I suppose we should pull out of Iraq. The national press says we are losing because we are incompetent and the prisoner abuse episode proves we are an evil and corrupt nation imposing our imperial mandate on an unwilling people who were deprived of their great leader by force. Just because Saddam Hussein murdered one million of his subjects, tortured countless others, provided aid and comfort to terrorists and endangered his neighbors and world stability, what right did that give America to invade to create the environment for free elections and democracy?
These people don’t understand democracy so why bother? Some groups just aren’t ready to rule themselves, I hear from perfectly sane and educated friends. The war was wrong: We didn’t have a clear plan. We weren’t prepared for resistance and we don’t have enough troops to clean up the mess we created. And for sure Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld must resign over the prisoner abuse “scandal.” Then presidential hopeful John Kerry can win in November and we will be rid of the Bush “neocons”—secretly controlled by the Mossad—and their plot for world domination.
Under Kerry, the US will be strong. The economy will strengthen, gas prices will fall and defense and intelligence spending can go to protect the environment. We can dump Tony Blair and make amends with the wise and peaceful European Union, withdraw from global responsibilities and commitments and live the good life of peace and love with a chicken in every pot and a smile on every face.
Right?
I don’t think so. The storm over the incidents of prisoner abuse is merely media abuse of George Bush and his team by a petulant and child-like press that declared itself against the Iraq war as soon as the invasion of Baghdad was achieved. Since then it’s been a uniform drum roll of America-hating stale Vietnam-era rhetoric, kept under heat lamps and served hot when the aging hippies get hungry for a meal of America-bashing vitriol. Flogging the Bush team is one thing, but flogging the rest of us in the hope of forcing us to abandon our troops has gone far enough.
Happily, while the prisoner “scandal” is cutting two-inch media-byte whelps on the backs of Americans over and over, the punishment is not having the desired effect. This country basically backs its President, supports our men and women in arms and is not likely to take to the streets to demonstrate against the war. However, this relentless whipping is being filed away in our collective memory and creating a seething resentment against the national mass media for undermining our patriotic sensibilities and damaging the self-esteem of our armed services.
THE CRUSADE
After 9-11, rather than rally to the aid of their country, the Left mobilized to prevent “human rights abuses” against Muslims in this country. The next wave of rhetoric was pointed against the term “crusade,” uttered briefly by President Bush before his handlers succumbed to the criticism by peace activists that he was organizing the Republican religious right to signal the apocalypse by declaring Holy War against the children of Allah. Now I wish he hadn’t manicured his language. This is not exactly Holy War, but it is Holy Terror and it’s time we rallied against the mullahs and their fanatic henchmen. Rather than nit-picking the conduct of the war, we should be galvanized as a nation to protect our civilization and our security.
The current oil price situation should remind us that economic sanctions are an effective weapon. The US should declare that any nation harboring Muslim extremists is now a rogue state and all aid is curtailed until further notice. All immigrants and visitors from these nations are now persona non grata in the US unless they are seeking political asylum. Muslims of any description are no longer protected by the privacy laws of the US. This means that airport and other security personnel are not restrained to search any Muslim individually or, as is forbidden today, in groups.
The US Congress must allocate whatever resources needed by the armed forces and intelligence groups to take the offensive worldwide, as George Bush has proposed. As John Lehman, former Secretary of the Navy put it, this is not a war against terrorism: It is a war against fanatical Muslims who have brainwashed an entire generation to kill for God. Inspired by Allah and financed by oil-rich sheiks and monomaniacal dictators, they are the enemy and they are to be stopped by whatever means it takes. Fight jihad with jihad.
NOTES FROM LA-LA LAND
Who should show up in the New York Times advocating that university professors leave their personal political views at home? None other than the man many believe to be the Great Leader of the multicultural, politically
correct campus movement, Stanley Fish, who, after being driven out of Duke after nearly ruining the Durham school’s liberal arts reputation, is ending his career at the University of Illinois-Chicago. This volte-face is significant, even if it is a last-minute epiphany to save his reputation.
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Go to www.wchl1360.com and punch up my radio show now airing weekly on the Chapel Hill AM station. The most recent program is
an interview with FCC attorney and guru Wade Hargrove and the timing is appropriate. The broadcast media are on a technology tear but what you can say on the air is suddenly very limited.
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Terrorism is the topic for the Second Raleigh International Spy Conference set for September 1-3 at the NC Museum of History. Through my contact with the undisputed high holy man of intelligence and security issues, Chris Andrew of Cambridge, we have landed security expert Bruce Hoffman as keynote speaker. Go to www.raleighspyconference.com and register today to secure your spot.