Posted on 01/19/2007 5:46:29 AM PST by IrishMike
Most Americans accept that if the United States cannot stabilize Iraq, and, in frustration and acrimony, withdraws in defeat, crises follow. The only disagreement is over how bad they will be. Some point to the aftermath of Vietnam and, mirabile dictu, think the world eventually went on pretty much the same. In this rosy view, the preordained end of the Cold War made the communist postwar Vietnamese increasingly entrepreneurial, and thus more pro-American than friendly to their erstwhile Chinese patrons.
Others, more soberly I think, recall instead in the interval the million-plus of boat-people, exiles, the executed, and detained and the aftershocks that killed millions more in Afghanistan, Cambodia, and Central America, once it was established that the United States would not, or could not, thwart Communist aggression. The Iranian hostage-taking and the rise of radical Islam itself were predicated on the idea that a post-Vietnam America would not intervene against terrorists, whether in Tehran or Lebanon. And Vietnam, of course, today is no South Korea, as millions there without freedom could attest.
The Ripple Effect Be that as it may, we sometimes forget that there are also more insidious ripples that can emanate from Iraq. I can think of three for starters, all with post-Vietnam echoes.
The first will be the effect on the Democratic party itself, now riding high in its antiwar invective. Yet for a quarter century after Vietnam its antiwar hysteria warped its stance on issues such as the military, retaliation abroad for attacks on America, and the use of force in general.
(Excerpt) Read more at article.nationalreview.com ...
Let's hope this column gets read by GW. You can't argue with VD's logic.
A Libyan dissident, a feminist writer in Egypt, or an Iraqi intellectual who decries Western indifference to their plight or American tolerance of regional dictatorships will be told to quit whining and get a lifeThat's the current leftist-liberal attitude today. If you're not complaining about the horrors of "neo-conservatism" or the horrors of Christianity, then don't complain at all. Nobody wants to hear about Castro's jails or Islam's 3/4 billion female slaves.
For one thing, nobody (including eloquent voices on this issue like VDH) has ever been able to clearly explain how the establishment of an Islamic state -- and a Marxist one at that -- in the Middle East is in the best interests of the United States, does anything to promote American ideals in the Middle East, etc. And nobody has ever been able to clearly explain how the heck the U.S. could possibly wage a "war on terror" anywhere else in the world in the aftermath of that idiotic 9/11 commission whose sole purpose was to cover up the incompetence and/or malfeasance of people in the upper reaches of the U.S. government (on both sides of the aisle) in protecting the citizenry of this country over the last 10-15 years.
This is the kind of nonsense that makes objective conservatives like me utterly cynical about what the hell the real agenda is here.
James Taranto, on Best of the Web, mentioned, concerning Kennedy's talk of abandoning the people of Iraq, that Kennedy makes a habit of giving friends the choice to sink or swim.
just send the fax to Rogue Manor
.....that Kennedy makes a habit of giving friends the choice to sink or swim.
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Now that's good.
Combined ping to 2 ping lists
Victor Davis Hanson Ping ! Let me know if you want in or out. Links: FR Index of his articles: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=victordavishanson |
Nailed It! Moral Clarity BUMP ! This ping list is not author-specific for articles I'd like to share. Some for the perfect moral clarity, some for provocative thoughts; or simply interesting articles I'd hate to miss myself. (I don't have to agree with the author all 100% to feel the need to share an article.) I will try not to abuse the ping list and not to annoy you too much, but on some days there is more of the good stuff that is worthy of attention. You can see the list of articles I pinged to lately on my page. You are welcome in or out, just freepmail me (and note which PING list you are talking about). Besides this one, I keep 2 separate PING lists for my favorite authors Victor Davis Hanson and Orson Scott Card. |
Put me on that ping list please.
Mike
Bump
Excellent piece by Hanson, thanks for post and ping.
To the loonie left, the above will be justified as long as they reclaim the White House and maintain the majority in Congress, they are a sad bunch.
We are being defeated in Iraq and the terribly misnamed "War On Terror" right here at home. This is Bush's last chance to reverse it by bringing success in Iraq. But even he approaches this crucial battle with his Administration forces terribly divided, U.S. Deadlocked on Whether To Free Iranian Terror Suspects
If he fails, we will be in '08, and I fear events are aligning such that our future will be in the hands of Hillary (*shudder*) and the Dhimmicrats. In other words, America's goose is cooked on all levels.
We will be the new "Boat People" with no place to run...
There's also a great eric Allie cartoon with the Dem donkey pointing to the pic of the last helicopter fleeing our embassy in Saigon and saying "And they all lived happily ever after."
Added to the VDH ping list. Thanks
Thank you.
What I take away from this war is that liberals will undermine any long term conflict so it is necessary to use surrogates and tyrants through back channels to protect our interests.
"Leaving Iraq prematurely will also damage the credibility of the Democratic party, the reputation of American ground forces, and the idealism of American foreign policy just those principles that the critics of the war oddly claim they will be saving by fleeing."
Throw in the back stabbing walk on water pseudo conservatives, who hate GW more than the rats do, as the other big losers.
"Both are required, before America grows up again. And before anyone yells at me, I know full well that there are millions of patriotic Boomers who served their country well, and lived productive lives. But an entire age group will have to die of natural causes before we can get back to being what we were meant to be, before everything got horribly side-tracked, during the Summer of Love."
I am afraid that you are so right. Until the Kennedy, Kerry, the Clintons and other hatriotics take the long sleep, America will never have a chance to be a good and powerful nation. They are so mentally defective, they feel that their hatred of America is patriotic. So they are the Hatriotics, and they will continue to soil America until they are all long gone.
This point was made by a Sudanese expatriate, now teaching at a US university, to my daughter's class on Genocide here in California, although he was not pointing the finger at Republicans.
The undermining of President Bush's effort in Iraq has made less likely assistance in other world crisis. Unlike many of her generation, my daughter clearly sees that the party of compassion and values is Republican, not Democrat.
You're right. It's powerful.
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