There are those who feel that there should be no war mounted against terrorists. George Soros is one of them. It seems that on the left there were no problems in the world until George Bush “stole” the 2000 elections. All the while refusing to discuss the fact that the alleged disenfranchisement took place in Democrat controlled precincts. Soros and MoveOn.Org ignore all the incidents affecting the United States since the 1984 Marine Barracks bombing in Beirut, Lebanon. We took no action then and in fact took no real action until after the attack on the World Trade Center, September 11, 2001.
George Bush drew a line in the sand at that time. Had Al Gore been president we would be much worse off now than we are. The Iraq war appears to have bogged down into police work at this point and a formal civil war is possible with the help of Syria and Iran. The theory proposed by Soros and the like is the Kumbaya Theory which is if we love them they will love us. The United States has never actually attacked an Arab country without provocation. So how can the liberals think that we have created the problems? Muslims in the US go so far as to claim the World Trade Center bombing was done by Israel and the US government despite the fact that Bin Laden has repeatedly claimed credit and promised more.
It is frustrating to know that when the Democrats regain control of the government things are going to get much worse. The enemies of the United States see any compromise as the result of fear and weakness. This is obvious from the behavior of Bashar Assad, the president of Syria. He has not made a peep until the US persuaded Israel to accept the UN cease fire, now he seems to consider himself as the new Arab leader.
These are dangerous times for many and various reasons. The Arab people have nothing to lose because their lives are bound up in a religion that squashes their hopes and dreams and are dominated by governments that offer no opportunity for self realization. This is something that the liberals either don’t know or won’t accept. The only thing the west has in common with the Middle East is simple humanity. Undoubtedly Muslims love their children but fathers are quite willing to murder their daughters if they exhibit behavior considered contrary to the religion. They are then congratulated by the imams for their actions.
No war on terror?
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Dear John,
I haven’t checked in lately but it is nice to see that you’re still doing the blog. This seems like a good time to respond.
I don’t know much about George Soros except that he’s very wealthy and he’s a lightning rod for the right’s contempt. But don’t you think it’s silly to use such a broad brush to paint the opposition in a negative light? I have an occasional problem with the moveon.org stuff sometimes because they oversimplify the issues and that’s something the Republican PACs do constantly and it’s very annoying.
Regardless, there are several things you bring up that I’d like to comment on.
First, I’d like to say that I have several friends (on the right and left) who make the same sort of declamations without offering substantive arguments. Usually it’s in hasty repartee but I’m not sure why it is the case with you in this instance.
“Had Al Gore been president we’d be much worse off than we are now.” And, “It is frustrating to know that when the Democrats regain control of the government things are going to get much worse.” Anyone could say stuff like that and it’s just nonsense. I could just as easily pose inarguable hypotheticals about the Republicans.
Honestly, this administration is continuing its downward spiral and with such self righteousness and hubris. (See examples of violations of the Bill of Rights and the administration’s subsequent claim of confidence that they will win on appeal. In the name of the “war on terrorism” they think they can ignore all the laws. Kind of contradicts the whole point of this Democracy.)
There must certainly be a better way.
And, yes, I believe our actions in Iraq have aggravated what could potentially have been a much weaker Al Qaeda after our “invasion” of Afghanistan. Our leg up on Al Qaeda was effectively lost when Bush took the initiative to settle a score with Saddam…not to mention the administrations misinformation campaign, the administrations poor strategy in effectively completing the mission, engaging other nations in the effort, pitching it as "liberalization" after the initial excuse of WMD was found to be fiction, the continuous attempt to link the war with the attacks on the US in 2001, etc., etc.
The US isn’t without fault in its dealings with the Middle East and Arab nations and we shouldn’t shirk our responsibility and we shouldn’t lie about it. How the right manages to turn self criticism into self hatred and questionable patriotism I have no idea. No man matures without self reflection. No nation can either.
Being self-critical, being willing to admit fault and correct it and being willing to negotiate (and I don’t mean with the terrorists themselves) is what will make us a greater nation. That doesn’t mean force is never necessary. These people killing innocents are despicable. The statements by the leadership in Iran and Syria are despicable. Starting wars on Nations because of those idiots won’t make the world a better or safer place. We just end up killing the wrong people. Answering every dilemma with a military solution won’t make us safer. That’s often been the problem.
The administration is pretty good at controlling spin you would think they could do a better job of it on the world stage. I think the issue has become that the world has witnessed the lies and the deceit and the warmongering and it has tried their patience. The whole world is affected by our actions, so I feel we have pretty good reason to try to be the best example of democracy and justice that we can be. I think Putin was correct to say, "We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy that they have in Iraq, quite honestly." Had to hurt coming from him.
“The Arab people have nothing to lose because their lives are bound up in a religion that squashes their hopes and dreams”…perhaps it’s a good time for me to mention that sweeping generalizations like that are a little feckless. Not all Arabs are radical Muslims; indeed, some are even Christians. The administration’s fear mongering: you’ll never be safe, be afraid of the Arabs, etc., just makes excuses for suppressing constitutional rights, wastes billions of dollars in the cause, obfuscates reason, marginalizes sensible foreign policy and foments hatred. What a shame. I think we can do better but I don’t think we can with this administration.
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