Posted on 08/13/2014 9:36:32 AM PDT by Kaslin
The hawks (including me) were wrong about a lot, but some got one thing right. It's going to be a long war.
In the early days after 9/11 there was a lot of talk about a "clash of civilizations" and a long "existential struggle" facing the West. I once asked the late Christopher Hitchens what he felt on that terrible day, and he said he felt no small amount of joy. Not for the suffering and death, but for the fact that the West finally had been awakened to the terrible but necessary struggle before us.
And for a time, many liberals bought into the idea that America was heading into a generational struggle with jihadism. There were a slew of books on the subject. Peter Beinart, for instance, wrote "The Good Fight: Why Liberals -- and Only Liberals -- Can Win the War on Terror and Make America Great Again." As the subtitle suggests, there was a lot of partisan mischief in his argument, but it rested on the premise that liberals must accept that "Islamic totalitarianism" -- his phrase -- has replaced communism as our enemy. On this, at least, Beinart and company, briefly agreed with George W. Bush that the war against "Islamic fascists" (Bush's term) was the "decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century."
That consensus evaporated in the hot rage ignited by the Iraq war. By the time President Obama was elected, even the war in Afghanistan -- once the good war according to most Iraq war critics -- had become an emotional albatross. Tellingly, among Obama's first executive orders was one to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay as quickly as possible.
This was a triumph for the new enlightened consensus that the war on terror wasn't really a war at all. In 2007, retired Gen. Wesley Clark co-authored an op-ed for the New York Times ridiculing the idea that Al Qaeda was a military enemy. "Labeling its members as combatants elevates its cause and gives Al Qaeda an undeserved status," he argued. The "more appropriate designation for terrorists is not 'unlawful combatant' but the one long used by the United States: criminal."
Although Obama has tried to move captured terrorists into the domestic criminal justice system, to his credit, he never fully bought into this argument. Still, he cast terrorism as a manageable problem for the experts, not a civilizational struggle. Zeus-like, he personally went over his kill lists, selecting which enemies should be dispatched with a drone strike or, in the case of Osama bin Laden, the furies of SEAL Team 6.
When new threats emerged, the White House dismissed them with the whitewash that "core Al Qaeda" was "on the run." All pretenders to Al Qaeda's mantle were little more than a "jayvee" squad, as Obama put it. It's OK to slumber again was the message.
One jayvee squad -- the self-styled Islamic State formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS -- now controls the territorial equivalent of Britain and is one of the best-equipped and ideologically committed military forces in the Middle East. Everyday jihadis -- many with Western passports -- enlist in the struggle to create a global caliphate while the "Muslim street" from Turkey to Saudi Arabia follows the Islamic State like a sports team.
The Islamic State's atrocities are too numerous and too horrible to list here. It includes rape and slavery, religious cleansing, mass murder, public crucifixions and beheadings. Over the weekend, an Iraq official said that the Islamic State had killed at least 500 Iraqi Yazidis, burying some alive, including women and children. The group is only too happy to tweet about all of it.
Watch Vice TV's reports from Islamic State-controlled parts of Syria and you will quickly see how the word "criminal" is morally, logically and strategically inadequate. They indoctrinate children to become jihadists and suicide bombers. They vow to fly their black flag over the White House.
Pentagon officials told NBC's Jim Miklaszewski that they see the Islamic State as a "10- to 20-year challenge." I hope that's pessimistic. But it's simply realistic that the ideological agenda driving these jihadis will present a challenge for far longer than that.
No one in the West wants a generational struggle with jihadism any more than Israel wants perpetual war with Hamas in Gaza. The problem is the enemy always gets a vote. It just may be that the Middle East will become the West's Gaza. And, so far, nobody has a good answer for what to do about it.
America first must be willing to jettison Political Correctness and Name our Enemy! ISLAM
On April 19th 1951 Douglas MacArthur warned us that “In War, there is no substitute for Victory”. Today we have gone beyond where MacArthur couldn't imagine; we can't even name our enemy.
How can success be possible if we are not determined to win a victory and we won't name the enemy?
I call for only deploying our military might, except in emergency situations where acting immediately will save life and property, with a Declaration of War!
President Bush could have easily gained a Declaration of War had he requested Congress to act! Why did he not do so?
Nathan Bedford Forrest said it best: “War Means Frighten and Frighten Means Killing”. Our strategy and tactics must reflect only one end state; Victory!
We have not won a war since WWII. It was the last Declared War and the last we fought to utterly annihilate the enemy.
America must stop trying to appease Europe and forget what the world thinks. We should only join the fight to win and our strategy is complete annihilation.
>Islamic charity included financial support for jihad.
Wasn’t this just a cover for using Islam and jihad to control the citizens and direct their attentions away from overthrowing the ruling powers?
It took the Brits from 1835 until 1871 to exterminate the Thugee Cult of India. I don’t see this as being any different.
There was no such thing as Political Correctness back then. It will take much longer this time.
When I hear this, I reach for my revolver.
"Long war" = "hearts and minds" = "losing".
Comprehensive defeat of the Empire of Japan took 1338 days. The end point was our commander arriving in a C-47 and walking down the main street unmolested, and his ability to require the God-Emperor to wait upon his pleasure.
The notion that the "Islamic State" is more resilient, more resourceful, and more imbued with fighting spirit than the Empire of Japan is ludicrous.
Therefore, any "war" that is envisioned to go on longer - no, significantly longer - than 1338 days isn't really a war at all - or else the enemy has not been correctly identified and his center of gravity has not been properly defined.
There were relatively few Thugee’s.
There are a billion muslims.
Actually, there was.
The aftermath of the Indian revolt and the Boer war led to the decline of the Empire. People felt sorry for “innocent” and turned their back on Empire.
You’re not wrong, but it was more than a cover. The influence of ibn Qutb on the Saudis was a genuine threat to royal power, and is why they hanged him. Charity is deeply ingrained in Islam, it’s one of the Five Pillars. (Jihad, incidentally, isn’t, but it’s prominent enough to be treated that way). Where the money really goes, well, that’s up to the recipient. And in this case, the imams who controlled that wanted jihad, and some of the donors were rival royals. Bad mix of power and money.
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Fully equip and arm Mossad. Mossad, covert, and their sympathizers are worldwide. They will stop the Islamonazies or at least slow them down.
Obama will not help them. B. Hussein O. falls fully on the Islamonazi side.
It is sickening how Hussein treats Israel.
A fully activated Mossad worldwide could do the Islamonazies serious, and much needed, damage.
Shouldn’t be allowed, IMHO.
It is sufficient, when the young men's blood is up and their leaders cry for war, to oblige them by giving them war until they don't want it anymore.
Giving them schools for girls is just not gonna do it.
It depends upon what anybody wants to call "good" answer. If the answer is the total defeat of Islam as a political ideology, that's easy. If the "good answer" is trying to persuade Muslims to cease with their aggressions, forget it; they've been hell bent on world conquest for 1400 years.
Terrorism is a cancer that can only be cured with massive doses of radiation.
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I hear you, brother Freeper.
I look at my nieces and nephews and feel so much despair for their future.
I don't know if they should learn Arabic or Hebrew or Spanish - probably all three.
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It would take a phenomenal change to win hearts and minds of Islamonazies.
War is about killing people and breaking things.
...”ISIS — now controls the territorial equivalent of Britain and is one of the best-equipped and ideologically committed military forces in the Middle East........ Everyday jihadis — many with Western passports — enlist in the struggle to create a global caliphate while the “Muslim street” from Turkey to Saudi Arabia follows the Islamic State like a sports team.”....
That’s exactly the IT of it....on their side..and clearly spoken and stated even by those silent.
The question remains just where our representatives stand in how they NOW see this. I believe they remain in the dark that this threatens our country and see it only as a Middle East problem. Sufficient for them ‘still’ to see the US threat as minimal and able to ward off any threat which might come.
Exactly so. Terrorize Teheran.
....”I do not agree with Isolationism, but it is high time we let these muslim facists do what they want. In their own backyard”.....
That will end up then a “Caliphate” once Saudi and Iran fight it out to see which side will ultimately rule it. Maybe they’ll even untie for their cause for a time....which they have done many times in History.
Meanwhile the NWO will be shaping up and incorporate into it’s governing body representation of this Caliphate (oil revenues matter)....and then we’ll see a power struggle between European Leadership and Islamic Leadership over the NWO.
We’ll have some imput in these affairs but it will be limited...by then we’ll be so bankrupt the only thing we’ll bring to the table is our military forces as we have bases and equipment throughout the East.
Precise, and totally correct.
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Absolutely! The resident in the White House has put America on the wrong side and we will be paying for this for many years to come. IMHO.
Exactly correct - but accurately defining the enemy (Gulf state sponsors of terrorism) and taking the appropriate action would play merry hell with the future of the Almighty Petrodollar.
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