Posted on 09/13/2006 12:48:56 PM PDT by crazyhorse691
If we are to rise above endless conflict, the Muslim world must see America as something other than the Great Satan
As if on cue Tuesday, four men attacked the U.S. embassy in Damascus, Syria, hours after President Bush reminded Americans in his sobering television address that we do have enemies.
They are aggressive, committed people who hate the United States and are deadly in the pursuit of that hatred.
Military and intelligence efforts by the United States and others have inflicted real harm on the terror networks sponsored by extremist Muslims. Troops and bombs have killed their leaders and pinched their ability to supply themselves or mount operations. Successful intelligence work has, no doubt, prevented many new attacks on the United States and its allies.
The war in Iraq aside, we have won many victories in the war on terror.
But as the president sought to renew our national resolve to see this enterprise through, it was hard not to conclude that winning many battles is not the same thing as winning the war.
To change that, it seems to us the president must broaden both his message to the American people and the world. Indeed, he must broaden the American approach to the problem. As necessary as it is to confront terrorism militarily and through the proper use of intelligence and covert action, we will not win this war on the battlefield. We will win it by supporting -- not imposing -- social reform, economic opportunity for the average person and self-determination in the Muslim world. We will win it, too, by showing the world something beyond our ability to kill terrorists.
But our approach so far has been to lead with the military solution. That was the right choice in 2001 and 2002 when the target was the dangerous Taliban government of Afghanistan. In 2006, as the resurgent Taliban again exert themselves in Afghanistan, it is clear that the approach has limits. Ultimately, Afghanistan can operate as a state only if its citizens, its tribes and its local fiefdoms agree on a common future. We cannot kill enough Taliban to bring that about.
In Iraq, the president has made himself a prophet, of sorts, by conducting a campaign that makes American troops tempting targets not just for Iraqi insurgents, but for foreign fighters drawn to the conflict to feed a bloodthirsty, perverted ideology and kill Americans. There is an Iraqi "front" in the war on terror all right. We created it.
President Bush sounded many of the right notes in his speech this week. He talked about freedom and democracy and moderation. But the lens through which many in the Muslim world see us shows them war, destruction -- and, inexcusably, sometimes rape and murder -- at our hands. This is a distorted lens and many in the Muslim world know this. But we amply provide the raw material for those distortions.
Ultimately, winning this war means winning the trust and respect of millions of people who have been taught we are the Great Satan. The longer we engage these people mainly on the battlefield, the more opportunity our enemies have to portray us as something we are not. And the longer that goes on, the more unlikely "winning" becomes.
We do not intend to suggest we should not fight real threats with real force. But, unless we want to fight a full-scale war endlessly, we must find ways to engage Muslim governments and societies more fully and more productively.
Say Leftists. How many Nazis did killing Nazis in WW2 create? or Samurai? or Fascists?
Whining editorials don't mean a thing.
I truly believe that we need to replace Allah as their god. When they're all praying for the mighty USAF to stay his divine wrath, we'll have won the war.
That will only happen if America becomes a Muslim state.
You left out the BARF alert on the headline.
Gee, I guess that explains why the majority of 911 hijackers came from wealthy Saudi families.
Open their eyes that Mohammed was a warlord and a deceiver.
If they choose to return to the Judeo-Christian Bible (as Jews or Christians) so be it. Or they could become Scientologists, Buddhists, Hindus, Atheists... etc. etc. Just not Nazis.
Where does the religion of Islam end and the political system of Islam begin?
OBL was a billionaire. It's NOT about the money. It is about exploiting cultural hatreds.
We did. And it's a damn good one.
We are winning the war. Against islamic jihadis and against the MSM. And they can't stand it.
Is it surprising that The Oregonian takes the position of blame America first? Not in the least, Portland is the liberal bastion of Oregon.
"We" created the Iraqi front in 1991. The war was put on hold but Saddam violated the peace agreements by continuing to acquire "forbidden" weapons (not forbidden to ALL nations, just to a "convicted felon out on parole"). Saddam re-ignited the war. He was offered the opportunity to step down and did not. He made his case on SeeBS interviewed by Dan Ratherbiased.
I wish us luck. We'll need lots of it. Every single other approach which has been tried for 1400 years has ultimately failed.
Perhaps this is because what is going on here is much more than simply a lack of Muslim "trust" or "respect"?
Then the President turned to the threat from other countries. . .
we will not win this war on the battlefield . . . .
See the post-war writings of the North Vietnamese Communists thanking the "anti-war" movement and praising the American media as their "most valuable guerrilla." Win all the battles, lose the war.
But the lens through which many in the Muslim world see us shows them war, destruction -- and, inexcusably, sometimes rape and murder -- at our hands.
See the "we created a monster, all U.S. military are war criminals" Senate foreign relations subcommittee testimony by John Kerry (1972) representing the view through the Communists' lens.
U.S. troops win all the battles -- U.S. enemies within surrender the war. Go figure.
I have. All 200-year-old republics are entitled to at least one patriot-dictator. I've been looking since at least 1972.
So glad I stopped subscribing to the whOregonian.
They will listen for a 1 sec. That's before the bomb hits them. You better believe that Allah & 72 virgins get a thumbs down over that bomb in that last 1 second.
Whatta crock of steaming shiite!
Instead, how about we convince the entire world that Islam is pure evil? Mmm-kay?
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