The Language of Losing

Steyn Online ^ | 11 Sep 2019 | Mark Steyn

[Rummyfan]

The eighteenth anniversary of 9/11 was marked by the Administration inviting the Taliban to Camp David, and by the resignation and/or firing of John Bolton as National Security Advisor - which two events may not be unconnected. Because really, when the Taliban are running around Camp David, who needs national security?

For the fifteen years after the launch of SteynOnline in 2002, we re-posted every year on this date material of mine from September 11th 2001 and the days we followed. Two years ago, we ceased that policy, for reasons I discussed on Clubland Q&A:

If this is a war, there's no agreement on what we're up against: Terrorism? Islamic terrorism? Islamic extremism? Islam? Whatever it is, a president who, on the campaign trail, mocked his predecessor's inability to use the words "radical Islam" himself eschewed all mention of the I-word today. September 11th 2001 was supposedly "the day everything changed" - if by "everything changed" you mean "the rate of mass Muslim immigration to the west doubled". As that absurd statistic suggests, we are not where I thought we would be 16 years on: We run around fighting for worthless bits of barren sod like Helmand province in Afghanistan, while surrendering day by day some of the most valuable real estate on the planet, such as France and Sweden.

[Rummyfan]

[Texas Eagle]

In any war, you have to be able to prioritize: You can't win everything, so where would you rather win? Raqqa or Rotterdam? Kandahar or Cannes? Yet, whenever some guy goes Allahu Akbar on the streets of a western city, the telly pundits generally fall into one of two groups: The left say it's no big deal, and the right say this is why we need more boots on the ground in Syria or Afghanistan. Yesterday President Trump said he was committed to ensuring that terrorists "never again have a safe haven to launch attacks against our country".

By that he means "safe havens" in Afghanistan. But the reason the west's enemies are able to pile up a continuous corpse count in Paris, Nice, Berlin, Brussels, London, Manchester, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Orlando, San Bernadino, Ottawa, Sydney, Barcelona, [Your Town Here] is because they have "safe havens" in France, Germany, Britain, Scandinavia, North America, etc. Which "safe havens" are likely to prove more consequential for the developed world in the years ahead?

Wow. Nobody puts things in perspective like Mark Steyn.

[PGR88]

when looking at all those dodgy chaps John McCain was having his photo taken with a few years back, no one really knows who the good guys are in Syria

In the end, it seems to have been the Russians.

[null and void]

“Our dear friends, the Saudis...”

[cuban leaf]

hen looking at all those dodgy chaps John McCain was having his photo taken with a few years back, no one really knows who the good guys are in Syria
In the end, it seems to have been the Russians.

---

Sadly, that is my take as well.

[null and void]

Just FYI:

Muslim countries without 9/11 WTC (non-hijacker) fatalities:

Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Akaran
Azerbaijan
Baharain
Bashkortostan
Bangladesh
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Brunei
Burkina Faso
Chad
Chechmya
Cocos Islands
Comoros
Cote D'Ivoire
Dagestan
Djibouti
East Turkistan
Egypt
Eritrea
Ethiopia
The Gambia
Guinea
Ingushetia
Iran
Iraq
Jordan
Kabardino & Bakaria
Kazakhstan
Kosovo
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Lybia
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Mauritania
Mayotte
Mindanao
Morroco
Niger
Oman
Pakistan
Palistine
Qatar
Sanjak
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Somalia
Somaliland
Sudan
Syria
Tajikistan
Tatarstan
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
United Arab Emirates
Western Sahara
Yemen
Zanzibar

Muslim countries with 9/11 WTC fatalities:
Indonesia (92% Muslim) 1 dead
Lebanon (75% Muslim) 3 dead
Nigeria (75% Muslim) 1 dead
Usbekistan (88% Muslim) 1 dead

I suspect that these 6 either didn't get the memo, or are from the non-muslim part of the populations...

[jagusafr]

Spot. On.

Nation building will never be the answer when the question includes, “Where are the bad guys?” We need out of Afghanistan, Syria, Mogadishu, et al.

Colonel, USAF (ret)

[WVNan]

I have been screaming for 16 years. “WHY would the U.S. allow any Muslim EVER to immigrate to this country after 9/11”? And why do we as citizens allow them to create whole towns among us?

[Chuckster]

The West is at war with Islam. Time to knock off the PC Bullshit and say it.

They openly call for our destruction and the death of all of us. Our “Leaders” say stupid things like “Islam is a religion of peace”. It is not. Islam is a cult tailor made for bloodthirsty camel bandits by a wannabe camel bandit warlord. It’s perfect, really. Join the cult and you get to rape and pillage to your heart’s content, as long as you only target people outside the cult. Their prophet exhorts them to “Kill the infidel where ever you find him”. And they do their best to comply. There’s no downside for them because the one sure way to get into Moslem heaven is to die while killing, or attempting to kill, infidels. It’s a win/win.

They were quiet, at first. But, getting no push back and seeing our leaders spineless reaction, they are encouraged. Now they are getting loud and demanding. Their numbers are growing. They are in the process of infiltrating our government institutions and now have influential people in high office. In time THEY will be in charge.

This is reality and the West had better wake up soon and do something about it or grow a beard and send your women out shopping for a hijab.

[Rummyfan]

“WHY would the U.S. allow any Muslim EVER to immigrate to this country after 9/11”?

You got me. It's insanity.

[Rummyfan]

In Afghanistan, we're fighting for something not worth winning, and we're losing. In Europe, Islam is fighting for something very much worth winning, and they're advancing. And, according to all the official strategists in Washington and elsewhere, these two things are nothing to do with each other.

[Verginius Rufus]

Lebanon is not 75% Muslim. It is 40.5% Christian with the remainder Sunni, Shi’ite or Druze.

[Bob434]

[[The Language of Losing]]

At first i thought the title was the title of Hillary’s new autobiography book

[null and void]

I got my percentages from the CIA fact book. If they are wrong either the CIA is wrong, or I simply mis-transcribed the number.

I compiled the list a few days after 9/11, when I found out that one enterprising NYC newspaper broke down fatalities by religion, and that data was scrubbed before I could see it, let alone copy it. I don’t recall which paper, sorry.

This is my list very painstakingly compiled from original sources. The current fact book lists 57.7% muslim. I can easily see transposing 57 to 75, I will fix it on future editions.

Thanks!

[Verginius Rufus]

I was going by The World Almanac. I don't know if they are taking into account refugees from the war in Syria. When France created Lebanon as an entity separate from Syria, the idea was to have a majority-Christian state, but over time the Muslim population grew more quickly than the Christian population. Plus the Palestinian Arab refugees in 1948 were probably overwhelmingly Muslim. Maybe the French should have created a smaller Christian state to begin with which would still have a Christian majority.

[null and void]

Makes sense.