Posted on 11/11/2006 12:37:46 AM PST by JohnHuang2
OK.
For the last several weeks in this space, I've tried to engage my fellow entertainers and the strident politicians and all the loud and angry critics of our commander in chief and our military leaders, asking them, "If, as you keep declaring, war is not the answer – what, then, is your answer?"
I guess we're about to find out.
We're just starting to fill that gaping, hideous hole where the World Trade Center was, and where 3,000 fellow Americans perished on the 11th of September 2001. The families of the passengers of American Airlines Flight 93 are still struggling to get on with their lives without their brave loved ones. So are the families of those who were slaughtered in the assaults on the USS Cole and the Marine compound in Lebanon.
(Column continues below)
We may not want war to be "the answer," but try convincing Osama bin Laden and the crazed zealots who tried to destroy the Twin Towers the first time in 1993; tell it to those mad men and women who were on the brink of blasting 10 packed jetliners out of the sky as they arrived from London over American cities, one couple of them having filled the baby bottle of their 6-month-old child with liquid explosive; maybe Nancy Pelosi can convince the Islamic terrorists who beheaded Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl that they shouldn't do things like that, that they should "give peace a chance."
I really, really hope so.
But I'm doubtful.
It seems painfully obvious to me that the years of pre-meditation and "embedding" in our unsuspecting communities, the absolute dedication of the al-Qaida terrorists as they took and held jobs, trained to fly our planes and coordinated the worst attack on American soil since the Revolution, all this gives every evidence that we are at war, and we have been for years now. Have I misread something? Am I just being pessimistic or unnecessarily suspicious?
Almost all of our newly elected representatives and senators campaigned against our military involvement in Iraq, demanding that we announce an end to the fighting and bring our soldiers home. They declared most emphatically that we "should never have been there," that the war was mismanaged and was badly damaging our reputation in the rest of the world, especially in the rapidly growing Muslim populations. Their confectionery dialogue worked its magic on a desperate citizenry, so eager to wish away the ominous facts and get on with our normal existence. After all, nobody wants war, and it's just human nature (especially if you've already and always led a charmed, privileged life) to want to put the unpleasant past away and resume busy, self-absorbed, peaceful lives. To growing numbers of Americans, 9-11 seems long ago – and nothing like that has happened since, has it? So, what then? Let's give peace a chance?
The House of Representatives and, sadly, the Senate are now under the control of those who railed against the president and our military for taking the battle against religious terrorism to the Middle East, its birthplace and training ground, serving notice that America will not tolerate assaults on our soil and that we will pursue our attackers and make them pay a fearful price. Many of the "new guys" not only want to get our troops out of Iraq, regardless of the consequences to the Iraqi people who affirmed hopes for their future by voting by the millions, but they also oppose telephonic surveillance of suspected terrorist enemies, who are most certainly at work plotting the next 9-11s and likely far worse catastrophes.
Their sugary promises sounded so good, and though they couldn't be specific in any way, they made millions of Americans sure there was a 'better way." And now, with our lives and the very existence of America on the line, they have the chance to produce. Let's all hope – and pray – that this new Congress will actually find some alternative to a bold and frontal assault on those who are committed to our destruction.
Having said these things, I add my congratulations and a personal salute to the voters who took their duties and privileges seriously. A slim majority replaced many of those who supported our troops and leadership with new voices who swear they can come up with a better plan.
But, to our everlasting shame, there are 20 or 30 million eligible, even registered voters who couldn't be bothered, who stayed home or went to movies or decided their votes wouldn't matter. Our future was in their hands, and they sat out the election. In Iraq, some 12 million people literally risked their lives to vote, proudly brandishing their purple thumbs afterwards. And close to 200,000 young American men and women voluntarily risked – and over 2,000 gave – their very lives to bring democracy to Iraq and defend ours back home. We can be deeply disgusted with these non-voters here, and immeasurably proud of our young soldiers who are still representing and exemplifying our character and purpose to an Islamic region that still has never tasted our liberties.
And so, our democratic process, our divided citizenry, may have moved us all out of the frying pan … and into the fire. I prayed for the leaders who've just been voted out of office; I resolve that I'll pray for their replacements even more fervently.
i think the dems in power now, in the situation they are least capable of truely dealing with, i think it is going to show the american people, as if under a spotlight, the true nature of liberalism and i think it's gonna be the deathblow, the flat knockout to the Left in this country. Especially since they fooled so many voters with "pro gun, anti abortion, goodoleboy" freshmen candidates. You can fool all the people some of the time...etc.
i've never agreed with the manner in which this war has been prosecuted. Quite simply, we don't kill enough people. They are not afraid of us. We try way to hard to limit the damage...it only resolves our enemies that we are soft,,,and maybe we are...too soft to defeat barbarians. Another hightech society might read the writing on the wall and be detered..."oh our internet grid is being destroyed, there will be no way to continue to compete in the global economy, lets negotiate now". But the Islamics have nothing and so have nothing to lose. For them it is a blood war not a strategic bombing campaign type of war. IT'S ABOUT KILLING..and that may be too distasteful for even our generals, certainly it is for our president.
Even worse, we should torture them all with Nancy Pelosi's panties.
Yeah, I've always maintained that Bush tilted liberal. I find it hard to believe that Webb will turn Fonda on us...I really lost a lot of faith with the Rep party when Randy Cunnigham got busted. He was a rare Hero, one from my youth, reminds me of that Blacksox story , when they threw the game. "Say it aint so Joe". We can't just leave Iraq, forget Democracy, that land gives us bases to take out the Mullahs in Iran. We should of already driven into damacus 2 years ago. If we leave, we're going to have to retake it. No sense paying for the same land twice. and next time it'll be more expensive. No, I believe Iraq was a good idea , but they should have turned west and driven to the Mediteranean Sea. Taking Syria and Lebannon out of the Picture. People wouldn't be so quick to spout their antiAmerican tripe if we were a tad more ruthless. We got to be the "strong horse". Push on , Drive on, Thrust deep!
This is a thought that continues to occur to me like a flash of insight or a vision.
If you look at what's happening between israel and the arabs in gaza and the west bank and in lebanon... it's a perfect allegory for the strategy that the arabs are using against america and the west in general.
The arabs launch rockets into israel and then they complain about victimization when israel retaliates. Then the UN restrains them.
The arabs launch suicide attacks into america and then they complain about victimization and occupation when america retaliates. Then the democrats who at first supported the war turn their backs on the troops.
It's a tough fight even when you are evenly matched. But when Americans are forced by the democrats to enter the conflict on a limited basis, it's like being forced to enter a conflict with a pen knife where the enemy has a machine gun. You can not win.
During the 70's immediately after the vietnam conflict was lost. The communist sycophants who were marching in the streets funded by general giap and the soviets were left in the streets and given full citizenship by the carter admin and the church commission. These individuals became SENATORS and WEALTHY BUSINESSMEN. Now they have taken over the Congress and soon enough, the presidency.
We will say the same thing in 30 years. In the 00's immediately after the iraq conflict. The individuals who betrayed their country by leaking classified programs, the ones who carried the water for the islamic threat. They will be granted full citizenship and will again become the SENATORS and Wealthy Businessmen.
So today we are planting the seeds for the Islamic Caliphate as Carter planted the seeds of Socialism.
The liberals are right. We can NEVER WIN in iraq so long as we are fighting with a pen knife. And america will not exist as an independent nation any longer. From this point forward america will never enter into a conflict without the express approval of Russia and China. (because they are the veto members of the UN) But the chinese and the russians will continue to wage a proxy war against america and her interests. And I guarantee you that the Russian and Chinese programs will not be broadcast from the towers of ABC or on the front page of the NY Times.
So the vietnam strategy works against america. Again and Again. And when you get into a conflict with america all you have to do is go to the media and they will carry your propoganda. And the media will simply demoralize the population and the rest is a cascade. The enemies of america are already lining up to take advantage of this weakness. In South America the guerillas are already sending open messages to the powerful american Hollywood celebrities asking them to advocate for prisoner exchanges.
Now you can spin this any way you like but in the long run, and in the cold war we have been defeated. So here we are at the bottom of Churchills admonition. We live as slaves to the UN.
I'm very much afraid that it's going to take a lot more American blood, spilled on our own soil, to convince the American people to fight this war like a war. And until we start killing our enemies, not stopping until total surrender or total annihilation, we can never win.
Therefore, anyone concluding the Republicans lost because they didn't move to the center is dead wrong.
You are correct Muslims instigate the conflicts then cry foul when there are reprisals. I'm am utterly convinced this practice is but one of a multitude of strategies Islam is employing in their war upon the entire non-Muslim world.
Just like a brat younger sibling who teases the older sibling, gets slapped down and then complains to mommy.
I know you're convinced, but the brush you use to paint is too broad.
Islam in the hands of the committed jihadists is warring on the Muslims who just want to go about their every day lives and make a buck, feed their families and survive. There are many many millions of "every day lives Muslims" who despite Koranic passages flung at the world to justify the jihadists' barbarism really aren't on board with that. They are being slaughtered by it, if they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
President Bush, his rhetoric about the religion aside, is informed and wise enough to see that some Muslims are TRYING to fight on our side against the barbaric jihadists and he has made common cause with them. In your world view, every Iraqi Muslim is an enemy to be subjegated or destroyed. In Bush's world view you offer them something by backing them against the jihadists in their midst.
That doesn't make Bush a Liberal. It means you don't like his approach.
His approach had every chance of working except for the surrenderer Lib Dems and media here and their brethren in Europe. I'm convinced his view is correct but it requires support behind it and THAT is what has fallen away.
On that, the Left and more than few of the Right have joined hands to bring it down.
Osama wanted an all out war on his religion. It was a major part of his plan.
Good post by the way.
Well said.
What happens now?....agreeing with what you said...where do we go from here?
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