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February 26, 2006
The Long War Against Radical Islam - Are We Up To It?
William Kristol writes in his March 6 Weekly Standard article, "The Long War": The radical Islamists are on the offensive - Will we defeat them?
A positive answer to his question lies in whether or not all of us can begin to understand both what we are facing and the task at hand that we all must undertake to win. Further, that we have thus far exhibited a lack of moral and political seriousness to accomplish such a win, and could easily be contributing to our own collective demise as a civilization:
From Copenhagen to Samara, the radical Islamists are on the offensive. From Tehran to Damascus, the dictators are trying to regain the upper hand in the Middle East. From Moscow to Beijing, the enemies of liberal democracy are working to weaken the United States. Across the world, the forces of terror and tyranny are fighting back. Are we up to the challenge?And it is the inevitability of success Crystal speaks of that has so evaded the hearts and minds of the "demagogues, appeasers, and the media" and that in many ways has also evaded our leaders, those who are charged in governing "not wishfully to await the end of history", and "not fatalistically to watch a clash of civilizations from the sidelines", rather to seize the initiative, make the hard choices, and to "move forward with resolve and competence", with all of our collective and enthusiastic support, as one voice, against jihadism, radical Islam, and the states that support them. Crystal goes on to say:It's not clear that we are. Many liberals, here and in Europe, long ago lost the nerve to wage war--or even to defend themselves--against illiberalism. Parts of the conservative movement now seem to be losing their nerve as well. In response to an apparent clash of civilizations, they would retrench, hunker down, and let large parts of the world go to hell in a hand basket, hoping that the hand basket won't blow up in our faces.
Remember: The United States of America and its allies--regimes that seek to embody, or at least to move towards, the principles of decent, civilized, liberal democracy--did not seek this war. But we are at war, and we could lose it. Victory is not inevitable.
As Marshall Wittmann of the Democratic Leadership Council observed last week, "We are in the midst of a jihadist offensive. The bombing of [Iraq's] Askariya Shiite Shrine is another indication of the world-wide jihadist offensive against the West. From the cartoon jihad to the Hamas victory to the Iranian effort to obtain nuclear weapons to the attempt by al Qaeda to foment an Iraqi civil war--our enemy is taking the initiative. And the West is on its heels."As readers will recall, Tennyson's poem, "The Charge Of The Light Brigade" was written to memorialize a suicidal charge by light cavalry over open terrain by British forces in the Battle of Balaclava (Ukraine) in the Crimean War (1854-56). 247 men of the 637 in the charge were killed or wounded. For us in the West, charging ahead across the "open terrain" of fighting the War on Terror without total support from all sides, is likely to meet a similar end as those British forces in the Battle of Balaclava.Wittmann continued, "Many mistakes have been made since 9/11. But at the end of the day, we should recognize that we are all Americans and part of the West that is under assault by a truly evil foe. Our bravest are on the front lines in this war. The least we can do at home is to demonstrate some moral seriousness that the moment demands."
Moral seriousness in this case means political seriousness. Insist on going ahead with the ports deal so that Arab governments who have stood with us in the war on terror are not told to get lost when one of their companies acquires port management contracts in the United States. Make a real effort to destabilize Ahmadinejad in Iran. Do what it takes to defeat Zarqawi and secure Iraq. Stand with Denmark, and moderate Muslims, against the radical mob. This is no time for dishonorable retreat. It is time for resolve--and competence. After all, it would be most unfortunate if the administration summoned its nerve and charged ahead - only to meet the fate of Tennyson's Light Brigade!
The time for us to all stand together - liberals, demagogues, conservatives, and yes- especially the media and the Hollywood leftists, and meet the challenge to engage the battle with all of our combined forces while there's still time is long overdue.
Do read William Crystal's entire article...
Cross posted from Hyscience
Posted by Richard at February 26, 2006 10:19 PM
