[risk]

You apologize for defending ourselves. But no people on this earth can betray the others by surrendering to totalitarianism.

Historically speaking, before the Soviet invasion there was harsh colonialism. And before that there was the stark rule of Islamic Shar'ia law.

We have had, and we will need a doctrine to address the issue of strategic third world battles. And we will need to be vigilant in following it:

1. As long as we are willing and able to hold back the destruction of western democracy with our own blood, we have the right to defend it to the death anywhere, anytime, any way we choose.
2. No nation, large or small, can tolerate to betrayal of their neighbors, their region, or the world -- with impunity. WMD production, strategic territory, and harboring terrorists are examples of such behavior.
3. Our own freedom is the most important. Without it, we will lose our understanding of why we fight.
4. No matter how difficult the task, or how odious the situation, we must retain our humanity when we handle the battle. We must look to our future first, but the future of the strategically oppsressed people should also come into consideration. Avoiding suffering is worth some effort. Each generation must understand that it will be judged by the next.
5. We must be careful not to judge previous generations based on the survival they have earned us, and we must constantly be wary of those who would harness our fierceness for the purposes of propaganda.

When people choose to encroach on the freedom and safety of others, or when they stand by and do nothing at the crossroads of global conflict, they must be prepared to pay the highest price for their mistakes. If we do not maintain this doctrine, we will soon be enslaved. We must not shirk from our responsibility to fight oppression because innocents are in the field of battle. That is precisely the strategy employed by communists and terrorists alike: it is in fact the Achilles heel of western democracies; our own morality should never be a vulnerability used to defeat us.

[glannon]

You apologize for defending ourselves. But no people on this earth can betray the others by surrendering to totalitarianism. Historically speaking, before the Soviet invasion there was harsh colonialism. And before that there was the stark rule of Islamic Shar'ia law.

i'm not apologizing. i'm just saying that before carter and brezinsky decided to set their afghan trap there was a leftist secular state attempting to attack the start rul of sharia.