I guess he stops short of openly rooting for Al Qaida, but just short.
I heard Peters talking along these lines with Laura Ingraham last week...and the interview left me scratching my head...Just didn't make sense to me. Laura was puzzled too.
I say it's a pitiful "god" that needs to be defended by mere men...
saboteur
n 1: someone who commits sabotage or deliberately causes wrecks [syn: wrecker, diversionist] 2: a member of a clandestine subversive organization who tries to help a potential invader [syn: fifth columnist]
I've often wondered why the muslims, with all the money from oil, just don't buy off all the reporters, TV Evangelists, newspaper editors.
Ralph Peters...compromised?
I used to like Ralph Peters, but no more. He has gone over to the enemy.
His hate-filled rants against conservatives sound very similar to those coming from Howard Dean.
this 1997 quote from Peters helps with putting him into perspective:
"There will be no peace. At any given moment for the rest of our lifetimes, there will be multiple conflicts in mutating forms around the globe. Violent conflict will dominate the headlines, but cultural and economic struggles will be steadier and ultimately more decisive. The de facto role of the US armed forces will be to keep the world safe for our economy and open to our cultural assault. To those ends, we will do a fair amount of killing."(Major Ralph Peters 'Constant Conflict' Parameters, Summer 1997, pp. 4-14)
http://www.amazon.ca/Beyond-Baghdad-Postmodern-War-Peace/dp/customer-reviews/0811700844
Thank God he is "retired".
Maybe Peters is a recent convert to to TROP
Just follow the (Saudi) money........
I was really puzzled by that column, too. Has he followed the lead of the Fox guys?
Yet, within his spiritual universe, he’s more heroic than the American soldier who throws himself atop a grenade to spare his comrades: He isn’t merely protecting other men, but defending his god."
A specious argument. It's like noting that Hitler was a hero to the German people. What's the point?
Symposium: 9/11: Five Years Later
By Jamie Glazov
FrontPageMagazine.com | September 11, 2006
Peters: Well, first of all, the sky isn't falling. Since 9/11, we've made great progress on multiple fronts. That doesn't mean that a final victory is in sight--if it comes at all, it will arrive generations from now. But the Feds have kept our homeland remarkably safe, despite the determination of Islamist extremists to do us harm.
We have taken the fight to the terrorists and, in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, we're now terrorizing the terrorists. Inevitably, they'll land another blow. But we've pushed them on to the strategic defensive. Despite mainstream media and left-wing nonsense, al-Qaeda is far weaker than it was, without a protected, open base. There are many other strains of Islamist terrorism, though, from the growing Shi'a terror threat to Sunni splinter groups with various aims (none of them rational or constructive). Extremism in motion breeds more extremism: Extremists spawn ultra-extremists who then spawn ultra-ultra extremists who think the mere extremists are too weak-willed. Old story--it arises in deeply troubled societies. And the greater Middle East just may be the most troubled civilization in recorded history.
Yes, we are in a clash of civilizations. PC denials are just plain goofy. But, then, clashing is what civilizations do--in military parlance, it's their Darwinian "mission statement." Even beyond that, though, we're simultaneously witnessing the ultimate crash of a once-great, still-vain civilization, that of Middle Eastern Islam. Middle Eastern cultures (and I stretch the region to include Pakistan) are not competitive in a single positive sphere of human endeavor. And their self-wrought failure is humiliating to them, so they indulge themselves in a culture of blame: If the water pressure falls, it's the fault of Israel, or the U.S., or Mossad, or the CIA. That culture of blame is emotionally satisfying, but paralyzing. Show me the Arab society willing to roll up its sleeves and fix its own problems.
I do diverge from the other participants on a few points. I've been privileged to spend a good bit of time not only in the greater Middle East, but, over the past half-dozen years, on the far fringes of the Islamic world. Religions--all religions--as practiced on earth are what men and women make them. At least for now, our problem is with the stagnant, suffocating forms of Islam practiced from North Africa through Pakistan. Elsewhere, I've found Muslims remarkably tolerant and spiritually healthy--faiths change on their frontiers. We only hear about the handful of terrorists and extremists in Indonesia, for example. But, outside of Aceh and a few urban neighborhoods, Indonesian forms--plural--of Islam are humane and absorptive (if sometimes downright weird). In Senegal, Muslims have resisted Wahhabi missionary efforts and want no part of Bedouin Islam. I found the Senegalese startlingly pro-American (and increasingly disenchanted with the French). I believe, firmly, that the long-overdue liberal reformation in Islam is coming--in Michigan or Ontario.
My point: Blanket condemnations of Islam are stupid and counter-productive. We've got enough enemies in the Middle East (and we need to get a lot more serious about killing them). Why make other enemies unnecessarily? Perhaps Islam will turn violent and anti-Western elsewhere--but at present that is not the case. Let's concentrate on the killers, not the bystanders. Why unify the Islamic world against us when it's usefully divided?
I also disagree that we are a primary target for Iranian nukes (which Tehran likely will get, since the West is so gutless). We're way, way down on the target list. While the Iranians--Persians, really--seek nukes to deter our military in the region, when it comes down to who-gets-hit-first, it's a coin-toss between Israel and Sunni Arabs. We're too self-absorbed to recognize that we're just passing through (even if we stay in the Middle East for another century). The real, enduring, merciless struggle is between Sunni and Shia (as in Iraq). Human beings may hate a distant enemy in theory, but they prefer butchering their neighbors.
I worry about Israel's future. It may not have one. Europe couldn't care less if Tel Aviv and Haifa disappear under mushroom clouds. Israel's remarkable success is as embarrassing to Europeans as it is to Arabs. Israel's only meaningful allies are in the English-speaking world.
Finally, Iraq: Even if our noble effort fails, it was worth it. If Iraq goes south--and the odds are now about fifty-fifty--it won't ultimately be an American failure, but yet another tragic Arab failure.
We made no end of mistakes in Iraq. But, thanks to the skill and valor of our troops, we nonetheless gave the Iraqis a unique chance to build the first true Arab constitutional democracy. If they fail to seize that chance, it's a lick on them.
We shall remain powerful, wealthy and indestructible. But we'll get some more bruises in this very long fight.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=24313