A few days ago I posted on how Afghanistan has become Obama’s war, and how the issue isn’t our ability, but our will.
One of my readers, Claudia, made this interesting comment.
“Now if you could just convince Canadians. Our soldiers believe in the mission. But not the old people. I get in trouble every time I speak about Afghanistan. People don't understand the war, and why we're there. The word Taliban means very little to them. And they're not too concerned about what would happen in that strange country if we withdraw. Those people are not stupid. Many of them did important work before they retired. It's simply that proper information (like what I read here) are not given. Also the last election in that country revealed that the Afghanistan women are not well treated by their Government. It was very disappointing. People ask what are we fighting for if things don't get better for the women. It's a good question.”
It is a very good question and it cuts all the way through to the wrong headed policy that Bush pursued after 9/11 and the even more wrong headed policy that Obama is pursuing.
The problem goes directly to our schools that started teaching forty years ago that there is no right and there is no wrong. Democracy was equivalent to communism. Everything was about choice and doing “your own thing.” Movie stars that had been banished for unacceptable actions started being worshipped for having children out of wedlock and many of our children followed them. First generation welfare recipients became second, now third with no end in sight.
Any criticism of this was, and is, always met with illustrations on how hypocritical our culture is. And it is. All cultures are hypocritical.
While the Romans were enforcing the Pax Romana that improved the lives of millions within their empire they were using slaves to serve the upper class.
While the early Catholic Church was bringing Christianity, and fighting to keep it in place among the new converts, some of the early Popes were having sex parties, committing incest and other sundry things that are condemned.
And I could go on and on. But the facts are that slowly but surely the western culture improved. Today western culture offers a civilization that is the freest in history. And yes, it still has problems.
But the facts are that it is being challenged on three fronts. The first is within by people who love the collective and hate freedom. They call themselves “liberals” when they are not. They call themselves “progressives” when they are not. I call them “Lefties.” You can easily see them by listening to them condemn America in specifics while glorifying in generalities. Free speech is good, but publishing Danish cartoons that show Mohammed in a bad light is bad. Electing a black man President is good, but criticizing his health care reform is racism.
The second front is a sustained and constant stream of terrorist attacks from radical Muslims who live in the distant past and who pursue the goal of converting the world to Islam. Let’s not misunderstand this point. Let’s not forget or ignore what bin Ladin said in an interview with Peter Arnett, then of CNN, in March of 1997.
“REPORTER: Mr. Bin Ladin, will the end of the United States' presence in Saudi Arabia, their withdrawal, will that end your call for jihad against the United States and against the US ?
BIN LADIN: The cause of the reaction must be sought and the act that has triggered this reaction must be eliminated. The reaction came as a result of the US aggressive policy towards the entire Muslim world and not just towards the Arabian peninsula. So if the cause that has called for this act comes to an end, this act, in turn, will come to an end. So, the driving-away jihad against the US does not stop with its withdrawal from the Arabian peninsula, but rather it must desist from aggressive intervention against Muslims in the whole world. “
Link to bin Ladin interview.All that we saw before that and all that we have seen after that prove that bin Ladin was truly speaking the goals and ambitions of al-Qaeda and the various other terrorist groups.
The third group is Islamic extremists that, while not willing to commit terrorist acts, find the acts of the terrorists useful and who do not condemn the acts.
So what to do?
Treating the acts of terror as a criminal justice matter did not work as 9/11 amply demonstrated.
Bush, understanding this before 9/11, almost immediately moved to counter the threats.
“Clarke: So, point five, that process which was initiated in the first week in February, uh, decided in principle, uh in the spring to add to the existing Clinton strategy and to increase CIA resources, for example, for covert action, five-fold, to go after Al Qaeda.”
Link to Richard Clarke interview.And it had results:
"At the special meeting on July 5 were the FBI, Secret Service, FAA, Customs, Coast Guard, and Immigration. We told them that we thought a spectacular al Qaeda terrorist attack was coming in the near future." That had been had been George Tenet's language. "We asked that they take special measures to increase security and surveillance. Thus, the White House did ensure that domestic law enforcement including the FAA knew that the CSG believed that a major al Qaeda attack was coming, and it could be in the U.S., and did ask that special measures be taken."
Link to interview with Rice.But 9/11 did happen. We invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. First because Afghanistan was harboring terrorists and because we though Iraq had WMD’s . Whether or not Saddam had moved his WMD’s into hiding, etc., can be argued later. We do know that he gave cash to the families of suicide bombers in Palestine and agreed to not move against al-Qaeda in an “enemy of my enemy is my friend” type of thing as noted by Fitzgerald and has moving rapidly towards restarting his WMD programs as noted by David Kay. The emphasis was on “regime change.”
It should have been on culture change.
Bush started early, telling us all that Islam was a religion of peace and that we must not blame all Muslims for the actions of a few radicals. Good and sound advice except for one thing. Across Iraq, Iran, SA and other countries of the Middle East, Africa and Asia the more drastic components of Islam is and was still being pushed.
Facts be facts. Stonings, hangings of gays, honor killings, treating of women as chattel of men, etc., are part of Shari law according to some, and it isn’t going away. And telling Muslims that “you’re okay and I’m okay” isn’t going to make it happen. Someone is going to have to step up and tell the Muslim world, “Stop it. These actions are not acceptable and if you do not change we will change it for you.”
Now those are harsh words but they need to be said. It is time for us to step up and say them. It is time for our leaders to say them. It is time for the governments of Europe and Asia to say, “You are welcome here but as the newcomers you must change to our ways. If you do not you must return to your native lands.”
Until we do this we will continue to lose because, as Claudia’s Canadian friends note, what are we fighting for? You can kill terrorists continually but if you don’t change the culture that creates them you cannot win. And it is not just money, but how too many Muslims see the dictates of their religion.
Will we? Not with this President and not with this media driven culture. But just as Carter created the climate that started this in 1979, his political son will create the climate that will elect leaders that will understand that the goal in the cold war was not a new regime but the destruction of communism. In WWII the goal was not a regime change in Japan, but a new culture with new norms and new laws. In Germany and Italy it wasn’t new regimes that were sought but the elimination of Nazism and Fascism because they, as do all “isms,” took the liberal improvements to capitalism and perverted them into reasons to squelch freedom.
