Leave Afghanistan Now
The burning of the Korans at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan and the subsequent riots and murder of 5 NATO soldiers put all questions to rest about our future in the country. There is nothing more the US can gain in this war. Amid our apologies and groveling, our warped attempts to prove we are not imperialists, the Taliban and crime lords thrive, resting peacefully in Pakistan. And we still pace the floor like Hamlet churning the possibilities through Washington’s mushy head.
The cultural differences between the US and many Afghans are so great, they simply cannot be overcome in a manner that benefits in any meaningful way the US. The country is still largely run by thieves and criminals, and outside Kabul there is little true support for the US effort. Our national prestige is being drained away by the ridiculous “sensitivity” of Pashtun Muslims, whom seize upon any sleight as a reason to engage in mayhem.
Why are we still there? It’s time to leave, and let Afghanistan face the reality it created for itself. A future of crime, chaos, fundamentalism and misery. To the Afghan government and the Taliban: Keep your evil inside your own borders this time.To Washington: Stop embarrasing your nation and its troops with your equivocating and hand wringing. Bring back the pop-up targets you’ve provided for blood drenched, hateful Islamists.
Bring our boys home.
The West is fooling itself when it comes to Islam in the Middle East
“All of us here today understand this: We do not fight Islam, we fight against evil.” ~George W. Bush
“We are not at war against Islam. We are at war against terrorist organizations that have distorted Islam or falsely used the banner of Islam,” ~Barack Obama
Surely we are not at war with Islam. If we were, we’d kill everyone who professed the Muslim faith. The problem with Obama’s and Bush’s statements is that they lead many to underestimate the level to which Muslims in the Middle East and Asia support the jihadists. Throwing out statistics that show only a small percentage of Muslims are responsible for the destruction wrought is a bit like saying that because less than 1% of Americans serve in the US Army, only 1% of Americans support the US military. People fail to realize the power of both the “our team” mentality and religion, especially in parts of the world where the people have little hope in this world and nation states have been shamed in war by America and Israel.
Many people throughout the Muslim world gain satisfaction when the US suffers a setback at the hands of extreme Islam. Otherwise, the extremists could not exist to the extant that they do. Polls throughout the Muslim world show that Muslims in the Middle East support the actions of the jihadists. Most Muslims, even those living is Western countries, support Sharia Law, which is fundamentally at odds with Western values. In a poll of 9 countries, Turkey was the only nation in which a majority of the people said that Sharia should not comprise the law in entirety, or be a “source of legislation.” Pakistanis, despite the billions of military and domestic aid poured into their country by the US, continue to despise Americans. Most Pakistanis also wish that bin Laden was not dead.
People shocked at the recent Egyptian election results should study some history. I’ve long said that Egypt was the spiritual center of jihadism, not Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia made good fodder for the Left because of oil. Egypt, in the poll cited above, had the highest percentage of people that believed Sharia should be the sole root of law.
The Muslim countries that have in recent years received the most American aid are Pakistan and Egypt. Approximately 25% of the money used to fund the Pakistani army comes from American aid. The top recipients of US foreign aid in 2011 are Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel and Egypt in that order. Egypt has routinely ranked among the top nations in the world in the number of dollars given to it by the American government.
There appears to be an inverse correlation between the positive views in a country when measured against the amount of US aid provided to it. The argument of course is that America is trying to show these countries that the US is not the enemy. This method of appeasement is failing. In a poll published by the Washington Post shortly after Mubarak stepped down, 79 percent of Egyptians viewed the US negatively, with 20% saying they have a positive view of the US. This is a sharp decline from the Bush years when 30 percent of Egyptians viewed the US positively.
The problems in giving countries like Pakistan and Egypt lots of money are macrocosmic of what I saw happening in local projects in Afghanistan. The money will always find its way into the hands of America’s enemies because they are the most ruthless, devious and aggressive portions of those societies. They also in many cases have a monopoly on violence, something the state usually lays claim to–if it is not a failed state. In Afghanistan the people were not “all in” for the Americans. They really didn’t care that much, at least in areas far from Kabul, if the insurgents blew up a few American Imperialists. They’d take five bucks to plants a bombs and be on their way. In one fell swoop they’d made a month’s wage, killed some infidels, impressed the locals with their “bravery”, and maintained a semblance of national pride.
Egypt’s Mubarak held the forces of Islamic jihad at bay with the only weapon that works against it: Decisive brutality. As with Saudi Arabia, Egypt was a police state, as much because of the extremists as Mubarak. Only with extreme vigilance could the Egyptian government survive. Frankly, Mubarak may have been the West’s only hope in Egypt, but starry-eyed Westerners with a Democracy fetish ran him off, unleashing a hoard of militants, radicals and young men electrified with a rage whose dynamo was built in 1967 and 1973 during the humiliating defeats of the Egyptian Army at the hands of the Israelis. The effect of these defeats upon the Arab psyche cannot be overstated.
The Arab Spring has generated nothing resembling Western democracy and displays brilliantly the weakness of Democracy itself: People can vote for any horrific idea they choose. Hitler was democratically elected. Muslims have voted and acted exactly how we should have expected them to. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists now hold power. The Salafists in Egypt hold the same views as al-Qaeda and Hamas. Christians are trying to leave the country, fearing for their safety.
The revolutions in Egypt and Libya were hardly induced by only few extremists. In fact,it seems the revolutions enjoyed the backing of millions upon millions of extremists. It is the same sort of thing we saw in Nazi Germany. Many Germans were not Nazis or did not take part in the actual fighting. But most of them wanted to see the Nazis win. And so it is with Muslims in Libya, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon. The Muslims there overwhelmingly want to thrash Israel and the United States in any manner they can. If the terror proxies can trounced by the hyperpower or the Jewish state, we can of course expect the “innocent” population of “moderate” muslims to melt back into the woodwork.
Islam unifies people against Israel and the West. As Mark Steyn writes in his book, America Alone, the draw of Western “McWorld” to the average Arab male is vastly overstated. Secularism is about as un-motivational as a Rosie O’donnell workout video. It is meaninglessness and provides no promise of power or life after death, no cloak of righteousness; something that means far more to a poor 23 year old man in Cairo than does the promise of flipping burgers.
Now Israel has a monstrous number of problems on its hand, all coming to bear at once. Iran wants the bomb and is not far off from getting it. Egyptians are muttering that they want the Camp David Peace Accord “adjusted.” 20,000 surface-to-air missiles are missing from Qaddafi’s stockpiles. The current American president’s negative comments about Netanyahu were caught on an open mic.
The vast majority of Muslims in the Middle East are not jihadists or terrorists. But most of them support the actions of extremist Islam when those actions are directed against Westerners or Israelis. Our money and McDonald’s cannot possibly fill the same void that is filled by Islam. And Democracy, as with any form of government, is only as good as the people that comprise it.
So what is the answer? Does America have to kill every last Muslim? Not any more than it had to kill every last German or Japanese. America has only to decisively defeat the front-line troops of Jihad. But decisive victory may no longer be something the West is capable of, despite its overwhelming superiority in almost every facet of military and economic might.
The Arab Spring has not created Arab states that are more stable or less violent. It has provided kindling for another 100 years of Jihadist immolation. Our children’s children will see The Long War continue.
Can the jihadists win?
The stock argument used by those arguing against the War on Terror is that the terrorists cannot possibly win. These people believe that even if America did not take military actions against Islamic jihadists, the jihadists could not defeat the US. This is false. The Clausewitzian cliche’ here is that war is an extension of politics. In this case terrorism is an extension of politics. Al-Qaeda need not destroy all of America’s military forces, or its infrastructure, or imprison large swaths of its population in prison camps. It only needs to change the way people think and vote. It has already done this.
In 2004 an Islamic terrorist cell inspired by al-Qaeda detonated 10 bombs in a Madrid train terminal, killing nearly 200 people and wounding over 2000. Three days later the Spanish Socialist Party was elected to office, ousting the incumbent conservative prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, from office. The Socialist Party leadership then implemented legislation to remove the 1500 Spanish troops from Iraq, as it was determined that the prime motivation for the bombings was Spanish contribution to the Iraq War.
Through the ballot box, terrorists rendered Spain’s military combat ineffective in Iraq. That’s something that a modern-well equipped army would have had a much tougher time accomplishing were it to adhere to the old rules of locating enemy military assets and destroying them until the opposing government capitulated. Instead, the opposing government was rendered ineffective through the democratic process.
Personal security is the number one concern of the animal. Hobbes knew it and Abraham Maslow came close to knowing it. Maslow placed the need for food, sleep, and sex above (or below at the base of his pyramid) the need for personal security. However, I disagree. People will give up food, sleep and sex if they are immediately threatened with physical harm. I’m quibbling. Obviously the imminence of the problem comes in to play. Either way, physical security is very important. Societies do not progress without it; all the people’s minds stay focused on war and fighting for security.
The terrorist must sow the idea of imminent attack. The victim population must come to believe that the terrorists can move freely about, that any lull in violence is the choice of the terrorists and not because security forces are limiting the terrorists abilities to move, plan, build bombs and attack. The media plays a huge roll in modern terrorism. Not only in changing the minds of ordinary civilians, but in motivating and recruiting other terrorists. The internet is rife with jihadist propaganda. Another argument against the War on Terror is that the dangers of being killed in a terror attack are so small, any great fears of terrorism are based on illusions. To some extent this is true. However, were America’s military and police not constantly on watch, I believe that 9-11 or the Madrid train bombings would be a monthly occurance, at the very least.
Through the ballot box, the jihadists can win. And they can do it with far less damage and effort than it takes to win a conventional war. In many places in Europe, it’s now illegal to make any derogatory comments about Islam. Many in the West view their tolerance of other cultures as proof of moral superiority. Any talk of why another culture’s practices are evil or not acceptable are viewed as proof of hate mongering. These cultural relativists have little idea of what true hate mongering is, but they’ll get a glimpse of it as their culture is changed slowly through the democratic process to a place more comfortable to extreme Islam.
Or maybe they won’t even realize it when it happens.
The truly frightening thing about the power of culture is that a person ensconced within the living tomb of a dying society can be experiencing hell but barely realize it. There is no experience of not living in Hell. Hell becomes the default for life. It goes a long way in making the Buddhist argument that man should reduce his expectations and desires, not increase them. Europe is dying a slow death. It’s birthrates are catastrophically low. The Muslim birthrates are about 4 to 5 times higher than white Europeans. The low European birthrate will have multiple negative effects. First, the current European economic model cannot be sustained. If one thinks that America has looming economic problems because of its social security system, it’s nothing to what Europe faces. Not only do Europeans have much more generous retirement and unemployment benefits, they barely have any military to speak of. As fewer young people are injected into the work cycle, fewer people are paying into the government handout system. This is exactly what happened in Greece. By 2040 or so, the Greek retirement system will absorb 25% of the Greek GDP. The rest of Europe will follow in domino fashion. At some point we may wake up to find ourselves in a political system more akin to that desired by totalitarian theocrats than to Western democracy. We may not even know the difference.
Secondly, a rising Muslim population in relation to white European population will spell more votes for Muslims. If you don’t think that will have real, negative impact on the continent, take a look at the pew report that shows 75% of Muslims polled don’t believe that Arabs took part in the 9-11 attacks. Not enough? 40 percent of British Muslims want Sharia in their country. Sharia courts are used in Britain to settle Muslim civil cases. Terrorism has worked and it’s not because we fought back. It’s because many continue to believe that by changing laws in Muslims’ favor, it will somehow change the way many Muslims feel and believe. However it’s not working out that way. By changing the laws and customs of our culture, we’re merely changing ourselves. Sometimes changing ourselves is good. It’s just difficult to believe, when we look at the state of every predominately Muslim country around the world, that that’s what we want to change into.
Yes, the jihadists can win. The oddity of democracies is that they can be changed in different way than oligarchies. They can be changed merely because the people feel like changing laws. When the West stops fighting for what made it great, when we think that by passing laws to appease the more brutal and aggressive people among us, militant Islam will be well on its way to winning. The people will lose faith in their state’s ability to protect them from aggression, and so will live only for today, which means a cycle of appeasement that brings transient comfort to those who cast the momentary vote, but condemns future generations to the slippery slope greased with the hanging chads of weakness and cowardice.
The Arab Spring and global insurgency
Recently, Israeli Major-General Eyal Eisenberg predicted an “Arab Winter” in which the revolutions taking place around the Arab world culminate in a multi-front general war against Israel. While it remains to be seen if that’s the case, I take a very dim view of what’s happening in places like Egypt and Libya. Not surprisingly, many on the Left are overjoyed at the Arab Spring. To them, it’s about Muslim hippies fighting The Man. At an intellectual level, they may sense the guile and will of Jihadist Islam, but they willfully ignore this in favor of Coke and a Smile in Muslim lands.
The Arab Spring fits quite nicely into the Global Insurgency theory of modern terrorism. This theory posits that Islamic Salafists (those holding to rigid, medieval views of Islam and life in general), are not only working in local insurgencies, but hope that various uprisings around the world will eventually coalesce into a greater Islamic state. It is similar in ways to Mao’s and Lenin’s doctrines. The local fighters of course do not think at this level, worrying only about their immediate needs. But people at the top of al-Qaeda and similar terrorist organizations do think about the big picture.
We must also consider how clever al-Qaeda’s masterminds are. Jihadists, for instance, have actually studied the homosexual movement in America in order to find out how such a small group can cause so much change on its behalf. I believe that many in the jihadist movement came to recognize the Western mind’s affinity for a popular uprising. In stead of a “top down” jihad, with men like bin Laden and Abu Zarqawi getting lots of media attention, the jihadist movement is now trying to put a grassroots face on its global insurgency. And it’s worked brilliantly. There’s very little to indicate that those who’ve seized power in Egypt and Libya know very much about running a country, but al-Qaeda got what it wanted: the removal of secular Arab leadership from the Sinai Peninsula with all the trappings of state power left intact and with no Western troops on the ground to make sure things turn out the way the West would prefer.
The Palestinian cause represents the great Red Herring for al-Qaeda. Arab despots and terrorist groups need the Palestinians because it keeps the worlds eyes off what those Arab leaders are really doing. No mater what happens, they can keep pointing to Israeli “oppression”, which is why Palestinians never really want to come to the discussion table and cut a real deal; they’re being manipulated and funded by terrorists in order to maintain pressure on Israel. The Palestinians are being used as a classic, global insurgency agitation tool. The Palestinians will continue to sucker-punch Israel. Al-Qaeda et al hopes that Israel will respond in a way which negatively changes world opinion against the Jewish state, thus opening Israel to attack by Arab states without Western intervention.
My time walking through the Old Testament
I’ll be writing several entries on my blog about my experiences in Afghanistan. Look for it soon. It’ll include photos and several vignettes. Not everyone will like what they read; we screwed the pooch on this one.
An article I wrote on Pastor Terry Jones, published in The Gainesville Sun
Pushlished in April in the Gainseville Sun. Originally accepted for publication by The Jerusalem Post, but that’s another story…
My opinions on Pastor Terry Jones, who oversaw the burning of a Koran which resulted in riots and death in northern Afghanistan.
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20110406/NEWS/110409713/1123/opinion?p=all&tc=pgall
Is America a Christian nation?
My friend, Dr. Mike LaBossiere, recently wrote an article exploring America’s Christian heritage and ethos. He asks the question: Is America a Christian nation?
Jonathan Edwards
Those who believe America is a Christian nation usually point to the writings of our founding fathers as proof that America is Christian. Those who state that America is not Christian argue that America is a democracy (it’s a Republic, but that’s another article) and that for the country to be considered Christian, it would essentially have to be a theocracy.
Those who point to the accepted virtue of separating church from the state in America say this tenet prevents America from being a Christian or any other type of religious nation. They are wrong.
Consider: Most modern Christians would agree that it is the individuals choice that allows for true conversion to Christianity. Were it state law that all citizens must be Christians, it’s safe to say that a higher percentage of people than we see in present-day America would be false or “shallow” Christians. Many of Jesus’ teachings communicate the importance of inner change and he hammers those who pretend to be pious by praying in front of people or letting everyone know how generous they are. So separating the church from the state is not only desirable for the state, it is desirable for the individual and the church.
Remember one of the fundamental questions posed in the movie, A Clockwork Orange? Can man truly be considered “good” if he has no other option but to do what is considered good? We must ask the same question about Christianity here on Earth. Is a man a Christian or a Muslim if his government lets him be nothing else? The answer sits in the innermost thoughts of that man, not in the codices of state law.
And yet, despite no laws requiring a man label himself a Christian, we have laws that are firmly rooted in historic Christian ethic. Those who bemoan the posting of the Ten Commandments in American courtrooms should ask themselves: Which one of the Commandments do you disagree with? Even most Atheists in America are led by Christian culture.
Another example is the American Army. It is a volunteer Army. It no longer drafts people for compulsory service. An army composed of people who want to be there is a much more effective army than one made up of people dragged from their living rooms kicking and screaming. It is the same with America’s religion. You are not drafted into Christianity, and yet the nation is composed of a majority of people who call themselves Christians and for the most part obey Christian ethics. This makes for a more effective Christianity and nation overall. Those who would question my statement that Americans obeys Christian ethics and thus offer the opposite as proof that we are not a Christian nation should visit “Muslim” nations. I’ve visited several. I can assure you the nations of Islam do a far worse job in following their own rules than Americans do following Christian rules. But don’t take my word for it; take a vacation to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, or just about any other you choose.
Our nation’s success and attitudes is so bound up in historic Christian values, so intertwined in our minds, that we barely recognize the fact. Max Weber, perhaps the West’s most revered sociologist, stated in, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, that American and European capitalism are not so much a construct of a “system” but of an attitude created by Calvinism. The Protestant Work Ethic is the power that drove the West at warp speed past its Eastern competitors, who prefer lounging on pillows, drinking tea, and watching the world go by. That same Calvinism found the mind of a man whom some consider to be America’s greatest intellectual (or maybe a close second to Ben Franklin), Jonathan Edwards–writer of The End For Which God Created the World, and the preacher famous for the sermon: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Far from a mystic, Edwards studied with great interest the works of Isaac Newton and even wrote his own scientific books that would probably leave todays 25 year old “rationalist” baffled.
A problem with the question of our nation’s Christianity is a confusion in the use of the words “nation” and “state”. One of the definitions of nation in Merriam-Webster is:
a territorial division containing a body of people of one or more nationalities and usually characterized by relatively large size and independent status
A state is defined as:
one of the constituent units of a nation having a federal government
So a state is part of a nation, but not its whole. Indeed, I believe our state is not Christian, but our nation is. The fact that we choose to separate the church from the state merely means that anyone is free not to be a Christian. And that’s just how this Christian nation wants it.
Knowing the rules
I read an article written by David Killcullen, one of the world’s top counter-insurgency men. He stated that the populace in a counter-insurgency want to know the rules that have been set in place for them. They want to know their boundaries, what will bring punishment and what will bring reward.
I believe that one of the biggest failures of the last 8 years in the war in Afghanistan is the lack of effort in reporting the real reasons and intentions for America being in the country in the first place. Since General Petraeus took over, there’s been a concerted effort to rectify this, but there’s a long way to go.
As Washington Post writer, David Ignatius points out, according to recent polls, Afghan haven’t a clue as to why Americans are in their backyard.
Nature abhors a vacuum. And so it is with information and propaganda. Whenever Coalition Forces fail to fill information gaps, we can be sure the enemy will oblige. Add to this the propensity of people in the region to believe the wildest of mythology–a neck-tie is a secret symbol of Christianity, Osama Bin Laden is a CIA operative–and you have a formula for unending war. Many Afghans, since they may not have even heard of 9-11, can only assume that America is in-country to do what every other invader has tried to do: Become a colonial power. And since America is primarily a Christian power, we must want to destroy Islam, too. No Afghan tribe that believes these things will ever fully support our efforts. And we need full support if the people are to be the eyes that find insurgents, not just a level of support that takes our money and goes about enabling the Taliban. The Taliban aggressively speads its message and rules through Shabnamah or Night Letters as well as face to face contact. The message and rules? Cooperate with the Coalition and you die. The Taliban has won the information war in to this point in Afghanistan. After researching the subject for an intelligence paper I wrote, I believe it is the number one reason that this war has lasted so long.
In a land rife with illiteracy, getting the word out is a huge task. But it is doable. When I visited a refugee camp in Afghanistan, I saw 25,000 inhabitants whom were ripe for Taliban picking. I made sure when I spoke with the camps leader to ask him why he thought America was in Afghanistan. I also told him that he needs to tell all of his people that America is here to fight al-Qaeda and trans-national terrorists, that American soldiers don’t want to spend years in his country; they want to go back to their family and friends. But we needed his help.
Every leader that interfaces with various tribes in Afghanistan should have a list of things that they tell the people. On that list should be an explanation for American presence and the rules that the people are expected to follow: Do this and we help you. Do this and we kill you or arrest you. The messaging should also include a laundry list of all the horrible things that the Taliban does, and a negation of the myth (propagated as much by Western media as the Taliban) that Americans kill more civilians than the insurgents do. All of this should be SOP with every engagement.
What I think of the war in Afghanistan now
After having spent four months in Afghanistan and seeing much of the war from the inside, some may wonder if my opinions of the efficacy of fighting there have changed. In short, they haven’t changed much.
While I do see the benefit of having some foot print in the country, I also see that the country’s leaders and outside influencers in Pakistan are playing both sides in hopes that when the US leaves, the Taliban won’t have any grudges. Their actions form a self-fulfilling prophecy and enable the Taliban to continue maintaining some legitimacy.
I want to dismiss the myth that Afghan fighters are incredible guerrilla warriors, able to defeat our troops because of their years’ experience in this kind of fighting. In fact, the Taliban and Haqqani fighters get severely smashed every time they confront US troops. Obliterated. I’m talking 40 bad guys dead, and 0 US dead on several occasions since I’ve been in the country. The way they kill our troops is by paying some dupe with no job to plant a bomb on a road and then detonating it as we ride by.
So why can’t we win? I have several opinions on this. First, we must define what winning is. I think in some ways, we have won. Al-Qaeda is almost non-existent in Afghanistan. The Taliban in many areas is reduced to a loose crime syndicate. And America is still a great place to live. If we read the memo that directed then-General Stanley McChrystal on the objectives of this war, the goal was to “degrade” the Taliban. We’ve done that.
But the one conclusion that I’ve come to that means the most to me is this: Democracy is a reward. Democracy is not a cause, it is the result of doing the right things. The people of Afghanistan have not earned Democracy because they refuse to change the way they do business. And they must suffer the consequences. The people of Iraq have earned the right to reap the benefits of Democracy (much to the chagrin of the Left) , as they demonstrated in the Anbar Awakening. To ask that Democracy be the cause that brings success to Afghanistan is like buying a teenager a new BMW in hopes it brings him a sense of responsibility.
I must point out that General Patraeus has made it clear we only need to make Afghanistan “good enough”. We don’t need to make it Switzerland, as he quipped. He is absolutely correct, and I do think that a good enough Afghanistan is in reach. But until the problems in Pakistan are dealt with, good enough is not possible. Our military leaders know this.
This is not a military failure. The military has defeated the Taliban on every battle front, though I don’t think we’ve been nearly aggressive enough. There’s also the problem of defining the enemy himself. Any guy can pick up a Kalashnikov and call himself Taliban, just as any person could now call himself a Nazi. So when do we know the Taliban has been defeated? The problem at this point, does not have a military solution. It is a Rule of Law problem and the result of cultural failure. The military part of the problem had been solved. The puzzle that remains is the endemic collapse of stabilizing social structures within Afghanistan. Chaos begets chaos. Corruption fathers corruption.
The War on Terror has not been a failure. Al-Qaeda suffered a massive strategic defeat. It’s plans are consistently disrupted, its fighters arrested or eliminated, many of it’s leaders killed or facing trial. The Taliban barely has a corporeal existence in Afghanistan, but its ghost remains in the form of criminal gangs and warlords. There are very real and positive results that’ve been gained from ignoring the defeatists. And we should continue to fight Islamic extremist. It is a fight that will continue in some form for the rest of our lives. That does not mean it’s not worth fighting. And the whining of the Left over this fight will also continue. We should throw them a couple of bones, like allowing gays in the military or legalizing pot. And then we should ignore them.
Our lesson should be that nation building while under fire is a bad idea. You don’t fix social structures while the enemy shoots at you. You smash the enemy, grab as much power as you can, than build. In most places you have to let everything burn out before you move in, and that can take generations.
The fact is, we’ve reduced the threat to America by fighting in Afghanistan. We just shouldn’t be giving the teenager a new car.
A pig with lipstick is still a pig
According to this report, the Whitehouse has banned the use of the word Islam when it comes to describing or reporting Islamic terrorists.
This doctrine was proven true, when in the Pentagon’s report on Major Hasan’s assassination of 13 US Soldiers could not even mention the fact that Hasan was a fundamentalist Islamic, or that Islam was a prime, motivating factor in his crime. Here is a man who made contact with al-Qaeda officials approximately 20 times, yelled the name of his Muslim god as he repeatedly drilled lead into men he swore to fight and die with–if need be. Major Hasan was some Soldier’s last hope. He treated people with PTSD who have fought in our wars. He betrayed them. He betrayed his nation. If not Islam, what was his motivation?
The coffins of Soldiers killed by Major Hasan
What a slap in the face to the Soldiers who sought psychiatric care from the Army. Instead of worrying about damaged warriors who put their life on the line, the Pentagon and this administration were worried about offending people sworn to kill us.
The reflexive argument is: Well, just because Timothy McVeigh declared he was a Christian, doesn’t mean all Christians want to be mass murderers.
Is this where we’ve come? Do we not know by instinct whom the enemy is? Sure, it is not all Islamic peoples. This is a Great Strawman set up by people who’ve never been in a real conflict. We don’t–and never have–targeted all Islamic people. We’ve protected them when they were the victims of genocide. Does anyone remember Bosnia? Kosovo?
We are targeting the men whom are targeting us, and they happen to be Muslims. If you are Muslim, and are not committed to jihad against the United States, then you are not our enemy. Is it not that simple? Can we not see the degrees between one, lone bomber in Oklahoma City two decades ago, and the onrushing wave of thousands of sworn jihadists? How does the label of Christian terrorist stand against Muslim terrorist? About 15,000 dead people since 2001 is the difference. But our incompetant Secretary of Homeland Security worries about backlash against Muslims. Like that’s the way Americans act. She believes that the average American is a raving red-neck with a 2nd grade education, a trunk-load of ammunition and an urge to kill people with mocha-colored skin. I got news for ya, Janet.
And yet, General George Casey, Army Chief of Staff had this to say after Hasan mowed down his own (we thought) brothers:
“What happened at Fort Hood was a tragedy, but I believe it would be an even greater tragedy if our diversity becomes a casualty here.”
Diversity? Who joined the Army because of diversity? Most people joined the military because of sameness. They hoped that all of the people that they worked with respected America and its values. They knew that each person standing and fighting beside them had raised their right hand and promised to die before giving up the Republic. They joined not because they hoped everyone was different, but because–despite the differences– everyone could function as a team. General Casey said it outright: Being different is more important than the safety and integrity of the Soldier’s unit. General Casey was saying exactly what he thought this administration wanted him to say. Because Democrats are obsessed with diversity.
Who was the enemy in Germany in 1943? Can we call them Nazis? I’m sure not every person registered tot he Nazi Party actually picked up a rifle and shot at our troops.
In 1864, who was the Union Army fighting? Was it ok to call them Rebels? Or did that just make them fight harder and create more enemies?
What exactly would it take to be able to call the majority of modern-day terrorists, Islamic?
Here’s the ironic thing: The terrorists want us to know that they are acolytes of Islam. That’s why they plead guilty in most of the cases against them. They state clearly that they want the West to clearly understand that they knew what they were doing and that they are proud to be fighting in the name of Allah.
And yet the current administration takes the course of an ostrich; it buries its head and hopes its enemies won’t see its gigantic, bulbous body. We’ll drone on endlessly about Guantanomo. Our elites will smack their lips over lattes in smug agreement. But when Soldiers die, Amnesty International is nowhere to be found.
We can expect that the platitudes will keep flying. Political Correctness is worth dying for to some. But it’s an insult to the intellectually honest.
FIFA to die for
The Religion of Peace is at it again.
It just wasn’t enough for the Taliban to kill a seven year old boy as retribution for telling the location of planted IEDs.
Radical Islam is now turning its rage upon the world’s most popular sport, soccer. Somali militants killed two people for watching soccer, and say they will do harm to anyone else who dares watch the sport on tv.
But the organized madness of Islam continues to fool the West. Our enemies’ viciousness will outstrip our generosity and wish for peace.
The Inevitability of Armageddon
“Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. 16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. 17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. 18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.”~The Book of Revelations
The recent incident involving the aid-for-Gaza ship illustrates the inevitability of a catastrophic war in the Middle East. Israel can only fight a defensive war, fending off attack after attack, responding to past damages. Israel’s enemies on the other hand, can repeatedly attack Israel and than scream bloody-murder when Israel responds. And the media cooperates.
Israel cannot, for political reasons, preemptively attack, with the intent to eliminate, its enemies. To do so would risk losing America as an ally. Should America disown Israel, Israel will cease to exist as a Jewish state; her enemies are too numerous. The Israeli government is forced to rely on retributive and defensive operations which do not root out the enemy’s hive, but only swat at individual wasps in a swarm. While the hive exists, there will always be more swarms.
Various Islamic nations call for the destruction of Israel, all the while attacking her through proxy terror organizations such as Hezbollah. And yet, the call now is for Israel to rid itself of nuclear weapons. Iran, it is now believed, has enough fissile material to produce two nuclear weapons. Given the nature of suicide attacks, even the threat of a massive nuclear retaliatory strike against Iran may not be enough to stave off an initial nuclear attack on Israeli soil. Though many reports focus on Iran’s nuclear delivery systems, those systems are not nearly as important to Islamic fundamentalists as the weapons themselves. A suicide bomber is the ultimate smart weapon. In addition, an atomic suicide bomber presents a greater chance of plausible deniability. A missile launch would be easily traceable as to its origin. A man annihilated in a nuclear blast passes into oblivion.
So because Israel cannot destroy her enemies before they build an ultimate weapon, Israel can only wait until the ultimate weapon is used. Her enemies repeatedly remind us that the destruction of Israel is at the top of their wish list. Not world peace, not that their hungry are fed, not education of the masses, but the death of millions of Jews. The calls for the destruction of Israel occur so frequently that the threats seem to mean nothing. Many assume that the promises of this destruction are only rants or calls for attention. The Arab-Israeli Wars, the thousands of rocket attacks and suicide bombings, the incessant political posturing, all of that means nothing to the cynics. Too many believe that Israel merely wishes to make Palestinians suffer for no real reason. So much so, that the reports of suffering have become hyperbolic and the aid and concessions given to Palestinians are all but unreported.
And it is clear what Israel will do if her existential fears materialize. They will use their own ultimate weapons, just as we would. And then we shall see the prophecy recorded in the Book of Revelations become reality. Some will say it was a self-fulfilling prophecy, that religious zealots read the prophecy and did what they could to make it happen. I’ll say a self-fulfilling prophecy is nonetheless a prophecy fulfilled.
Videos show the truth
These videos shows the people on the Gaza aid ship rushing to attack the first Israeli Commando that lands. The first 5 of the 6 ships surrendered peacefully.
The Quickening
I knew there was going to be trouble–big trouble–when it was reported that Israeli was sending commandos to intercept a pro-Palestinian aid ship. The ship carried a mixture of journalists, protestors and aid-workers who’s goal was to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.
During the operation, 10 people–perhaps more–were killed, presumably from Israeli gunfire. Military night vision cameras show commandos rappelling onto the deck of one ship and then being immediately engulfed and beaten. The commandoes carried paint-ball guns, probably loaded with pepper-dust, but some felt so endangered that they resorted to lethal weaponry. Some even jumped into the ocean.
I knew that little good could come from this. Israel was bound to appear a bully, even if all went peacefully. Yet if they allowed the ships to pass, they would be allowing the reinforcement of Hamas, the Palestinian state government that has declared war on Israel. Now, Israel’s allies are calling for inquiries and the usual totalitarian, End of Times Islamic nations are calling for Israel to be treated like the Jewish hero Sampson in the hands of the Philistines. Perhaps even more worrisome is the Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, calling Israel’s actions, “state terrorism.”
There was no winning here, only varying shades of defeat.
Several things should stand out to rational people (something decidedly scarce when it comes to the Iraeli/Palestinian conflict).
1) Israel, with all of its past political troubles, knew how dangerous this mission was, politically and militarily. This is proof enough that intentionally killing the people on the ship would be out of the question. Israel knows where it stands in the eyes of the world–especially with an American administration in place that hasn’t displayed the usual pro-Israel leanings.
2) If, in fact, Israel didn’t care about political outcomes and international backlash, they could have just sunk the ships instead of placing their own soldiers in danger.
3) The people on board the ships knew, too, that Israel was in a no-win situation. They immediately attacked the commandos, and I’m sure the protestors knew full well that they’d garner plenty of international sympathy.
I’m usually resistant to hyperbolic Doomsday forecasts. But I honestly cannot remember another time where everything seemed to be going so wrong. I have a pretty good sense on these things. Sometimes I can’t always put it into words, but for whatever reason I’m good at seeing outcomes. I don’t know the outcome of all that’s going on in the world, but I don’t think it’s good.
Hopefully my Spidey Sense stops tingling, and soon.
Rome never really fell
It evolved from within. And what it became led to the Dark Ages.
They’re not assimilating–we are….
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=az1YD_O3PXz4
Perhaps after we bomb the Dome of the Rock we should ask to build a Catholic church there. Even if this is completely legal, the Muslims know exactly what it demonstrates. This isn’t about bridging gaps between America and Muslims. It’s about symbolic dominance.
Shut Up and Act
Tom, Matt Damon and George Clooney--have a cup! Actually, have two!
In a recent interview, self appointed history guru Tom Hanks stated that we killed the Japanese in WWII because “they were different.” He than goes on to imply that this is what is happening with Islam now. Please read the interview of Shangri La Tom here: http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/03/10/tom-hanks-us-wanted-to-annihilate-the-japanese-because-they-were-different/
Yes, Tom- The Japanese were different. They loved mass torture and mass experimentation resulting in death. In fact, they were so different, they even decided to bomb Pearl Harbor when nobody else thought it was a good idea.
Yes, Tom, we called them bad names, like slant-eyes. Ever been in a fight, Tom? People call each other all kinds of bad names. One time a kid in school even called me a jerk as we tussled! Imagine the grief I’ve suffered for the past decades.
What these idiots in Hollywood don’t seem to understand is that they are rich, not because they are smart, or really important, but because we live in an era when technology allows the instataneous distribution of their product to millions of people. If Hula Hoop salesman could muster technology that made their products suddenly appear on the laps of drunk girls who had the urge to gyrate their hips, I suspect they’d be being interviewed too for their incredibly incisive views on history.
It’s terrible how much these knuckleheads have affected the people of the US and thus affected politics .
War Deniers
George Orwell said that the quickest way to end a war is to lose it.
The left has a way of helping us end wars: They deny they even exist. They’ve mocked the term: “Global War on Terror”. It was a denial of its existence. They fail to see or even feel, the boiling hatred of Wahhabism. And when they do, they join the Wahhabists in blaming America.
Islam is being swallowed by the ultra-violent sects. If it were not so, a man could not walk into a mosque, detonate himself in the name of Allah, and fail to rouse anti-extremist fervor amongst Muslims. Instead, there’s barely a murmur. There are however a few speeches given by the War Deniers assuring us that: “This isn’t really Islam.”
What is it then?
Al-Qaeda no longer needs training camps
I’m hiding in Honduras
I’m a desperate man
Send lawyers, guns and money
The shit has hit the fan ~Lawyers, guns and money; Warren Zevon
The stock argument for our current involvement in Afghanistan is that we must prevent the country from becoming a training haven, as it was in 2001, for al-Qaeda operatives.
MuhammedAtta moves through aPortland Maine airport on 091101
This argument no longer holds water. And when we look at the actual situation in 2001, we can see why a full scale invasion was not needed.
Here, in President George Bush’s speech to Congress in 2001, he lays out the US’ demands of the Taliban government. The Taliban is never asked to leave power; only to hand over terrorists, allow the US access for inspection and close training camps.
Women are not allowed to attend school. You can be jailed for owning a television. Religion can be practiced only as their leaders dictate. A man can be jailed in Afghanistan if his beard is not long enough. The United States respects the people of Afghanistan — after all, we are currently its largest source of humanitarian aid — but we condemn the Taliban regime.
It is not only repressing its own people, it is threatening people everywhere by sponsoring and sheltering and supplying terrorists.
By aiding and abetting murder, the Taliban regime is committing murder. And tonight the United States of America makes the following demands on the Taliban:
– Deliver to United States authorities all of the leaders of Al Qaeda who hide in your land.
– Release all foreign nationals, including American citizens you have unjustly imprisoned.
– Protect foreign journalists, diplomats and aid workers in your country.
– Close immediately and permanently every terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. And hand over every terrorist and every person and their support structure to appropriate authorities.
– Give the United States full access to terrorist training camps, so we can make sure they are no longer operating.
These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion.
The Taliban must act and act immediately.
They will hand over the terrorists or they will share in their fate. I also want to speak tonight directly to Muslims throughout the world. We respect your faith. It’s practiced freely by many millions of Americans and by millions more in countries that America counts as friends. Its teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah.
That was then. Al-Qaeda no longer needs open ground training camps at which to film its propaganda. Indeed, armed drones have made such terror play grounds an anachronism. What al-Qaeda needs is people, money and hate.
Terrorists training for large scale attacks in remote caves is a myth. The modern terrorist must be computer savvy, and blend in with a targeted populace. Major Hasan was only able to kill 13 US soldiers on a military base because he was one of them. The most dangerous jihadists are educated people, not those wielding rusty Kalashnikovs and sporting 3rd grade reading abilities.
The very event that spurred the invasion of Afghanistan–The 9-11 attacks–was carried out primarily by jihadists who trained and planned the attacks in Western countries. The Hamburg Cell, led by Muhammed Atta, met, discussed jihadist motivations and made contact wth al-Qaeda, all while German intelligence surveilled their two-bedroom apartment on Marienstrasse. Atta received his education at an American university in Cairo,Egypt. Bin Laden chose the bulk of the hijackers from a group of usual suspects: Unmarried, young, poorly educated. All but one hailed from Saudi Arabia. These men did not need to think–they only needed to wield box cutters, then die. They did train for a period in Afghanistan, but they employed no serious technical skills gained in this training.
According to the 9-11 Comission Report, between $400,000 and $500,000 was spent training and preparing for the 9-11 attacks. The majority of this training was carried out in Western countries,using Western institutions. In other words, we need only follow the money.
President Obama should seriously reconsider the poor arguments made for continuing or escalating the war in Afghanistan. The war is not “Over There”. It’s right here.
Before I go to bed
Before I go to sleep tonight, I’ll leave a tribute to our British brother in arms.
We’ve reopened a can of worms in Afghanistan and you all know my position on that. The British have had their highest death toll in a single month this July and their government is calling for more troops to be sent in. A favorite writer of mine, Michael Yon, still thinks we have a chance. I hope so.
If we’re going to do this, we’d best give it our all. This is a fight against radical Islam and barbarism. Some don’t want to use those words. I suggest those people get back to their sociology degree studies.
To you, British Soldier…
Here’s a
Mr. McGovern, with all due respect…
George McGovern, Democratic candidate for president in 1972, has this to say about our troops in Iraq, and what the Obama administration should do about it. He says bring them home by Thanksgiving of 2009.
Mr. McGovern believes that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have something to do with the world-wide recession, and also thinks that the wars are responsible for Islamic terrorism.
McGovern offers me no solutions other than retreat. He recalls American relief when troops were recalled from the Korean War, but his comparison falls flat when he registers the number of American casualties in the Korean War: 38,000. He speaks of the tens-of-thousands of Iraqi deaths. But he ignores that it was Al-Qaeda’s death squads that made it the group’s policy to kill as many civilians as possible in order to discredit the American military. And he must overlook the fact that American soldiers willingly signed up for their duties when they raised their hand and swore the oath. Of course, they didn’t want to die, but quite a few of them wanted to make the enemies of America die…
Even the war in Afghanistan is troublesome to McGovern. And he has called for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq for several years now; it seems that whatever motivates McGovern’s agenda, the safety of Iraqis is not one of them. I know he remembers quite well what happened to the people of South Vietnam when the last Americans were airlifted from the embassy roof in Saigon. Soon the North Vietnamese swarmed south, killing millions. The Hippies marched for peace and we watched our friends die. The 3 million souls lost under a maniacal Saddam don’t seem to give McGovern any second thoughts; only America’s shortcomings.
As for the “decline of our moral standing in the world”; I don’t buy it. MSNBC buys it–but not me. I live in Europe and talk with Germans often. I never get any anti-American sentiment. Not once–and I’m a soldier. American jounalists hate America much more than Europeans do.
The former senator states that he is sure that all of our problems with terrorism stem from our involvements in the Middle East. Osama bin Laden agrees with you, Mr. Senator. It’s the mantra of Al-Qaeda. Bin Laden says we must leave Saudi Arabia, a nation whose government wants us there.
Mr. McGovern, with all due respect, this war has been being waged for 1300 years. When it ends, when the Arab nations, whose 40% illiteracy rates stagger an entire race, finally collapse under a mass of ignorance, and are then consumed my their own ravenous mythology, then we’ll have peace.
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