Five years later, we still don't get it - and that's so sad.
How incredibly sad to see such ignorance - when 9/11 occurred, it was at least possible to believe that everyone now understood the severity of the enemy. It's taken a few years, but it seems as though America has actually talked itself out of a state of comprehension, and back into a state of denial.There's so much that can be said about this process, but it's all perfectly summed up in an AP news story today whose headline says, "5 years after 9/11, many angry at U.S." - the 'many' will be sort-of identified later in the article, but it can be safely assumed that such people are those on the left, which is a bit surprising, as those folks are forever warning us against "Blaming the victim", which appears to be exactly what the article is about.In the body of the article, the very first sentence chimes in with that "Squandered the good will of the world" chorus, whose ignorance and stupidity has been dissected elsewhere in this blog, and yet it keeps coming back, like a severe bout of dysentery. It saddens me to have to point out - once again - the absurdity of this sentiment. According to the news story, it would appear that the "many" cited in the beginning of the article were thrilled with the attacks on the U.S., finally seeing a chance for their venomous hatred of America to be brought to a boil - and while they express regret at the 'loss of life' and other such purposefully distanced remarks, they are secretly delighted, and react by publicly admonishing the U.S. for having taken action against those who perpetrated the attacks.According to them, we should have appeared penitent and contrite; we should have "worked with" the international community to "bring those responsible to justice", and furthermore, America should have multiplied its aid to poorer nations exponentially, taken no military action, engaged in a soul-searching dialogue about "Why they hate us" (rather than the other way around), and acted like a cowed bully in any way possible.To rectify the disgusting odor left behind by that article, I will now say the words that the 'many' in the article hate to hear: Thank you, president Bush. Thank you for having the courage to do the right thing. Thank you for ignoring the cries of those at the U.N., moveon.org, George Soros, John Kerry, and that jerk who actually saw one of the planes hit the trade center building, and thought to himself, "Gee - what a great opportunity for us to make friends by not responding to this!"Thank you, George Bush, for doing the right thing in deposing the Taliban. Thank you, George Bush, for neither flinching nor blinking at the next round, courtesy of Saddam Hussein, whose state-sponsored terrorism and plans for more went unacknowledged like a gigantic elephant-in-the-living-room everywhere else. Thank you, George Bush, for being there when the U.S. needed you most, and nevermind the squealing protests of those who refuse to believe what they've seen with their own eyes.And a pox on you, Michael Moore, for offering sympathy to those who attacked us on that day by wondering aloud why they'd want to kill the nice Blue Democrats along with the evil Red Republicans. What a fool you revealed yourself to be. You probably win a prize for the speed at which you were able to convey to the whole world your childish ignorance.I'd like to have closed this with something more uplifting, but sad to say, five years later, the domestic situation seems only to have become worse. The best we can hope for is that this is the "Darkest before dawn" period.God bless America.
What do you want?
The sense of passion found in criticism of the Iraq war is undeniable, misplaced as most of it is. The urgency to discredit and destroy George Bush coming from the shrill cries of mainstream Marxists has built up to pressure-cooker intensity. Dovetailing with this quest is the expansion of anathema towards Israel and the U.S.-based Jewish Lobby. Carter's fecklessness in the face of Iranian hostage-takers is not only being remembered but celebrated in the wake of a visit to America by Mr. Khatami, a former leader of Iran, a country in which being a moderate means only slightly less outrageous statements calling for the death of all jews. "May you live in interesting times", indeed - may we please not live in such interesting times?So the enduring question is, much like that posed to the crippled soldier from Trumbo's Johnny Got his gun who eventually regains his ability to communicate after losing his vision, hearing, and limbs, "What do you want?" This question would no doubt produce a multitude of fascinating answers if asked of those who have the most vocal criticisms of the current state of things. If we were to ask a Khatami or an Ahmadinejad what they actually wanted, and not what they thought a left-leaning reporter wanted to feed to the media audience, we would most likely learn that they want Israel destroyed and its people killed. If we were to ask Hezbollah what they really wanted, the answer would most likely be about the same. If we were to ask the PLO whether it wanted peace with Israel that included land concessions or the complete annihilation of Israel, what would their answer be?And what do you want, protesting college students? Do you Want George Bush to be impeached, arrested, and tried on charges of war crimes for cutting off the rule of Saddam Hussein, a certifiable maniac? Do you want, as John Kerry suggested, for us to "Get back to a place where terrorism is just a nuisance"? Do you want an ostrich-like, head-in-the-sand approach to people who want to kill you for the crime of being an American? No, of course you don't. You prefer to believe that all the blame for the past quarter-century of terrorism against the U.S. lies with the Republican party. You still cling to the belief that Bill Clinton was far better for America than George Bush, despite Clinton's inability or unwillingness to engage those who attacked us. Facing 9/11 with "Intelligence and Candor", one of your representatives suggested, was all that was necessary to begin the process of fixing things. But few of you understand exactly what's broken. You continue to dine on swill fed to you by failed Marxist ideology. You are convinced that America is somehow the bad boy in all global discomfort, ignoring evidence before your very eyes that America has been the greatest benefactor the world has ever seen. You still believe, despite decades of fiscal and managerial incompetence from those who run our schools, that lack of tax dollars is the source of all education woes. Who has been running the schools all this time? Primarily bureaucrats who happen to be members of the Democrat party. These are the same people whose bread and butter provides an ample opportunity to cast aspersion on capitalism in general, and an adherence to the purported principles of the Democrat party, whose results are more often than not the exact opposite of what they are stated to be. Example: Democrats claim to represent the powerless, the little guy, but this image is totally negated by their desire for high taxation mixed with generous welfare-style benefits, which only have the effect of discouraging people from improving their lot in life.So in light of this, what do you want? Do you still believe that the war in Iraq should be abandoned, along with the war on terror in general, and that the money spent on such effort should be redirected to schools, social programs, and anything that is proclaimed to serve the cause of "Social Justice"? Do you think that if we just had someone who could make a real diplomatic effort to reign in the "Jewish influence" and then go and really negotiate, that problems would be solved? Do you still think that "Poverty is a root cause of terrorism", despite the presence of those with upper-middle class backgrounds in teams of airline bomb plotters? Have you failed to notice that the profile of actual terrorists shows a range of economic levels between poverty and great wealth, much as one finds in society in general? Does this piece of data fail to fit into your view that poor people in general have a legitimate grievance against the U.S.? Do you still feel that terrorism is an overemphasized scare tactic, deployed by an evil Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and Karl Rove, to keep Americans in a permanent state of fear?So what do you want? And don't just parrot the delusions I've outlined here. Describe the specific actions that you would take to address these problems, and why they would produce different results.And don't bother telling me; get it all worked out in your head, and then, once you have honestly answered the question to your satisfaction, share your answers with others - because if you have the answers, they need to be heard - and if your ideas turn out to be just more of the same old junk rehashed, they will be quickly recognized as such.
