Israel Isn't the Issue - Islamic fanatics hate America in its own right

Opinion Journal.com ^ | 9/20/01 | Norman Podhoretz

[vrwc54]

Is American support of Israel behind the hatred of this country that pervades the Arab world and that literally exploded into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11? Certainly this is what many in Europe believe, though thus far in the United States only a few anti-Israel intransigents, like the columnist Robert Novak, have voiced any such sentiment in public.

[Ziva]

Brilliant commentary!

[Alquiviades]

Interestingly enough, the Arab civilisation is not self-sufficient. They always parasite on somebody. First, in VIII-XII centuries it were remnants of Roman and Bysantian civilisations, until resources were out and the whole Middle East and Northern Africa (most developed areas of Roman Empire!) sank in decline.

Currntly, the whole Arab world is dependent on Western money. They barely produce anything except oil. If they succeed in destroing West, anybody else can gain (China, India, Latin America, whatever) but Arabs.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

FYI

[Nonstatist]

If they succeed in destroing West, anybody else can gain (China, India, Latin America, whatever) but Arabs

Which is fine and dandy with the 10th century fanatacs ,as described in the article. Those in the Arab "street" , who agree with this ideology, are too stupid to see the ramifications of their envy, jealousy and hatred. So very stupid.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

read the reply by migraine

[vrwc54]

I owe the author, Norman Podhoretz, a debt of gratitude. It was his clear thinking and writing in Commentary Magazine over twenty years ago that convinced me to become a conservative.

He and his wife Midge Dector wrote essays on Vietnam, communism and the Soviet threat, and on cultural issues. They both had a lucid, easy-to-read style which neophytes like me found easy to comprehend.

[veronica]

BTTT.

[dennisw]

Kudos to Norman Podhoretz. I read Commentary for years due to his guidance towards the conservative direction. By all rights Commentary should have been a liberal publication since it is published by AJC (am I correct?)

But Podheretz made it into a surprisingly conservative magazine.

[The Old Hoosier]

You know, I support Israel, and even more so now after what happened, but I think we've taken a hit for them, and that anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves.

That said, we have no choice now but to increase our support for them, because we can't show that we'll be cowed by terrorists.

[SpinyNorman]

So, too, 11th-graders were taught that Western civilization "has begun to collapse and to become a pile of rubble." A pile of rubble: the sight of the World Trade Center reduced to endless tons of debris must have seemed the fulfillment of a prophecy to young minds poisoned by such teachings.

Like Hitler, Stalin, the ChiComs, and the other rats of history, the first goal is to poison the minds of the children, to provide the expendable soldiers in their contrived wars.

As for the Arabs being the cradle of civilization, what have they done with it since about 1000A.D.? Show me a single florishing Arab culture. Show me where the rich Arabs, like bin Laden, use their money to better the lot of their people. Show me enlightened Arab thought of the past 100 years, 500 years, 1000 years.

Yeah, a real shining torch. Show me an Arab state that is not pricipally a "pile of rubble."

[First_Salute]

" anti-Israel intransigents, like the columnist Robert Novak"

hardly

[NorthernRight]

Re; Commentary Magazine, I've been a staunch supporter and subscriber since 1981. Indispensible.

Was (and still am) a devoted fan of Ruth Wisse, who used to live in Montreal.
I went to several of her talks. Disappointed when she left McGill University.

The paleos may say what they wish about Podhoretz and the neo-Conservatives, but Commentary always gets it right on the subject of anti-communism and the left, and Islamism.

I too must admit that Podhoretz and Commentary helped define my conservative views.

[dennisw]

I too must admit that Podhoretz and Commentary helped define my conservative views.

Same with me. New Republic was also influential even though it's just right of center. I count myself as more conservative than Commentary, The New Republic and the neo conservatives. Still ....I learnt a lot from them.

I remeber that name Ruth Wisse. Keep your eye on Daniel Pipes. This guy talks tough and bottom line. He does NOT waste your time

[dougherty]

I read a comment yesterday from an Afghan man that anyone that is not a Muslim cannot be their friend. With that kind of an attitude, I'm not surprised they have so many hate-filled fanatics.

[dennisw]

Yeah, a real shining torch. Show me an Arab state that is not principally a "pile of rubble."

Life is not too bad in some of the Muslim oil producing nations. But you don’t have a chance if your nation is Muslim and without oil. Syria is a world class rat hole. Poorer than Guatemala. When the Pallies get their Palestinian state it will be as wretched and impoverished as Syria. Just look at Afghanistan. Another failed Muslim nation and now we get attacked by a bandit that roams free there. We get attacked by friggin’ Afghanistan! LOL!

[NorthernRight]

Same with me. New Republic was also influential even though it's just right of center. I count myself as more conservative than Commentary, The New Republic and the neo conservatives. Still ....I learnt a lot from them.
I remeber that name Ruth Wisse. Keep your eye on Daniel Pipes. This guy talks tough and bottom line. He does NOT waste your time

I already subscribe to Pipes email letter, and have been familiar with his works, for a while. His book "Conspiracy: How the Paranoid Style Flourishes, and Where It Comes From", is superb.

I always felt that TNR was actually a fairly liberal magazine, and seemed to lean towards the Democrats. It's only within the last 5 years that I've noticed a drift towards the center. I tend to agree with most of Commentary's viewpoints.

Ruth Wisse writes for Commentary, and has published several books.

[dennisw]

Pipes is over at Amazon too. He likes to review books.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/cm/member-reviews/-/A12PAMLZ1QJ1UA/1/ref=cm_mp_rv/t/002-8940146-5358449

[SlickWillard]

Show me enlightened Arab thought of the past 100 years, 500 years, 1000 years.

I wouldn't go back quite 1000 years. The Arabs dominated mathematics from about 800AD until maybe 1200AD, at which point something strange happened to their culture. Part of this was due to the wars that we call the crusades, but much of it was due to an invasion by the Mongols. After that, the Turks invaded as well, and Arab culture pretty much disappeared from the face of the earth.

Of course, if you were to argue that their religion doesn't help matters, I don't think you'd find many people to disagree with you.

[BurkeanCyclist]

The absurdity of the State Department's position on Arafat is compounded by its efforts to build a coalition against terrorism that will include some of the very states--especially Syria and Iran--against which we have in effect declared war for harboring and sponsoring this evil (in their case it is the Hezbollah, which almost certainly was connected with the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut and of American embassies in Africa in 1998).

For the State Department and the elite media, building coalitions is not a means to an end, but an end in itself. If carrying out a mission interferes with coalition-building, then the mission must be changed, or even sacrificed entirely.

And as Rich Lowry pointed out yesterday, Colin Powell is not enough of a leader to overcome the biases of the State Department bureaucracy and the media.