The alleged terror plot to blow up fuel pipelines and depots supplying John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York indicates an obvious point which requires repeating: the Islamic terrorist threat is real and present. The enemy is here and growing, plotting and infiltrating, bloodthirsty and committed. Unless and until we are willing to look this enemy square in the face and call it what it is---without the weight of political correctness and the willful blindness that comes from the wishful thinking that the enemy isn't quite so bad---we are going to lose this war in a spectacularly destructive way. Thank goodness for the law enforcement folks who nailed these guys.
But we, as a nation, aren't even close to being on the kind of war footing we need to win. Islamic terrorists have a seriousness of purpose we haven't begun to fathom----despite these repeated busted plots, despite their statements of intention, and despite the horror of September 11. There is only ONE way we are ever going to win against this kind of fanatical but methodical, mass murdering enemy---an enemy which seeks nothing short of your conversion or death. And that is to be willing to be as ruthless as they are. It's a tough thing for democratic, life-loving societies to absorb. But without that stance, we die.
Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman eventually learned to be as ruthless as the enemies they faced, but not before the United States suffered staggering losses of life. The key differences this time around are that the enemy is seeking access to weapons of mass destruction, and it is driven by its faith. There will be no unconditional surrender on their part. Ever. A willingness to be as ruthless as they are is the ONLY way to signal to them that we are seriously in this fight. Anything less is perceived weakness, and weakness is an invitation to enemy attack.
When the enemy tells you who they are, what they believe, and what they intend to do to you, BELIEVE THEM. Our history is replete with examples of ignoring threats---or trying to "will" them away---until it's too late. This time, however, "too late" may mean the end of our life as the United States of America. We are the world's greatest superpower, but we won't be for long unless we act like it.
Absolutely! Yours is the most incisive, prescient comment I have ever come across regarding terrorism.
As long as there are Americans who understand what it takes to preserve freedom, as you do, there is still hope for this great county.
History is replete with examples of people that have lost their nation to foreign aggression. I am from Korea--I know.
Alexander K. Chung, MD
Wichita, Kansas
Posted by: Alexander K Chung, MD | June 04, 2007 at 07:53 AM
Monica,
Once again you're justifying the gringomanic, "That gal is living proof that brains can be blonde,"
As for the Osamaton's view of Americans, there's this from recent post, COMPASSIONISM, USA:....
"....Although many socialists around the world see the U.S. as still too capitalistic and "imperialistic" for their tastes, muslims tend to focus on what they see as the decadence, homosexuality, un-covered women and "moral putrefaction." In the May 16, 2007 Wall Street Journal, Bernard Lewis, widely considered the greatest living scholar on Islam, looks at the Russian and American interventions in Afghanistan and comments on how Al-Qaeda views Compassionistic America. These muslims assert that they, not the U.S., brought down the old Soviet Union.
" ....As Osama bin Laden explained, in this final phase of the millennial struggle, the world of the unbelievers was divided between two superpowers. The first task was to deal with the more deadly and more dangerous of the two, the Soviet Union. After that, dealing with the pampered and degenerate Americans would be easy...."
Monica, are we getting it from both ends, i.e. from Libdom's sanctimonious Hollywood/Media complex, and then from the Islamos for the raunch and tastelessness which that complex of pampered narcissism spews on the world as 'American'?
By the way, your interview with the cogent Walid Phares reminds gringoVision of another title it bestows on you: Warrior Woman in the War of Ideas.
Of course, Americans, as you would know, have a tough time dealing with abstractions. (I include Georgie "It's a Religion of Peace" Bush.) This is another reason to recommend the new Greco-Roman galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC. Here the idea of the West takes shape and fabulous forms. As an example, I give you a superb foto heading new post, POLITICALLY INCORRECT CITIZEN.('The Greeks Had a Clue')
Posted by: gringoman | June 05, 2007 at 04:16 PM