Posted on 04/10/2002 6:09:48 AM PDT by Apolitical
Whether the Bush administration realizes it or not, it has reached an unwelcome fork in the diplomatic road with its ever-shifting policies on the terrorist threat to Israel. One path will lead to a reduction in the bloody carnage that comprises business as usual in the Middle East today. The second now-favored path -- more akin to a slippery slope leading into a precipice which is impossible to climb out of -- could open a nightmarish pandora's box of misery and suffering for the American people.
Many pundits have already pointed out the logical consequence of any further backtracking, by the Bush administration, from George W. Bush's original bold and clear post-9/11 opposition to terrorism in any form -- whether it's an attempt to appease the American "street" (read the New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek and other vociferous proponents of moral equivalence in the mainstream media) or the Arab street (read all the supposed Arab allies needed diplomatically to appease world opinion during an all-out campaign to overthrow Iraq's Saddam Hussein).Further waffling will send a loud and clear message to the calculating cynics behind the car bombs and suicide bombers currently ravaging the holy land -- that their uncivilized, nihilistic tactics work: Blow up a sufficient number of ordinary civilians going about their everyday lives, and create enough bloody confusion, carnage and panic, and timorous American leaders will cave in and give you what you want diplomatically.
In other words, the recent attempts by Dubyah and company to respond to the chaos in Israel and the Palestinian Authority by taking a more "even-handed", "balanced" approach which recognizes Palestinian grievances sends a message -- whether it's by suddenly reversing previous policy and defining as unacceptable Israel military actions similar to those of America's own response to 9/11, or formally endorsing the establishment of a Palestinian state only after the most heinous atrocities against Israeli civilians.
Such panicked policy reversals sends one clear message to the cold, brutal nihilists who have recruited, trained and equipped the many willing suicidal "martyrs" for the Palestinian cause: Terror works, and absolute terror works absolutely, in cowering the timid West.
Of course, the hope of the Bush administration, in its recent erratic attempts to appease the Palestinian terror machine, has obviously been to put a damper on the tinderbox of the current Middle East conflagration. But the effect of each mistaken act of "sympathy" and "understanding" by this administration has instead been to throw yet another log on the fire and spark the conflagration even more. In other words, each display of rubbery diplomatic knees has only encouraged more terror attacks, in a cynical attempt to extort more concessions from the weak-kneed Colin Powells of the American foreign-policy establishment. And as members of the Bush administration continue to show their faltering resolve in response to what seems to be an escalating armageddon in Israel and its environs, the psychotic fringe in the Middle East is even more emboldened to raise the ante and unleash more murderous and anarchic acts to cow America and the West into giving them what they really want. And we all know what that is -- abandonment of all support for Israel and symbolic permission to unleash a 21st-century holocaust on the Israeli people that ultimately brings about their total extinction one way or the other (perhaps by means of a rain of nuclear-tipped missiles unleashed by a still unbridled Saddam Hussein).
So what, you may ask. Maybe we should never have gotten embroiled in this mess in the first place, by always siding with Israel. And besides wouldn't America be justified in leaving the Israelis to the wolves, considering all the injustices done to the Palestinian "nation" by the Israeli "occupation", as objectively chronicled in seemingly balanced news reports by the usual suspects -- the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, CBS News and company?
Well, whether there really is such an entity as a Palestinian nation or an Israeli occupation is problematical. And certainly to mention the New York Times, CNN or CBS news and balanced, objective news reporting in the same sentence is an outrageous oxymoron.
Yet regardless, the cautionary amber lights are blinking so brightly, one is hard pressed not to remember the classic biblical injunction: "As ye sow, so ye shall reap".
After all, let's face reality. Appeasement in this one policy area will only embolden the extremist forces of expansionist Arab Islamo-fascism to lobby for appeasement in others -- whether it's in pursuit of a repressive feudal Taliban-style pan-Arab religious autocracy ruling over the entire Middle East (and maybe later Turkey, Spain and even Italy), or demands for the imposition of Taliban-style restrictions on American culture, to purge the unholy decadence of the democratic, secular American state (and wipe out for good the perceived roots of modernist, secular 'globalization' throughout the world). And let's be realistic here. The Islamo-fascist notion of 'lobbying' does not mean simply flattering and bribing corrupt, amoral politicians like William Jefferson Clinton (though that obviously helps). It means exporting its most potent weapon -- car bombs, fanatical suicide bombers and mindless carnage and murder -- to the thoroughfares, restaurants and shopping malls of the target of its intended diplomacy.
In other words, if America caves now, it sends the message to the Middle Eastern fanatical fringe that there is one weapon that works in cowering the most powerful nation in the world -- unleashing the Arafat brand of murderous terror on vulnerable civilian populations and urban settings. Today it may be the streets, restaurants and gathering places of ordinary Israelis in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv which are the target. Tomorrow it may be the streets, restaurants and gathering places of ordinary Americans in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Topeka or who knows where?
In their hearts, Americans may have tired of being long-distance spectators to the carnage in the Middle East. And they may crave the disengagement and moral high ground promised by liberal opinion makers if the diplomatic "peace process" is restarted. But the appeasement, equivocation and moral cowardice advocated in the name of "peace" by the likes of the New York Times editorial board, NPR, Peter Jennings and Dan Rather (along with their favorite intellectual gurus like Noam Chomsky and Edward Said) only promise greater chaos, conflict and suffering in the future.
This time, however, Americans won't be spectators in this nihilistic battle. They will be participants, as the psychotic fringe of Islamo-fascism brings its car bombs and suicide bombers to the cities and streets of America and attempts once again to impose its irrational will on American policy with the senseless slaughter of innocent men, women and children -- and, let's be clear about this, innocent American men, women and children.
After all, the psychotic Islamo-fascist fringe must already be thinking: If it worked in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, imagine how effective it will be in New York, L.A. and even Boise, Idaho.
Well, yes, the US was warned from the start to avoid European entanglements, etc.
But so what? Live in the world around you.
The US -- both though official federal channels and indirectly through all many of social activist groups and even more indirectly through business channels which are de facto political channels -- has pretty much been mucking around in world affairs for at least 90 years.
Crossing your arms over your chest and jutting out your chin and saying "The US shouldn't be involved in these things" is just childish and is darn close to denial. The US is involved in these things and the US is going to be involved in these things. Deal with it.
And, given that the US screwed up the Middle East by giving the Arab world oil extraction technology and then not going to war when the scum nationalized the oil fields and stole all that technology the US put there -- in fact, the US further empowered the Arabs by giving them uncounted billions in petro dollars for the oil that they extracted using the equipment they stole from US companies -- it would be downright wrong for the US to wash our hands of that mess after we were so instrumental in making it!
Mark W.
This conflict is not about the Palestinians. It is about extremist Islam. We are engaged whether we like it or not. 911
Tom Friedman, a New York Times' columnist, wrote recently of "Suicidal Lies", warning that "The Palestinians are so blinded by their narcissistic rage that they have lost sight of the basic truth civilization is built on; the sacredness of every human life, starting with your own."
No religion sends its children out to commit suicide for the purpose of killing others. No religion declares martyrdom a sacred duty. But Islam does! It is not a religion; it is little more than a 7th century warrior cult and one that spread its faith by the fear of death unless one converts. Indeed, to convert from Islam is a death sentence. The word "Islam" means "submission." Are you ready to submit?
This is the Islamic Jihad at work in the world today and nations must take up arms against it. In March alone, Palestinian suicide bombers killed more than a hundred Israelis. As the suicide bombers did their evil work in the streets of Israel, this is what Yassir Arafat was telling Palestinians and Muslims around the world:
"Allah, give me martyrdom (in Jerusalem), the place from which the Prophet Muhammad ascended to the heavens..." Jerusalem is not a holy city to Muslims. Mecca and Medina, both in Saudi Arabia, are their holy cities. For centuries Muslims ignored Jerusalem until they decided to conquer it.
"To Jerusalem we march, martyrs by the millions," said Arafat. "This is our destiny. This is a divine decree..." The Koran is a call to war!
That was a good comment. And a good, telling phrase: "narcissistic rage"
One way I think about this business, is to in my mind, put myself in the place of the PLO.
I mean, I was born in a little neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. My family has lots of ties there. My grandmother, in fact, was born in a little house not far from where I grew up. But-- If (and this is a little crazy, but it's for thought purposes) some weird UN decree came down handing over the south side of Chicago to some Native American tribe and demanding that all non-Native Americans get out, I wouldn't start killing people because I disagreed vehemently with the politics of the decision. And, after all, I can live anywhere else in Chicago, or anywhere else in America...
The PLO are in the same kind of fix. The Jews have no other place to call home. The PLO are "home" any where in the Arab world. Is the establishment of Israel a "perfect" solution? (It's not as crazy as my example.) No. But is the psychotic, unbounded Arab rage and hatred in any way proportional to the context around them? No. Is it in any way a civilized response to the context around them? No.
Mark W.
If it is, it's only in your dreams.
Bush's poll numbers are going down. Not because people are tired of hearing about the Middle East. But because people are angry at him for allowing his administration and America to be seen as unprincipled toadies to Arafat and his fellow terrorists. Bush s rating slips, but still high ( NBC/WSJ poll: : W at 74% )
Mark W.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.