

In Algeria, the military met the Islamist challenge with ruthless force. Some Algerians privately complain of military excesses in defeating terrorists, but the majority are relieved by an end to violence that turned Algeria into a killing field during the 1990s.

Algeria's lesson is simple. There can be no negotiated settlement with terrorists. Any such effort only extends legitimacy to terrorists and erodes the civilized community's will to eliminate evil from its midst.

Lebanon's malaise for the past 30 years has been, quite simply, its failure to deal with demagogues and warlords. Its wounds are self-inflicted as it willingly became the staging ground for those waging war against Israel with impunity.

Lebanon cannot be healed, or the Lebanese find release from demagogic warlords, unless it learns to apply Algeria's lesson.

The incapacity (or reluctance) of the Lebanese authorities to eliminate warlords within their borders has compelled Israel to punish Nasrallah and his thugs for their unforgiving provocations.

Now, any effort by Western democracies to appease this unreal world of Arab politics -- for instance, by attempting to negotiate a diplomatic settlement -- will only prolong Lebanon's agony.

All it will do, once again, is rescue another petty demagogue from the bloody consequences of his folly.

Great piece. We can only understand the war we're engaged in by seeing it in historical context. The long-range missile recently launched deep into Israel yesterday is Iranian, and it named for a place where Mohammed defeated Jewish tribes on the Arabian peninsula fourteen hundred years ago.

Radical Muslims have a long view in this clash of civilizations. Most Americans don't. That's the real problem handicapping the United States in this war. It's up to President Bush to educate Americans about why we fight. He's not doing that very well at all. He started to back in the fall of 2001, but he seems to have lost his nerve. He should read this column. So should Israel's Olmert.

It's up to President Bush to educate Americans about why we fight. He's not doing that very well at all.

I agree. Lots of generalities about terrorists, freedom, democracy, our interests, etc. He needs to be more specific and lay out the mosaic that will allow average Americans to connect the dots, identify the players and their motivations, and understand the long term consequences of this struggle.

In regards to this article, Ronald Reagan said: "If history teaches anything, it teaches self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly."

Now, any effort by Western democracies to appease this unreal world of Arab politics -- for instance, by attempting to negotiate a diplomatic settlement -- will only prolong Lebanon's agony.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The Right approach is exemplified by a pre battle speech to IDF troops. Note that the content is reminiscent of our American Heritage. Copy and circulate it at your own pleasure:

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Captain Uri Lavie, a company commander in the Golani Brigade briefing his soldiers “ nine months into their military service “ a few minutes before joining the battle against Hizballah terrorists in southern Lebanon ("Ha'aretz, July 27, 2006):

"This is our time to rise to the challenge, put on the helmets and the bullet proof vests and make sure that the northern border is secure.

We shall fulfill any mission in a most effective manner, in face of any challenge.

If we shall not fulfill our mission we shall forfeit the right to exist.

We shall not lose this war, which we did not start.

Our duty is to serve as a defense force of the Jewish People, and to secure the peace of mind of the civilians in northern Israel.

If we shall not do it, no one will do it in our place.

For two thousand years we waited for the establishment of the Jewish State, and we are not going to roll back because a bunch of terrorists assume that they can scare us.

He who cannot defend Liberty does not deserve Liberty.

If we will not be able to fight until our last drop of blood, in order to secure the Liberty of our People on its own soil, our People will not enjoy Liberty.

There is time to talk and there is time to act. At this time, when missiles and Katyushas afflict the North all the way to Haifa, in addition to the two kidnapped soldiers, the ten soldiers killed and the dozens injured, it is time to fight and not to talk. We are the force, which has been chosen to fight, and we shall perform in the most effective manner.

I will be the first one to enter the battle and the last one to come out, and will do everything in my power to get you out alive and well. On Friday, with G-D's help, we will rejoin with our families. However, I cannot do it alone. Once we cross the northern border, you should exercise full alert and full responsibility toward your fellow soldier."

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