Posted on 09/02/2003 7:27:00 AM PDT by Ex-Dem
During a speech in St. Louis last week, President George W. Bush vowed - as I believe he should have - that there would be "no retreat from the guerrilla attacks on American soldiers in Iraq."
Furthermore, the president criticized world leaders who are reluctant to lend a hand to get the bit into the mouths of the wild men, women and, yes, even children responsible for the deadly Middle Eastern game of drawing so-called Crusader Blood.
Their misguided efforts to ascend into paradise and a better existence in their afterlife make them tough foes, indeed.
But as they say, "in for a penny, in for a pound," so President Bush had no choice but to dig in his heels, bite the bullet and declare, "No, the United States of America will not be evicted from Saddam Hussein's former lair by the desperate remnants of his broken political supporters."
It is plain to see, at least according to my logic, that the die has been cast in this so-called Holy War. The fanatic forces of worldwide fundamentalist Islam, including followers of Saddam and Osama bin Laden, are pooling their efforts for the ultimate battle.
I have dubbed that battle the Islamic version of Armageddon, and it's clear that Iraq is the chosen place to fight the ultimate donnybrook between good and evil.
What continues to amaze me is the mindset of the liberals who still don't get what's unfolding on the world stage.
Perhaps I could understand that anti-Bush rhetoric from those Democrats who have a burning desire to park their rumps in the Oval Office for a term or two.
But what about thespian Harrison Ford? He recently took to his soapbox to denounce President Bush and U.S. policy in Iraq, as well as his country's gun laws and the film industry for producing movies that "are more akin to video games than stories about human life and relationships."
I know that Ford harbors a Walter Mitty daydream of living the life of an airline pilot, but I had no idea he was a card-carrying member of the bury-your- head-in-the-sand gang.
Ford unleashed his torrent of illogical insight against U.S. foreign policy while stumping in Madrid to promote his latest movie, "Hollywood Homicide," which I'm not likely to spend my money to see.
According to The Age Breaking News on the Internet, Ford said:
"Something needs to be done to help alleviate the conditions which have created a disenfranchised and angry faction in the Middle East.
"I don't think military intervention is the correct solution. I regret what we as a country have done so far."
He also pointed out that U.S. casualties post-war are already higher than in actual conflict.
I agree that Ford has every right, just as every other American, to express his opinion about our nation's foreign policy.
And I'm trying not to be thin-skinned about another Hollywood insider who also shoots his mouth off about something he knows very little about.
But doesn't Ford get it? Throwing in the towel and pulling our troops out of Iraq would symbolize the utmost failure of democracy and Western civilization to help people who live in a world adhering to the teachings of embittered mullahs promising a fast track to paradise.
But more so, it would be a perfect invitation to the Islamic fanatics who savor jihad more than they savor life itself, to try to ascend to their vision of paradise through another American portal like the one they used in New York on Sept. 11.
I guess Ford has a right to be uncomfortable with U.S. foreign policy.
But the fact is, President Bush cut to the chase in St. Louis when he said:
"They have declared war on the entire civilized world."
That's a truth that no lucid-thinking, politically aware American can dispute.
Ken Hamblin (bac@compuserve.com; www.hamblin.com) writes Sundays in The Post and hosts a syndicated radio talk show.
I love the Left. They always know that "something" should be done but they can't ever figure out a "something" that would work. Given that the bulk of the 9/11 terrorists were middle or upper class religious fanatics, what does Mr. Ford suggest we do?
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