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Jewish World Review Sept. 2, 2010/ 23 Elul, 5770 War Weary Americans vs. Implacable Islamists By Arnold Ahlert
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Whenever I've asked the following question, even when I have posed it to some of my more liberal acquaintances, I've gotten the same initially puzzled look--followed by the same unanimous answer. The question: assume, during our initial defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan, we had been fortunate enough to kill or capture Osama Bin Laden. Would the war on terror be over? While my survey is admittedly anecdotal, I have yet to meet a person who answered "yes" to the question. Why not? Perhaps even the dimmest--or farthest left--among us intuitively understand That Which Must Remain Unsaid: we are in an ongoing, global war against Islamo-fascist terrorists.
For many Americans, this is the most inconvenient of inconvenient realities. Still blinded by Bush Derangment Syndrome, there are those who, as noted above, understand this, but can't bring themselves to admit that Iraq was simply another front in a war with many of them. Instead, Iraq is a template for expressing many things, of which a major one is nostalgia: aging protesters are able to re-live the "Vietnam days" of their youth, with all their attendant anger and vitriol. For these aging hippies, the desire to "go home again" trumps all.
I've learned it does no good to remind these people that their "success" in getting America to abandon the Southeast Asian Peninsula to the Communists resulted in millions of people being "re-educated," imprisoned, tortured and killed. It does no good to remind them that one million Vietnamese ended up as "boat people" seeking refuge from their Communist oppressors.
For such people, anti-war principles are far more important than the pragmatism of mass extermination.
And so it remains today. So much so, that even the "good war" in Afghanistan can now be attacked with the same vigor previously reserved for the "bad war" in Iraq. And while one can certainly make a case that much of our military strategy is mired in a PC mindset, which I outlined in a previous column ("Politically Correct Warfare"), only the truly delusional believe a complete cessation of hostilities against Islamic jihadists would result in peace.
Again, this is nothing new. Those who favor the theoretical view of human nature over the realistic one are firmly convinced that we are nothing more than a grand idea or clever phrase away from harmony with those who yearn for our destruction. And once again, the United States is attempting to broker a peace between Israelis and Palestinians, one which will not be "derailed" by Tuesday's brutal execution of four Jews, including a pregnant women, for which the terrorist group Hamas took "credit."
The non-derailers could certainly make the case that the crime is an isolated incident that shouldn't deter such talks. Yet one has to wonder what they make of the 3,000 Palestinians who rallied in Gaza to celebrate the attack. Perhaps the architect of the Ground Zero mosque, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who has steadfastly refused to condemn Hamas, might be asked what he thinks of such behavior.
If there is one over-arching theme that emerges from the American left regarding Iraq, it could best be labeled as "collective amnesia." It is a condition succinctly epitomized by the immortal words of John Kerry, who once told America he was "for" $87 billion in funds for Iraq before he voted "against" them. Even a cursory search of the internet will reveal a mother lode of leading Democrat hypocrites and their quotes regarding the absolute need to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Perhaps a lot of them remember the "good old days" when such quotes could be buried forever by compliant newspeople who had no competition from the alternative media.
Those days are gone.
And while it is easy to blame Democrats and their fellow travelers in a hopelessly compromised media for turning the American public against that war--and now the war in Afghanistan as well--the Bush administration cannot remain blameless with regard to Iraq. It was George W. Bush's responsibility to make the case--continually--for putting American soldiers in harm's way. It is exactly for such exhortations that the presidential "bully pulpit" exists. Bush's failure to use that bully pulpit created a rhetorical vacuum, one which Democrats, led by the odious Harry "the war is lost" Reid, were more than willing to fill.
So here we are. Combat operations in Iraq have theoretically ceased--even as recent news reports indicate radical Islamists are setting up camp in Africa. Even as Iran pursues its nuclear ambitions. Even as Pakistan and Afghanistan remain seething cauldrons, and Saudi Arabia keeps churning out dedicated Wahabbists.
A majority of Americans? Tired of the whole thing, wishing it would "end already." It is worth noting that our collective patience, which has decreased steadily since the days when Americans understood that our post-WWll occupation of Germany and Japan would last as "long as it takes" is not unnoticed by our enemies. They know, like too few Americans, that we were not defeated in Vietnam.
We were outlasted.
Will history repeat itself? A majority of Americans are certainly weary of war. I count myself as one of them. Nobody in their right mind relishes conflict without end. But it is worth remembering that our weariness is measured against almost nine years of failure by Islamic radicals to reprise the atrocity of 9/11. Perhaps it is part of the human condition to think such an attack was an anomaly, or that we have the situation "under control." Perhaps it truly is beyond some people to imagine what their current mindset would be if either the Christmas Day or Times Square bombers would have achieved the same success as their fellow jihadist at Fort Hood.
Make no mistake: Islamic jihadists are in it for "as long as it takes." They will not be deterred by whining hippies, media malfeasance, or the "enlightened thinking" of intellectual elitists. And if there were ever a war where we can not afford to be outlasted, it is this one.
No matter where we fight it.
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© 2010, Arnold Ahlert |
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