Posted on 07/26/2006 5:46:56 AM PDT by Dark Skies
Tuesday's front-page New York Times headline on Hezbollah/Israeli fighting -- "International Force Is Favored, But No Nation Commits Troops" -- was widely received with giggling "Well, duh's!" In a way, it was funny. While the Europeans agreed that international troops should be sent in to stop the fighting, the article ended with a quote that "The Germans recommended the French, the French recommended the Egyptians, and so on."
But if one scratches just beneath the surface of the headlines, the great strategic failure of America since Sept. 11, 2001 can be detected in the fourth paragraph of the N.Y. Times article:
"There has been strong verbal support for such a force in public, but also private concerns that soldiers would be seen as allied to Israel and would have to fight Hezbollah guerrillas who do not want foreigners, let alone the Lebanese Army, coming between them and the Israelis." Well, of course they don't.
From my extensive conversations with Europeans, high and low, I don't doubt the accuracy of that statement. Most Europeans and far too many Americans still see Hezbollah terrorism as just part of that "Arab Israeli mess" in the Middle East. (And, of course, Hezbollah doesn't want foreigners to stop them from killing). But more importantly, most of the peoples of the world -- including the United States -- still don't believe that radical Islamist terrorism is a grave, worldwide challenge to civilization.
And therein lies our great strategic failure to date. So long as most people -- certainly most Europeans, perhaps most Americans -- see Islamist terrorism as merely the more or less disconnected actions of a relatively small number of fanatics, then Europeans will never send their sons to fight and die to defeat it. And, of course, they particularly won't send their sons to risk death for the "Jewish state" of Israel or the "imperialist" United States. And who can ask any parents to risk sacrificing their sons for some foreigners -- whether despised or not?
President Bush has failed in five years to successfully make the case either to America or to the Western world that we are, in fact, in a mortal, worldwide struggle, what my old boss Newt Gingrich recently called World War III; what I called "The West's Last Chance" in my book last year; and what I and many others have called the clash of civilizations.
Only when that case has been made persuasively will the real struggle for victory begin. Only then will Europe raise armies to fight -- not for Israel or the United States -- but for their own survival.
And we are not without resources. Europe -- from Poland to the Atlantic, from Sweden to Greece -- is over 700 million strong. Hindu India is over a billion. North America is over 400 million. It is absurd to think that such a mass of civilization cannot send sufficient troops to smash -- door to door and hand to hand if necessary, and it probably will be necessary -- a few thousand Hezbollah fighters. For that matter, a force could be raised to clean out the tribal lands in northern Pakistan and the Islamist/anarchic Horn of Africa and wherever radical Islamists have cover and succor. (Currently, in Lebanon and throughout the world, peaceable Muslims understandably can't resist the violent threat of their radical co-religionists. We must give them a chance to be partisans for civilization.)
But such martial force can only be raised and sustained on the foundation of broad and deep public support.
Now, with the whole world watching the unfolding chaos, would be an excellent time to start that public education process. The president should give a series of major speeches on the nature of the worldwide threat. He must rise above his previous efforts with more blunt, honest and detailed analysis -- not merely well-worn phrases.
But much more is needed. The Senate and House Foreign Relations Committees should hold extensive, high-octane, public, joint, select hearings in the next two months on the nature of the threat. Let the best advocates for each perception testify. Former presidents, princes, generals and specialists should all come and testify. Congress can and must give both depth of analysis and sustained public attention to such a presidential initiative.
The media should give major front-page and top-of-the-news attention to such a great debate. It is not enough for Fox, the Washington Times, The Wall St. Journal editorial page, talk radio, selected authors and the blogs to carry on the debate. The mainstream media should join in giving prolonged prominent coverage in conjunction with such hearings.
In five years we have, remarkably, never had such a sustained effort to publicly debate the nature of the danger. At the outset of the Cold War, Congress spent years holding hearings on the "red menace." Some people think they overdid it. I do not. But it required that sort of an effort to establish the public support and bipartisan judgment over 50 years that communism was, in fact, a worldwide threat to civilizations. It was such a threat; and it was defeated. But only because the public, for 50 years, understood the danger and voted for politicians who were prepared to vote trillions for defense.
Until the American and European publics have become convinced of the present danger to them, we will continue to stumble, take half measures and fail to adequately defend ourselves. Before action, must come belief; before belief must come understanding; before understanding must come education and debate. In the beginning was the word. It is time to begin.
While our governments may fight the occasional war they will never fight the war to eliminate this cancerous plague from the face of the earth. If not eliminated it will constantly regrow and spread its evil every time. History has shown this all too clearly.
You cannot win the war by killing the leader has he has been dead for centuries. You have to eliminate the belief system completely.
Just like eliminating cancer, you must kill all the cells. No government is willing to do this.
BTTT!
No government leader is even willing to say this out loud (though I think Howard and Harper both admit it privately).
Bush just doesn't believe in the power of communications. This is sad but true. I base this judgment on the 2000 election, when Bush relied on the MSM to carry his message to the country, while conducting a traditional campaign based on campaign rallies. Ross Perot got 19% of the vote based on 2 or 3 hour long infomercials. Bush needs to speak directly to the American people.
Keep this in mind during the immigration debate. Seven times larger and perhaps a majority of the young people speaking english. There is absolutely no reason why Mexico should be comprising any more than a small percentage of the immigrants into this nation.
No he hasn't. He made the case, but if people CHOOSE not to believe him, it's not HIS fault. Churchill did the same before WWII, but nobody listened to him, either. In fact, they derided and pooh-poohed his warnings as silly and ill-informed war mongering. History is repeating itself and the rest of the world will just have to re-learn its lesson all over again......
I fear he will not.
The Senate and House Foreign Relations Committees should hold extensive, high-octane, public, joint, select hearings in the next two months on the nature of the threat.
They will not.
They are going to fart around, denying all the time that islm is a death and murder religion, holding to the myth that islm is a "religion of peace"...all the while iran is busy making a nuke(or buying, or using, one from nk)...which they will use, probably on Israel, maybe on us. Then and only then, maybe, perhaps, the PC fog will be lifted and we can proceed to rid the world of islm, or at least radical islm.
We can pray that when the nuke falls, it is not in our neighborhood.
But more importantly, most of the peoples of the world -- including the United States -- still don't believe that radical Islamist terrorism is a grave, worldwide challenge to civilization.
Well, the most glaring "gift" of the latter part of the 20th century is abyssmal ignorance among adults generally and leadership in particular.
It is reassuring, but frustrating to see the label "islamofascist" in common usage, finally, although since 1965 I have preferred "MMM" --- Muslim Mass Murderers. When 20% of them are the active agents --- obviously and consistently supported by the other 80% --- then we have a problem that will take a lot more than lip service to solve permanently.
The UN has clearly proven itself both inept and corrupt in that role. Isn't it time to think outside the box?
What did we (in America) learn from September 11, 2001 and the deaths of 3,000 people. I am tempted to admit: Absolutely Nothing !!!
Among the many unlearned lessons of the Day-Which-Will-Live-In-Infamy-II, the necessity to control our borders, the need for a patriotic renewal and the importance of combating multiculturalism -- the most significant is the NATURE of Islam. You will note that I do not say militant Islam, or radical Islam, or Islamic extremism or any other such weasel words – but just Islam. Period, end of argument !!!
Every one of the hijackers who flew airliners into the World Trade Center and Pentagon were professing and practicing Muslims, as is Osama bin Laden. The Al Qaeda terrorist network, is based in Muslim countries and supported financially by the so called pious Muslim leadership of Saudi Arabia !!!
The overwhelming majority of Muslim religious authorities who have spoken out on the subject, including those at the main mosque in Mecca and Egypt’s prestigious Al Azar University, either endorse or rationalize acts of terrorism. On a day when Americans were incinerated or buried under tons of rubble, Muslims from Nigeria to Indonesia, celebrated wildly in the streets !!!
September 11, 2002 was merely one more chapter in a 1400-year jihad. Every day, the World Trade Center massacre is reenacted on a smaller scale somewhere in the world. Jewish women and children are burned alive in a bus in Israel. A missionary is beheaded in the Philippines, gunmen shoot up a church in Pakistan, deliberately firing into the prostrate bodies of women who were trying to shield their children !!!
Ancient monasteries and convents are destroyed in Kosovo. Women are sentenced to death for adultery in Nigeria, Hindus are murdered in the Kashmir. In Denmark, the Muslim community there has put a $30,000 bounty on the heads of Jews and those who support Israel. Nuns are beheaded in Baghdad, Christians in Sudan are forced into slavery, hundreds of parents and children are murdered in a Russian school, and in Britain, Islam openly states it is going to take over not only the UK, but The Entire World -- and the beat goes on, and on, and on !!!
Genocide in the Sudan, ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, religious persecution in Saudi Arabia, calls for another holocaust in mosques from Mecca to Gaza, the imposition of Islamic law in Nigeria, forced conversions in Indonesia, synagogues burned in France, Jews attacked across Europe – these are everyday events, as the Third World and much of the First World slowly turns Islamic Green... well soaked with Red inocent blood !!!
Sadly our leaders, from President Bush on down, insist on peddling the absolute absurdity that "Islam Is A Religion Of Peace" – a creed of kindness and benevolence tragically and inexplicably corrupted by a few misguided fanatics. Bovine Feces, George !!!
Why is the leadership of the West reluctant to confront manifest reality? The reason lies partly with our absurd foreign policy. We have declared certain Muslim nations to be our loyal allies – including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan. Good grief... we surely would NOT want to "offeeeeeennnnnd" these dear and loving friends by saying something unflattering about their bloody, butcher-based, dark ages, moon god murder cult !!!
Americans are naturally benevolent. Most of us are taught from childhood that religion is good (and it does not matter which religion). As long as little Johnny believes in God and goodness, it’s inconsequential whether he lights candles, wears a skull cap to services or prays in the direction of Mecca !!!
This Works With Every Religion Except Islam !!!
Consider the following: Of the three major western religions one was started by a lawgiver who helped to free slaves; one by a man of peace; the last one by a man who loved war and having sex with children. Mohammed not only led men into battle, he enjoyed marrying girls as young as six years old (yes, it's in the Koran) !!!
The essence of Mohammed's message is sick and thoroughly disgusting. A holy war where you slaughter your enemies, while at the same time encouraging followers to have sex with the children they capture (as he did) "for the glory of Allah." He even advised his followers to negotiate false peace treaties in order to lull their enemies, before they suddenly beheaded them !!!
For almost 1,400 years, that has been the reality of Islam. Within a century after the death of Mohammed, Islam spread throughout the Middle East and across North Africa. It overran the Iberian peninsula and was finally stopped in southern France. It spread eastward as far as the southern Philippines. It was not propagated by fresh-faced young men knocking on doors and announcing: “Hello. I’m from your local mosque. Have you considered the Koran?” It was and is spread by force – conversion by the sword or death -- and this murder cult method is still in practice today !!!
Some will respond that all religions go through periods of violence, usually in their infancy. Christianity had its crusades and Inquisition, its forced conversions and expulsions. The evil committed in the name of Christ happened centuries ago. But the evil committed in the name of the murder cult prophet is going on right now, even as you read these words !!!
Of 22 conflicts in the Third World, 20 involve Muslims versus someone else. Coincidence? In his brilliant book, "Clash of Cultures and the Remaking of World Order," Samuel Huntington speaks of Islam’s "bloody borders" therein !!!
There is no Methodist Jihad, no Jewish Hasidic holy warriors, no Buddhist monk wanting to have 72 firm breasted virgins and 12 beautiful young boys waiting for him in Islamic paradise after a suicide bombing, no Hindu Holy men plotting to blow up people and property, no Southern Baptist beheaders, and no Mormon elders preaching the annihilation of members of other faiths !!!
Islam is a religion of war and warriors – the perfect vessel for fanatics, the violence-prone, the envious and the haters of all stripes. This is the main reason why Islam is making so many converts among the formerly peaceable denizens of our prison system !!!
Still, much of the West is addicted to a fairy-tale version of Islam. Christian and Jewish clergy fall all over themselves to have interfaith services with imams. Representatives of Muslim groups are invited to the White House. The president signs a Ramadan declaration. In California, public schools ask children to role-play at being Muslims. Our universities take CAREFULLY SELECTED verses from the Koran and present them as the essence of the faith. All that’s needed is a Muslim character on “Sesame Street.” Look – it’s the Jihad Monster !!!
This perspective engenders a fatally false sense of security. Imagine, in 1940, Winston Churchill taking to the airwaves to announce “Nazism is an ideology of peace which, regrettably, has been perverted by a few fanatics like Hitler and Goebbels. But most storm troopers and SS men are fine fellows – your friends and neighbors.” Yeah... sure !!!
For the first thousand years of its history – from the death of Mohammad to the 17th. century decline of the Ottoman empire, Islam was an expansionist force. For the next 300 years, as the West rose to preeminence, Islam receded. For the past four decades – fueled by Arab oil wealth, a surplus population in the Middle East, the waning of the West and the rise of more virulent strains of the faith (Shiism, Wahhabism, Sunni fundamentalism) – Islam is expanding once more !!!
Due to Muslim immigration and aggressive proselytizing, Islam is being exported to the West. Muslim populations are burgeoning throughout Western Europe. (In southern France, there are more mosques than churches.) In Judeo-Christian America, Islam is the fastest growing religion. It is also spreading down the coast of West Africa, through the Balkans (after Serbia, Macedonia is the next target) and up from Mindanao in the Philippines !!!
Wherever it comes, Islam brings its delightful customs – child marriages, female circumcisions, rabid hatred toward Christians, Hindus, Jews, Buddhists and every other non-muslim, terrorism and support for terrorism and a virulent intolerance of other faiths as it invades the local population !!!
We currently see this happening... right now... today,,, in Hamtramk, Michigan... where the ignorant city councel has purposely given Muslims permission to pollute the entire city with high-powered loud speaker screechings from the top of their mosques, from morning to night, six times a day, seven days a week, as they scream Muslim chants to glorify their pagan moon god Allah, and his child molesting, head chopping prophet, Mohammud. And the ACLU backs them 100%, threatening to sue anyone who dares to complain !!!
Yes, yes... the ACLU... the American Civil Liberties Union... but in reality it's the Arabic Communist Lucifer Union, championing their "cleave unto" plan of action against Judeo-Christian America. And then they further defend it by saying... "Hey, it's no different then when you disgustingly filthy, pig fat polluted, less than human Infidels ring your damned evil church bells on Sunday morning." !!!
So am I suggesting we declare war on over 1 billion million Muslims? The question is moot – Islam has declared war on the rest of the human race. When one side knows it’s at war and the other thinks peace and brotherhood prevail, guess who wins???
Ultimately, it is not about Jews in Israel, or Orthodox Serbs in Kosovo, or Hindus in Kashmir, Buddhists in Thailand, or Maronite Catholics in Lebanon, Taoists in China, or Christians in Sudan, Nigeria and Russia... but ALL OF US. As Ben Franklin would have it – Either we will "hang" together, or surely we shall all "hang" separately (swap "be beheaded" for "hang" to properly update Mr. Franklin) !!!
Hey... Infidel... have you loved a Muzzle-em today ???
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"But more importantly, most of the peoples of the world -- including the United States -- still don't believe that radical Islamist terrorism is a grave, worldwide challenge to civilization."
Ping!
He already has. Islam is a religion of peace, and we all worship the same God. - tom
Hogwash. By making statements like that he mislead a lot of Americans; some of whom still think the cause of the turmoil is not the religion of Islam itself. Bush has no comprehension of the religion of Islam when he makes those statements. The religion is written out in the Koran and hadiths and is not to hard to figure out.
Also saying we worship the same God is ridiculous. Do Jews or Muslims worship Christ as the son of God? Do Jews and Christians believe Allah is the only God.
In any event President Bush's views on Islam is one of the reason that we are not making much headway against the militant Muslims who interpret the Koran and Hadiths as I do. - tom
Bush didn't have to say that but he made a statement contrary to that thinking and confused a lot of people. Instead of pinning the tail on the donkey he made excuses for Muslim murderous behavior.
Most people know the WOT means fighting Islamic Fascism. We're not exactly fighting non-Muslim terrorist groups around the world.
Most people didn't think Islam was the problem, and say that the religion was hi-jacked by radicals. They think that to this day.
Alas some Infidels are waking up to the fact that the fundamentals of the religion are the motivating factor in encouraging Muslims to subjugate , convert or kill non- believers as a way to eternal. paradise. This becomes more obvious with each passing day. And many of the Muslim leaders clearly state the goals of Islam, which is to triumph over all religions. - tom
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