Britain on its knees [Melanie Phillips]

MelaniePhillips.com ^ | 4/8/07 | Melanie Phillips

[PajamaTruthMafia]

Britain on its knees

The British marine hostage saga is a debacle of the first order – a grim parable of the degraded state to which Britain has now descended and an alarming portent for the free world in its fight to survive. Relief at the safe return of the 15 sailors, and the fact that we must always bear in mind that none of us knows how we would ourselves behave in such circumstances, cannot nevertheless mitigate the sickening realisation that the hostage fiasco is another terrible milestone in the west’s current suicidal trajectory of decadence and moral collapse. First the sailors allowed themselves to be taken without a fight. Then they abased themselves before the genocidal Iranian regime and – notwithstanding the duress we now know they were under – behaved subsequently with an astounding absence of decorum and propriety which set the seal on Britain’s humiliation as a senile and toothless lion. Now we learn that they are to even be allowed to tell their story in the media, with the express permission of a defence high command which, in granting such exemption from the normal rules, grotesquely linked the behaviour of these 15 grovelling sailors to British heroes who were in receipt of the Victoria Cross.

[Sherman Logan]

MP nails it, as usual.

[Goreknowshowtocheat]

What a lady....there is someone who notices the rapid decline of Western Civilization.

[Citizen Tom Paine]

The West must maintain the will to resist, or it is all over. A casual paging through Toynbee”s analysis of the rise and fall of human civilizations in “A Study of History” causes one to think that the West is in serious decline.

[Cicero]

Yes, well said. I know it’s not good when allies fall out, but the conduct of this affair by the higher ups in the British military has been disgusting. And no one really wants to criticize the 15 hostages, who were put into harms way by their superiors and refused permission to defend themselves.

But there’s no avoiding that the whole business has been disgusting and even suicidal from beginning to end and from the top to the bottom of the chain of command.

The British commodore who was on board the backup ship was in charge of the entire task force—including Americans. I suppose we were damned lucky he didn’t manage to get a bunch of Americans captured with his clumsy stupidity.

Evidently he was being interviewed by the BBC while the hostages were being taken, and I suppose he was too busy applying makeup or something to do anything useful.

[Sherman Logan]

Those who will not fight cannot win.

[James W. Fannin]

Who can blame the Brits for speaking softly at this time? I don't. Some perspective is in order: After 9/11, George W. Bush famously described Islam as a "religion of peace". Churchill entertained no such fancy notions. --Family Security Matters Essay by Adrian Morgan.

The essay is worth reading.

[DJ Taylor]

”…the West is in serious decline.

Is it decline or is it simply that the West has become too civilized to survive in the world it lives in? Can free and open societies such as ours endure in a world filled with moon worshipping barbarians?

OK, I’ll answer my own questions. I’m afraid the West is now just too civilized to effectively wage war with barbarians.

[Sherman Logan]

I’m afraid the West is now just too civilized to effectively wage war with barbarians.

There are a number of words that might be used to describe an unwillingness or incapacity to fight evil. I'm afraid over-civilized is not one I would choose.

[Gritty]

Me?

I'm going to order another 5,000 rounds tomorrow. I think it's going to be needed before this is all over.

Obviously, we are not going to do anything to stop these Islamic maniacs. We'd rather kiss their a$$e$ then confront them.

I see on Drudge tonight Pelosi and Lantos are talking about visiting Iran to "dialogue". This is just more confirmation of where we really stand.

[chesty_puller]

none of us knows how we would ourselves behave in such circumstances,

She is wrong there. To some "Death before dishonor" are not just some stupid words on a tshirt.

[philetus]

I say old chap, has the British army been taken over by poofers?

[Theo]

Decent people willing to follow the 2nd Amendment — the backbone and hope for America. Seriously, I respect what you’re doing.

[PhilDragoo]

The Iranians now know from this debacle that they can make trouble for the west with impunity. They can take hostages, smuggle arms into Iraq, blow up British soldiers and even go nuclear — and no-one will do a damn thing to stop it.

The Neville Chamberlain routine was predictable to those of us who had read Melanie Phillips' Londonistan ("Please let's not be beastly to the Islamists").

Natanz is humming with centrifuges instead of smouldering from JDAMs.

The new tone is not a viable response to that Seventh Century death cult, the Mad Jihadi Daddies.