Victor Davis Hanson: War Stories - Two versions of what we should do next.

National Review Online ^ | December 01, 2006 | Victor Davis Hanson

[185JHP]

We're dealing with human filth that exults in murdering defenseless civilians: the kind of thinking Winston attributed to "purblind worldlings" is as crazy and stupid now as it was then...

[Valin]

Bump for the morning

[T. Buzzard Trueblood]

Iraq is far from lost, but in fact, despite the negative coverage, has a viable elected government that slogs on through the worst assaults imaginable.

Worth repeating.

[CutePuppy]

At least we have a chance. Americans at least have a spine...well half of us do. And we're still reproducing at sustainment levels, so our working population will continue to increase. Even better, those same demographics that are destroying Europe will benefit us, because guess who's not reproducing as much in this country? Liberals! Homosexuals can't reproduce. Feminazis won't reproduce. All those self-absorbed young liberals can't be bothered to reproduce.

Hate to sound a bit pessimistic, but allow me to share some problems with US demographics data:

Liberals (most groups) may not be reproducing as much, but they are importing far more of new ones (predominately Hispanics/Latinos), and indocrinating or seducing huge number of young ones (through PC, environmentalism, homosexuality, income redistribution, phoney medical research, liberal "religious" groups/sects, judicial activism etc.)

I am not saying it's a losing battle, but battle it is and many good-hearted and well-intentioned conservatives are either not realizing it or choose to stay away from it, ceding the battlefield and thus assuring their own defeat. "Silent majority" will become "silent minority" if it chooses to remain silent.

[Greystoke]

ping for later

[Salem]

"I view all Islam has the problem, not just radical Islamism. Does that make me a part of the minority Minority Opinion, or a part of the majority Minority Opinion?"

I was thinking about you all day.

Of course, Hanson is a secular thinker speaking in behalf of a wider "Conservative" community, and not Christianity per se.

You? Me? I was reading this the other morning:

1Jo 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

1Jo 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

1Jo 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

Which brought to mind what is stated in the Qu'ran and Islamic belief:

"They say: Allah has taken a Son (to Himself)! Glory be to Him: he is the Self-sufficient: his is what is in the heavens and what is in the Earth; you have no authority for this; do you say against Allah what you do not know? Say: Those who forge a lie against Allah shall not be successful." - Koran 10:68-69

"....the Christians call 'Christ the Son Of God'. That is a saying from their mouth; (In this) they but intimate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth." - Koran 9: 30 [Ref.]

Thus, we get down to the very foundations of truth, something our "secular Post-modernist" society modeling morally relativism is adrift of. We can safely say that Islam (because we have all studied it extensively) is a antichrist belief system directly opposed to Christianity. Jesus Christ stated simply, '...I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Joh 14:6. We can safely say that Mohammad is an attempted usurper of Christ's throne.

Therefore, as one man stated it, "Culture is religion externalized, and made specific," the clash of civilizations we see today between the "Christian" West and the Islamic world is rooted in the very conflict we see in the texts of the Bible and the Qu'ran, spiritual, and uncompromising—interfaith dialogues notwithstanding. Rick Warren and others are off the reservation if they think anything but challenging the error of Islam will work.

Resolution? ArmedArchConservative stated it pretty succinctly here. "The natural result of a thorough review of Judaism, Christianity, who share the same G_d, should be - the summary conversion of every open-minded, heartfelt scholarly inquirer from muhammadanism's madness to the eminent sanity, mercy, love, and justice of either becoming Jewish, or Christian."

Islam cannot be reformed, as it is not truth. Truth and error cannot live, naturally, in peace, especially with Islam's aggressive nature that appeals to the basest aspects of the unregenerate nature of man. These people need to come into the true light of the Gospel and be saved. Ultimately, they are in His hands.

Which brings us to the Internet. For example, my site continues to see a monthly increase in traffic, more and more from Middle Eastern countries. Our church's website, from talking to one of the tech guys months ago, continues to see a huge monthly increase as well. Huge.

With the new language tools such as GOOGLE, me, all of us, have a potentially transnational audience (so watch how you post), more so with Free Republic's high profile posture on the Internet (a lot of people from overseas post here) and in the Conservative world.

The Internet certainly is the new American/Roman Road.

In conclusion, this certainly does put all of us in a minority, but a minority that has access to some very effective and far reaching tools with formidable potential, the least being the basics of prayer for America and combat faith in the face of the gathering storm.

It's a great honor to serve with all of you in this great campaign of our times.

[backtothestreets]

You'll have to forgive me for addressing the statement VDH made. It seemed to me to be a step backward into safer confines. In another article a week or two past, he did not differentiate radical Muslims, nor radical Islamism, but wrote to the woes of Islamism as a whole. It's a difficult stance to take in our politically correct times. It is a stance we will all have an opportunity to take.

Attempts to separate radical Muslims from Islam itself would be like trying to separate good weeds from bad among the vegetable garden where all weeds are bad.

It is an honor to serve with you also. I will never be the greatest of among our warriors, but I give my word to give my best.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]

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[Tolik]

    Victor Davis Hanson Ping ! 

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[RedStateRocker]

"It was not the Patriot Act that banned operas, condemned cartoons, allowed films to be ostracized, or muzzled teachers..."

BINGO!

[maica]

Thanks for posting the President's words. I was very soothed by reading them earlier this week. Tonight, at a dinner with other conservatives, the 'conventional wisdom' that President Bush is not a good communicator was cited. I wish I had been able to use these words as an example of his ability to say what he means - and of the media hiding his words from the public!

[Urbane_Guerilla]

This is so discouraging, that a brilliant man such as VDH insists on getting it wrong, and describing the circumstances so narrowly, so cloudlike. He says:

Like fascism or Communism, Islamism galvanizes millions with its reductionist claims of Western liberal culpability for widely diverse Muslim gripes from Afghanistan to the West Bank.

There is NO such thing as "Islamism," or "Islamo-fascism". These are weasal words used by well-intentioned folks who for whatever reason refuse to call things by their proper names.

It is islam itself and the consequent worship of mohammed (the Perfect Man, an associate of allah) which is our enemy. Yes, it is an idea such as communism and fascism, but it is called islam.

The fact that a brilliant man such as VDH refuses to speak the truth, for whatever reason, tells me that we are destined for defeat.

"Stay the course" or any such formulation is absurd (and VDH is recommending stay the course, in effect).

Four things need to happen in our War on Jihad.

First, Americans, westerners, and moslems themselves need to be subjected to relentless propaganda of every variety, from the most primitive to the most sophisticated, to educate about the true nature of islamic jihad. It must be global and it must be daily.

Second, moslems must be restricted from western nations and dispelled where possible, but where they cannot be dispelled, their primitive and barbaric practices (such as honor killings, misogyny, the veil and all forms of sharia law) must be repressed.

Third, small, mobile, highly sophisticated and dedicated military units must travel the world engaging and destroying jihadis. We must be quite open about this. We must tell the world, if you harbor jihadis and do nothing about it, we will do it for you. We must tell the world, you will not even know what has hit you, because we will not let you know. We will simply do it.

Fourth, the American government must make a massive program to secure our infrastructure and to alter our energy use.

[La Enchiladita]

You are welcome. I found his statements to be a relief too.

I watched the video of the entire press conference and he was VERY articulate and it was totally extemporaneous. That presser ran 38 minutes.

Call up the other dinner guests and have them watch it. It's archived on C-SPAN (maybe WH site too). Otherwise, of course, they would NEVER see it on lame brain traitor media.

[maica]

Good idea! I will email them the link to the speech on cspan, and maybe the link to the Whitehouse,gov website.

[AmericaUnite]

Required reading. Thanks.

[TChad]

The current majority view is slowing gaining ascendancy in policy-making circles.

What time is it, boys and girls?

That's right! It's holiday from history time again!

[neverdem]

That's right! It's holiday from history time again!

For its part, most of the West has wanted to take a holiday from history and the reality of Islam since 1492. Since then it has used the oceans to avoid the reality of Islam until the relatively recent discovery of oil there. Now after having enriched the area with petrodollars and technology, a resurgent Islam has come back to haunt us.

[AmericanExceptionalist]

There are, to be sure, different reasons why each has so inflamed the violent resentment of militant Islam but I do find it revealing that at least part of that resentment stems from the envy of the successful by the unsuccessful who have comforted themselves with the illusion that success is theft, (and conversely, that theft is success). That classic criticism of Western culture is shared by communists and anti-colonialists, who are the company in which the Islamists march. Chavez and Mugabe understand it perfectly well; so did Trotsky and bin Laden.

For these, Iraq cannot be allowed to succeed. For it to do so would be an affirmation of an activist American foreign policy that is anathema to leftists everywhere, including Congress. For Iraq to succeed would a rejection of militant Islam as the only route to a better life. For Iraq to prosper would be a terrible threat to the autocrats who populate the Middle East. These compose a dark alliance of those who either would tear Iraq apart or condone it, each for his or her own selfish reasons. Not a one of them, including those of them who are Iraqi, has the welfare of the Iraqi people foremost in mind.

This is very well stated. The anti-Western zealots--in the Middle East, in Europe, even here in America--do indeed resent any successful countries. Success must come at the expense of someone else; ergo, it is illegitimate. The best that can be hoped for is some sort of "ism"--whether the backward-looking Islamism that will subdue the Infidel, thereby bringing joy and triumphalism to the Muslim masses; or the (supposedly) forward-looking Marxism, with its promises of a delightful egalitarianism.

Your comments almost always impress me as well-considered and trenchant. Certainly, these were no exception.

[James Ewell Brown Stuart]

Put me down as one who believes the minority brief.

[MNJohnnie]

Fortunately, President Bush is on our side, and he will always be. He is the only CIC and he is the only one who makes the real decisions on foreign policy.

Yep that is the problem with the DC Political Media complex. They fail to grasp the President is NOT some sort of Congressional Clerk but a co equal branch of the US Govt. The Surrender Now crowd in the US Congress does not have the votes to either impeach nor over ride the President. They still do NOT seem to grasp Bush, not they are in charge, of Iraq policy.

The squealing from the Junk Media when they finally realize they still do control policy should be amusing to hear