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Survival Optional (Thomas Sowell)
Townhall.com ^ | April 28, 2009 | Thomas Sowell

Posted on 04/27/2009 9:05:25 PM PDT by jazusamo

It used to be said that self-preservation is the first law of nature. But much of what has been happening in recent times in the United States, and in Western civilization in general, suggests that survival is taking a back seat to the shibboleths of political correctness.

We have already turned loose dozens of captured terrorists, who have resumed their terrorism. Why? Because they have been given "rights" that exist neither in our laws nor under international law.

These are not criminals in our society, entitled to the protection of the Constitution of the United States. They are not prisoners of war entitled to the protection of the Geneva Convention.

There was a time when people who violated the rules of war were not entitled to turn around and claim the protection of those rules. German soldiers who put on U.S. military uniforms, in order to infiltrate American lines during the Battle of the Bulge, were simply lined up against a wall and shot.

Nobody even thought that this was a violation of the Geneva Convention. American authorities filmed the mass executions. Nobody dreamed up fictitious "rights" for these enemy combatants who had violated the rules of war. Nobody thought we had to prove that we were nicer than the Nazis by bending over backward.

Bending over backward is a very bad position from which to try to defend yourself. Nobody in those days confused bending over backward with "the rule of law," as Barack Obama did recently. Bending over backward is the antithesis of the rule of law. It is depriving the people of the protection of their laws, in order to pander to mushy notions among the elite.

Even under the Geneva Convention, enemy soldiers have no right to be turned loose before the war is over. Terrorists-- "militants" or "insurgents" for those of you who are squeamish-- have declared open-ended war against America. It is open-ended in time and open-ended in methods, including beheadings of innocent civilians.

President Obama can ban the phrase "war on terror" but he cannot ban the terrorists' war on us. That war continues, so there is no reason to turn terrorists loose before it ends. They chose to make it that kind of war. We don't need to risk American lives to prove that we are nicer than they are.

The great Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said that law is not some "brooding omnipresence in the sky." It is a set of explicit rules by which human beings structure their lives and their relationships with one another.

Those who choose to live outside those laws, whether terrorists or pirates, can be-- and have been-- shot on sight. Squeamishness is neither law nor morality. And moral exhibitionism is beneath contempt, when it sacrifices the safety of those who live within the law for the sake of self-satisfied preening, whether in editorial offices or in the White House.

As if it is not enough to turn cutthroats loose to cut throats again, we are now contemplating legal action against Americans who wrung information about international terrorist operations out of captured terrorists.

Does nobody think ahead to what this will mean-- for many years to come-- if people trying protect this country from terrorists have to worry about being put behind bars themselves? Do we need to have American intelligence agencies tip-toeing through the tulips when they deal with terrorists?

In his visit to CIA headquarters, President Obama pledged his support to the people working there and said that there would be no prosecutions of CIA agents for prior actions. Then he welshed on that in a matter of hours by leaving the door open for such prosecutions, which the left has been clamoring for, both inside and outside of Congress.

Repercussions extend far beyond issues of the day. It is bad enough that we have a glib and sophomoric narcissist in the White House. What is worse is that whole nations that rely on the United States for their security see how easily our president welshes on his commitments. So do other nations, including those with murderous intentions toward us, our children and grandchildren.


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: enemycombatants; obama; politicalcorrectness; politicallyincorrect; sowell; thomassowell; tsbo; wot
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1 posted on 04/27/2009 9:05:25 PM PDT by jazusamo
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To: abigail2; Amalie; American Quilter; arthurus; awelliott; Bahbah; bamahead; Battle Axe; bboop; ...
*PING*
Thomas Sowell

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2 posted on 04/27/2009 9:07:18 PM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo

Once again T.S. nails it!


3 posted on 04/27/2009 9:08:24 PM PDT by Don Corleone (Leave the gun..take the cannoli now reads "Oil the gun..eat the cannolis.")
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To: jazusamo

“Bending over backward is a very bad position from which to try to defend yourself.”

I’m not sure who needs to hear that the most - Democrats on foreign policy, or Republicans on everything else.


4 posted on 04/27/2009 9:11:31 PM PDT by Mr Rogers (Obama - Making Jimmy Carter look like a giant!)
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To: Don Corleone

Yes he does and I especially like the ‘sophomoric narcissist’ comment.


5 posted on 04/27/2009 9:12:13 PM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo
Even under the Geneva Convention, enemy soldiers have no right to be turned loose before the war is over.

Sowell BTT. The Libs' legalistic fantasy games are going to get a lot of people killed.

6 posted on 04/27/2009 9:12:32 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: jazusamo

Good stuff from the good Doctor.


7 posted on 04/27/2009 9:20:35 PM PDT by TheWasteLand
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To: jazusamo

I liked the “moral exhibitionism” phrase. In every article, you can count on Sowell for a few, for sure.


8 posted on 04/27/2009 9:27:30 PM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (Mr. Bernanke, have you started working on your book about the second GREATER depression?")
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To: jazusamo

It is time for Obama to go. He is the worst POTUS we have ever had.


9 posted on 04/27/2009 9:32:08 PM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote.)
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To: Attention Surplus Disorder

Absolutely, and Dr. Sowell pulls no punches when he writes about Obama and he writes of him often.


10 posted on 04/27/2009 9:33:16 PM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: freekitty

BUMP!


11 posted on 04/27/2009 9:33:48 PM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: freekitty
“It is time for Obama to go. He is the worst POTUS we have ever had.”

Obama is going nowhere because his face is still on all those glossy magazines at the check out counter

12 posted on 04/27/2009 9:40:26 PM PDT by Blind Eye Jones
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To: jazusamo

Thomas Sowell would have made an excellent President this time around.


13 posted on 04/27/2009 10:03:54 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: Secret Agent Man

Yes, Dr. Sowell would be working for our country instead of against it.


14 posted on 04/27/2009 10:11:33 PM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo
Those who choose to live outside of the law should not be granted advantage over those who live within the law by foolish, self-serving, pompous politicians. By granting them protections they haven't earned obama has given terrorists more protection than he is providing for the citizens who elected his fool a$$.
15 posted on 04/27/2009 10:42:17 PM PDT by eggman (Obama's Spread the Wealth will work just as well as Spread the Liabilities (sub-prime mortgages))
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To: gymbeau

bttt


16 posted on 04/27/2009 10:44:05 PM PDT by gymbeau (I hope the USA survives the "Mr. Utopia" regime!)
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To: jazusamo
Absolutely, and Dr. Sowell pulls no punches when he writes about Obama and he writes of him often.

He MUST be racist!

17 posted on 04/27/2009 10:44:37 PM PDT by Prokopton
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To: jazusamo

Obama is a pig.


18 posted on 04/27/2009 11:00:56 PM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote.)
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To: Blind Eye Jones

Correction Obama is a communist pig.


19 posted on 04/27/2009 11:01:48 PM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote.)
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Marked to read


20 posted on 04/27/2009 11:10:27 PM PDT by Freedom2specul8 (Please pray for our troops.... http://www.americasupportsyou.mil/)
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