Monday, October 31, 2005

The Long War

Newt Gingrich in a statement before the House Subcommittee on Intelligence characterized the War on Terror as the "Long war" against the "Irreconcilable Wing of Islam". He believed this struggle could take centuries to reach a decision and would be fought largely by words in rooms and city streets.

The Long War is 90% intellectual, communications, political, economic, diplomacy, and intelligence focused. It is at most 10% military. We have not yet developed the doctrine or structure capable of thinking through and implementing a Long War (30 to 70 years if we are lucky) on a societal scale. This challenge is compounded because it is fundamentally different from waging the Cold War against the Soviet Union. The Cold War was essentially a grand siege in which a defensive alliance could contain the Soviet Union until it collapsed.

Just how different the Long War might be from the wars of the 20th century is indicated by his next paragraph, which compares it to the Reformation, a struggle which left almost no aspect of society untouched.

This is an inherently offensive war in which we have to actively defeat our opponents. Furthermore this war resembles the Reformation-era wars of religion in which fellow nationals may be traitors serving the other side (examine Elizabethan England and the origins of the English secret service as an example).

The problem in such a struggle is defining "we". Who "you" were was the essential question in the Reformation; and much depended on the answer. The bitterness with which it divided Tudor England is still remembered in the following account.

Queen Mary I of England is called Bloody Mary because she persecuted Protestants during her short reign (1554-58). Her sister, Elizabeth Tudor, persecuted Catholics during her long reign (1558-1603) and she is called Good Queen Bess. Mary is criticized because she burned Protestants whom she considered heretics, but Elizabeth is praised as shrewd for persecuting Catholics, who did not accept laws passed during her reign making her both secular and spiritual ruler. Violations of these laws were considered an act of treason punishable by hanging, drawing, and quartering.

Although US casualties in Iraq have passed the 2,000 mark, the number is small in comparison to the loss of life associated with the World Wars. The following table showing the Office of Management and Budget's estimates for the coming decade of US defense expenditure as a percentage of GNP shows America is preparing to spend proportionately less for military activity than at any time in the recent past.

Decade Percent of GNP
1960s 10.7
1970s 5.9
1980s 5.8
1990s 4.1
2000-2009 (projected) 3.4

 

Yet in terms of its impact of social attitudes, political institutions, cultural and religious life, the Long War's effects may already have been far-reaching. Consider the somewhat comical example of George Galloway. The tabloid British Daily Record says that George Galloway is negotiating with Hollywood to produce a story of his life. 

Galloway sidekick Ron McKay is also to feature in the film,which documents their early days in Dundee through to their infamous meetings with the Iraqi dictator. ... "I have suggested Danny de Vito plays George and George Clooney plays me." [McKay said]

While some are preparing to lionize Galloway, other parts of society are moving to throw him behind bars. Another British paper reports that he is being investigated by three separate government agencies.

George Galloway, the staunchly anti-war British MP, will be investigated by the United States Department of Justice for claims he lied to the Senate over Iraq oil money, The Business can reveal.

The Charities Commission in England and Wales has also requested documents which the US Senate permanent sub-committee for investigations says prove that illegal Iraqi oil money was laundered through a charity of which Galloway was a trustee. A dossier is being sent to Sir Philip Mawer, Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, who has a far broader remit to protect the reputation of the House of Commons and is expected to look into Galloway’s conduct as an MP.

Hero to some, heel to others. That description would apply not only to Galloway but to Ward Churchill, Karl Rove, Cindy Sheehan, Johnny Walker Lindh, Pat Tillman, Paul Wolfowitz or Cat Stevens. The example can even be extended to institutions like the Department of Defense and the United Nations. Each of these names acts like litmus paper to determine who "we" are. They describe a boundary line across the cultural face of the world. One agency which would immediately agree with Gingrich's characterization of the Long War as "90% intellectual, communications, political, economic, diplomacy, and intelligence focused ... [and] at most 10% military" is Al Jazeera, which has been fighting US military power through television, print and radio.

Shameless Plug Alert

The cultural aspect of the Long War is only being belatedly recognized. One man who is going to participate in this battle of ideas and words is Bill Roggio. He will embed with troops in Iraq to continue his blog. Mr. Roggio needs support to buy items like body armor and other gear which he must provide at his own expense. Please visit his site and help if you can.

Commentary

My only thoughts are that Gingrich's Long War is a consequence of a larger phenomenon, the end of the European era. The rise of America to global dominance is, from another point of view, simply the result of surviving the European crash. David Fromkin argues in Europe's Last Summer that the Cold War was the tail end of the most consequential event of the 20th century: the Great War, caused by the fact that European Powers had run out of countries to conquer and hence, fell upon themselves. America has remained functional and grown to power as a nation, but it does not, nor does it seek to dominate the world to the extent of Europe in its heyday, when Britain alone governed a quarter of the world.

What the Great War did not wreck and the Second War did not finish off, postwar socialism did. Europe is facing death spiral demographics and flat economic growth. If current trends continue, India will surpass the German economy within a few years. But nowhere have the effects of Europe's only indigenous religion, Marxism, been more pronounced than in the country that embraced it most closely: Russia. Mark Steyn in The Australian revives a term once reserved for the Ottomans when he calls Russia The Sick Man of Europe.

Russia is literally dying. From a population peak in 1992 of 148 million, it will be down to below 130 million by 2015 and thereafter dropping to perhaps 50 or 60 million by the end of the century.  ... most Russian women are voting with their foetus: 70 per cent of pregnancies are aborted. ... Add to that the unprecedented strains on a ramshackle public health system. Russia is the sick man of Europe, and would still look pretty sick if you moved him to Africa. It has the fastest-growing rate of HIV infection in the world. By 2010, AIDS will be killing between 250,000 and 750,000 Russians every year. It will become a nation of babushkas, unable to muster enough young soldiers to secure its borders, enough young businessmen to secure its economy or enough young families to secure its future. True, there are parts of Russia that are exceptions to these malign trends. Can you guess which regions they are? They start with a "Mu" and end with a "slim". 

The world may be reverting to the pre-European era, and Gingrich's Long War may really be the Long War for the survival of the West. Not its return to dominance, but simply its right to continued existence; to the chance of rediscovering its identity. Winston Churchill understood that even the vast conflict which engulfed him was a battle within a larger War, for the preservation of something far greater than the survival of governments. 

In private, Churchill was not always so sanguine. He forced himself and others, he admitted, to be brave "because everyone realized how near death and ruin we stood. Not only individual death which is the universal experience, but incomparably more commanding the life of Britain, her message and her glory."

Islam has always been militant and the West only recently supine. In fairness, Islam's only fault may be that it retained a belief in itself long after the West embraced self-disgust. It may be that Gingrich's Long War is less about fighting Muslims than about the West rediscovering itself. While it's apparent battlefields may be in the mountains, jungles and desert fastnesses, the only frontier that matters is in its own heart.

80 Comments:

Blogger Jamie Irons said...

W.

I sent Bill Roggio a substantial sum (for a guy who has four sons in college and graduate school), and I have sent an even larger sum to that other in-theater journalistic hero, Michael Yon...

I urge all of us to support these gentlemen, and to support you...

Jamie Irons

10/31/2005 01:08:00 PM  
Blogger desert rat said...

Mr Newt, watched his Class on C-Span, I think. An interesting fellow, seems pretty bright.
I agreed with him when he was a Congressman. The House was worse for his leaving, I think. Mr DeLay is not in the same league.

Agree totally that we are not yet very engaged in the Intellectual battle. After their old systems failed and "reform" failed in many States they have moved to Freedom through Elections. Novel idea.

Do not be surprised if Iran follows the pattern of Poland, Georgia, Ukraine or allah forbid Iraq.
With a little help from their friends.

10/31/2005 01:32:00 PM  
Blogger John Aristides said...

The Long War is 90% intellectual, communications, political, economic, diplomacy, and intelligence focused. It is at most 10% military.

I wonder what the percentages for each of the above have been throughout the human history of cultural natural selection, and I wonder how they fluctuate in efficacy.

Each of these categories listed by Newt represents a particular subset of evolutionary strategies, the uberset being "Survival". If Newt is to be believed, one must ask oneself whether the evolutionary strategy of war is, overall, developing diminishing marginal returns. In other words, do these percentages not also imply an ethical development in the human condition.

Whether the ethical development was inevitable ("The future is not determined, but history does have a direction.") or dependent ("An armed society is a polite society" embellished by technology) is quite beyond knowing, but I do think it noteworthy that wars between cultures are becoming less violent and more cerebral.

10/31/2005 02:02:00 PM  
Blogger Tony said...

In terms of the Long War, it seems our enemies already 'get it.' Somehow, our recently zealous peaceniks think our surrender will do the trick. It won't.

Letter from al-Zawahiri to al-Zarqawi

"Al-Zawahiri's letter offers a strategic vision for al Qa'ida's direction for Iraq and beyond, and portrays
al Qa'ida's senior leadership's isolation and dependence.

Among the letter's highlights are discussions indicating:

* The centrality of the war in Iraq for the global jihad.

* From al Qa'ida's point of view, the war does not end with an American departure.

* An acknowledgment of the appeal of democracy to the Iraqis.

* The strategic vision of inevitable conflict, with a tacit recognition of current political dynamics in Iraq; with a call by al-Zawahiri for political action equal to military action.

* The need to maintain popular support at least until jihadist rule has been established.

* Admission that more than half the struggle is taking place "in the battlefield of the media."

10/31/2005 02:11:00 PM  
Blogger TM Lutas said...

Conducting a "Long War" is essentially anadmission that the Peace of Westphalia is dead. The US has no experience in such a war because we haven't had such a thing since 1648 when the Peace of Westphalia was signed.

10/31/2005 02:18:00 PM  
Blogger Red River said...

Newt has it right.

The only real parallel we have is Elizabeth's clash with Catholic Spain.

Spain sent thousands of priests to England to attempt to convert it. Spain also did the same thing to the Dutch.

Its a largely unwritten history that can only be tangentially defined by reading the comments in letters and in the laws of the time.

10/31/2005 02:24:00 PM  
Blogger enscout said...

DOD is crazy for not funding (approved) contract journalists like Roggio & Yon.

An imbed being much more valuable in this war than traditional "boots on the ground".

10/31/2005 02:39:00 PM  
Blogger al fin said...

The popular cultures of Europe and North America lack the will to fight "The Long War." Europe has virtually surrendered already. Canada is not far behind.

All it will take is one moment of weakness by the american voting public in a presidential election. Someone like John Kerry or Al Gore as president of america guarantee the surrender of the west, which would be irrevocable.

Perhaps it is time to begin training the resistance. The maquis?

10/31/2005 04:13:00 PM  
Blogger NahnCee said...

The US has no experience in such a war because we haven't had such a thing since 1648 when the Peace of Westphalia was signed.


Since the U.S. wasn't a country yet in 1648, I'm pretty sure we didn't sign off on whatever it was that Westphalia agreed to.

10/31/2005 04:51:00 PM  
Blogger GEB4000 said...

Newt's right that 90% of this struggle is between our ears. Europeans through their self-loathing and nihilistic belief systems our losing the will to exist. Why propagate when you hate yourself? If you don't believe in anything why would you bother interrupting your decadence with years of self-sacrifice to ensure that future generations of your kind continue?

The same thing is happening on the West and Northeast coasts of United States. Americans of European descent are reproducing well below replacement level. When these people are not expressing how lonely and miserable they are, like Maureen Dowd, they are laughing at all those churchgoing Neanderthals in the Heartland. Keep Laughing guys. In a hundred years you'll be gone and those simpletons in the Middle America will still be there. When you’re to cool to believe in anything, you end up being to cool to exist.

10/31/2005 05:07:00 PM  
Blogger enscout said...

The UNSC resolution calling for Syria to cooperate with their investigation, I'm sure, has Assad quivering in his boots.

The only thing Assad respects is the power of the UMSC right across the border.

10/31/2005 05:17:00 PM  
Blogger desert rat said...

nah, it's the Army Rangers that give him pause. Those Marines are to far from a beach to worry Assad.
Well maybe not, Syria looks kind of like a beach, a lot of sand, anyway.

10/31/2005 05:25:00 PM  
Blogger exhelodrvr1 said...

Ironic that by "survival of the west" you really mean "survival of the Americas and the Pacific, plus India"

Europe is in it's death throes as a significant western power.

10/31/2005 05:52:00 PM  
Blogger exhelodrvr1 said...

TM Lutas,
If you consider everything that happened during the Cold War years, I think that we do have the experience of a long, protracted war. Remember that that period included the Berlin Airlift, the fight against the Communists in Greece, the Korean war, the VIetnam War, plus 45 years of high tension in between. And all that started immediately after WWII, which was only 20 years after WWI. So if you lump all those in together, (as they really should be when viewed with a long-term perspective), we do have that level of experience. But I'm not sure that the America of today is up to facing that again.

10/31/2005 05:59:00 PM  
Blogger Oengus said...

Add two complicating factors to the "Long War":

(1) The Loony Mullahs of Iran getting knukes, which should be real soon now.

(2) "Peak Oil".

We are certainly living in "interesting times".

10/31/2005 06:11:00 PM  
Blogger sam said...

Iran-Al Qaeda Axis: Tehran Protects Top Terrorists:

There's no guarantee that sanctions will get Tehran to swear off its terrorist ways. But, because Iran's economy is so centralized, trade gives the mullahs pocket change to cause trouble at home and across the globe.

So while a nuclear-armed Iran is a serious - but future - threat that has a (slim) chance of a diplomatic solution, the Iranian-al Qaeda terrorist threat is here and now, making the time for action - not negotiations - long past.

http://www.theconservativevoice.com/articles/article.html?id=9348

10/31/2005 06:48:00 PM  
Blogger sam said...

Remarks by Stephen Hadley to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee National Summit 2005:

As you know, President Bush is a dedicated friend of Israel. He has pledged to Prime Minister Sharon that he will never ask Israel to take risks with its security to suit U.S. purposes or to suit U.S. politics - and he never will. But if we succeed in our broader objectives in the War on Terror and in Iraq, Israel will be more secure as a result.

The relationship between the United States and Israel is the warm and supportive friendship of two strong democracies, and it has never been stronger. With your help, we will keep it that way, and we will together help to build a Middle East where Israel's democracy is joined by others that share its devotion to peace.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/10/20051031-4.html

10/31/2005 07:20:00 PM  
Blogger gumshoe said...

"The main intellectual obstacle is that for Muslims of whatever degree of orthodoxy the Koran is literally the uncreated font of human knowledge. This is a serious problem. I get the impression that it's impossible to comprehend just [how] many intellectual and cultural habits derive from or are predetermined by this central ontological fact."
-dan

it's stunning dan,
the number of otherwise intelligent
westerners who don't see
the role the Koran plays
in recent world events.

even a brief reading of it,
shows how negotiating with
terror/Islamists is a non-starter.

imo,part of the problem stems from
the contempt of "the educated classes" for *all* religions,
and their anxiousness to
pronounce all religions as *equal*.

10/31/2005 07:37:00 PM  
Blogger sam said...

Can al-Qaeda Endure Beyond bin Laden?:

The question of al-Qaeda’s longevity after the demise of its figurehead is ultimately unanswerable until bin Laden is actually gone. There are those who believe bin Laden is dead—which would surely be one of history’s best kept secrets—and argue that al-Qaeda has proven its survivability.

Too often, al-Qaeda’s post-bin Laden future is discussed solely on the basis of who will place him. It is asked whether the successor will have bin Laden’s intelligence, charisma, and jihadi credentials.

The Afghan jihad was expensive, and bin Laden saw this reality first hand. Bin Laden, moreover, was directly involved in the funding process, serving early in the war as a channel through which private and official Saudi monies went to the mujahideen.

Many wealthy Muslims were willing buy weapons for the Afghans but were unwilling to work with Riyadh or the U.S. government. Faced with this reality, bin Laden and other Arabs crafted a weapons-procurement system for the Afghan mujahideen that, like the funding mechanism, ran parallel to the U.S.-Saudi system.

Bin Laden, Abdullah Azzam, and their colleagues began their jihad careers building and managing a network that supplied men for the Afghan war. Bin Laden et al. brought non-Afghan Muslims from across the Islamic world to Pakistan to serve as fighters and as workers in hospitals, arms dumps, refugee camps, clinics, and NGOs.

Bin Laden’s 1988 operational priority was for al-Qaeda to train Muslim militants from around the world at the groups’ camps, and provide far-flung Islamist insurgencies with a cadre to train fighters locally and be a “stiffening agent” for local forces. The al-Qaeda cadre added to Taliban forces in 1996, for example, added skill and professionalism to Mullah Omar’s campaign against the Northern Alliance around Kabul.

From al-Qaeda’s first day to the present, bin Laden’s priority has been to incite and instigate Muslims to support and participate in a defensive jihad against the United States and its allies. He and his lieutenants have spent large amounts of money, time and imagination to build a world-class media and propaganda apparatus.

Al-Qaeda’s post-bin Laden effectiveness will, in significant measure, depend on leadership qualities of his successor. Realistically, there is little reason to think a potential successor will have the same credentials and talents that have powered bin Laden’s leadership.

http://www.jamestown.org/news_details.php?news_id=147#

10/31/2005 07:50:00 PM  
Blogger GCC Advancement said...

Any thoughs on Thomas Barnett's new book?
Blueprint for Action : A Future Worth Creating

10/31/2005 08:23:00 PM  
Blogger sam said...

Islamic Jihad: The Conclusive Case:

With the appearance of The Legacy of Jihad (Prometheus Books), a new compendium of documents relating to the doctrine and history of jihad. Edited by Dr. Andrew Bostom.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has attributed Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza to the murders perpetrated by suicide terrorists (“martyrs”): “The sacrifices of the martyrs, the wounded and the detainees, made the occupiers leave Gaza and evacuate the settlements.” Yet when Abbas visited the White House last Thursday, President Bush praised him as “a man devoted to peace.” One may hope that there is more to this, albeit going on behind the scenes, but on the surface this seems to be born of an appalling naïveté and unwillingness to take Mahmoud Abbas’s own words at face value.

This is but one small example of the general denial with which both officials and the media have met the statements of jihad terrorists about the relationship of their deeds to Islam. The Legacy of Jihad betrays that willful blindness in a harsher light than ever before.

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=9980

10/31/2005 08:40:00 PM  
Blogger AnechoicRoom said...

"less about fighting Muslims than about the West rediscovering itself"

"the only frontier that matters is in it's own heart"

And why they will never win. They may not go quietly in the night. But go they will. For all their bloody bluster, they will scurry as the might of our hearts. Pounds them into fleshy crumbs, to be carried away by the breeze.

10/31/2005 08:41:00 PM  
Blogger sam said...

Soldiers search for missing Ohio reservist in Iraq:

To the troops of the Army's 10th Mountain Division, finding Army Reserve Sergeant Keith "Matt" Maupin of Batavia, Ohio, has become a quest that defines their values as soldiers.

Thirty-two members of the Fort Drum-based unit spent seven hours Saturday inching over terrain, overturning rocks and probing bushes on a stretch of land between two highways in the Abu Ghraib section west of Baghdad.

A tip had suggested that Maupin's body might be there.

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=4054334&nav=4QcS

10/31/2005 09:36:00 PM  
Blogger Robin Goodfellow said...

I'm somewhat surprised by Gingrich's insight. He tempts me to get back to blogging before all my good ideas are spilled out in public by others. Nevertheless, he misses the mark somewhat. Culture and religion and society and governance are only really expressions of the current global struggle. The nexus is modernism. Meaning science and technology, reason and logic. And how such modernity (in such various forms as GPS guidance, the internet, women in power and in the workforce, the automobile, engineered food crops, personal liberty, democracy, and much else) clashes, has been clashing, and will continue to clash with rigid traditionalism (viz. rote leftism, elitism, fundamentalist religion, rigid social structures, and the, ironically, more modern romantic anti-modernism, etc.) As pointed out, it is a clash no less profound than the Reformation.

And, as yet, with no sure outcome.

10/31/2005 10:12:00 PM  
Blogger sam said...

Ahmadinejad’s Jihad:

I don’t think “every other option” is credible any more. We must look squarely at what is before us, and not for an excuse to look away.

It should be realized that President Ahmadinejad’s threats -- and his subsequent failure to retract them -- themselves constitute acts of war. The Israelis, at the least, are in a moral and legal position to act in self-defence; and all decent men and women are under a moral obligation to support them.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-10_31_05_DW.html

10/31/2005 10:25:00 PM  
Blogger sam said...

Hey, c'mon there Verc. It's not spam. It's all above board, on topic stuff. It's just as easy to copy/paste the link, isn't it?

10/31/2005 10:54:00 PM  
Blogger sam said...

ok, man. You were starting to give me a complex there for a minute. Wish I had the intellectual horsepower to debate with you guys but alas, I am out of my league. I am learning and retaining from being a part of the 'Club' 'though, if I may be so bold. I will endeavor with the html tags bro'.

10/31/2005 11:08:00 PM  
Blogger gumshoe said...

"Mr Kerry,please pick up line 1"

11/01/2005 12:29:00 AM  
Blogger gumshoe said...

"The virus of al-Qa'eda is already out there in the population," said one security source.

Or, as bin Laden once put it:"This will be nothing to do with the poor slave bin Laden, whether dead or alive. With God's grace, the awakening has begun."

-Marlin
__________________________

OBL was simply following
the script of the Koran.

Islam *is* the virus.

OBL says:
"...the awakening has begun."

or as i believe Daniel Pipes
put it:

"Education by murder"

11/01/2005 01:18:00 AM  
Blogger diabeticfriendly said...

c4 zionist count... only 3 "zionist" rants today...

beats yesterday's 10 zionists, 1 israeli backstabbing, 1 israeli pariah, 1 jew mass murder plot, 1 jew land grabbing plot...

wow, it's a trend...

11/01/2005 03:17:00 AM  
Blogger diabeticfriendly said...

opps forgot the 1 israeli masterspy and 1 jew money controlling freak from yesterday's tally...we

11/01/2005 03:18:00 AM  
Blogger diabeticfriendly said...

c4: Pork rinds - Laugh all you want. It looks like the Iranians are preparing for the last laugh down the road. More and more Americans are backing off unquestioning support of Israel.

actually i see iran having a really bad day, not because of zionists, but because their own people are getting fed up, as for american and support of israel, i see it growing, israel showed it's face by withdrawling from gaza and the northern west bank, WITHOUT ANY PEACE TREATY and your friends the pali's showed theirs when the looted the greenhouses, burned the temples and launched hundreds of missiles from gaza and proclaimed their military victory...

no c4, the tide is turning, the world sees the islamofasict crap the jews/israel/zionists have been dealing with since 1920, so cram you bullshit about those poor palis and their refugees, please learn that more jews were thrown out of more land and businesses than any pali were, israel has MORE diplomatic relations now than at anytime in the world, the UN is NOW passing resolution against syria, the face of "palestine" WAS all over those airplanes when then slammed into the world trade center... the face of palestine is all over the war on terror...

nope the winds of change are here, and the issue aint 20 square miles of land the big bad land grabbing jews control....

every time an american fills up a car they dont think west bank... they think arab oil/opec/oil companies too bad c4, your battle is lost and no zionists had to die ha ha...

the world is most hurt by higher oil prices, the poor of the world are hurt by the arabs, not the zionists... h aha ha haha ha ha ha ha ha ha ah ahah

hey c4, it aint the zionists you will be paying this winter! ah ha ah ah hah a haha ha ha ha ha

11/01/2005 04:17:00 AM  
Blogger al fin said...

Peak oil will not end the jihad. The jihad is eternal. It will merely go looking for any funding it can find. Fraud, bank robbery, a tax on the haj, kidnapping and ransom, "charitable" donations from emigrants . . .

As for bin Laden, you might need a good medium to seek him in a seance. The CIA could not find a pimple on its own arse.

11/01/2005 05:40:00 AM  
Blogger erp said...

Gingrich is a smart well educated and well spoken guy who could have been a real force for good, but he shot himself in the "foot" by carrying on an office romance and then denying it during the period when he was also denouncing Clinton's morals.

It's a good thing, isn't it, that men aren't at the mercy of their hormones the way women are alleged to be?

11/01/2005 05:50:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

eddiep
It is not all that obvious that the "most wanted man in the world" is either dead or incapacitiated.
The Doctor has always been the main man behind the throne of aQ. He was the driving force in the creation of aQ, but not the Headliner, in the MSM.
Osama may be an active leader, he may be flat on his back or six feet under.
I watched a news show the other day, from Ohio, I think, white Amerikan Nazis were praising Hitler and White Power. And all this time I thought Hitler died in a Berlin bunker. It seems he is still alive and well within US.
Osama will prove as resilent as Hitler or Che.
Without his head on a stake there is immortality for Osama.

11/01/2005 06:23:00 AM  
Blogger Jeff Kouba said...

Russia is indeed facing some serious problems. We can only hope the decline is managed well, and that chaos does not arise as Russian society starts to feel the effects of its demographic problems.

11/01/2005 07:05:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

Russia will lash out, I think, as she falls. Exampled by their current difficulties with some of their Mohammedan subjects. Both in Mother Russia and her newly independent "Stans". There is no hesitency to shoot demonstrators or to raze entire cities.
Truth be known, in the decade that the CIA estimates it will take for the Iranians to build a bomb, the Russians still and will continue to be a greater threat to liberty tempered with stability than any other Nation State.
With a history of International meddling and ruled by the management of the former KGB, Russia must act or die. Do not look for the Russians to go quietly into the night.


On a related note here is a piece from WSJ online about Russian nuclear security and the "truth" about Suitcase nukes.

11/01/2005 07:25:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

peter uk
The battle really began when Cro-Magnon man got his ass kicked by Homo Sapiens, in the south of France or Gaul, not sure which name to use any more, HBO's 'ROME' being all the rage at my house.

Conflict is eternal, at least here on Earth.

11/01/2005 07:33:00 AM  
Blogger Marcus Aurelius said...

President Bush's plan is Newt's plan and Newt's plan is President Bush's.

President Bush is willing to stand up on behalf of the West when others are not. Liberal governance is best and yes Iraq is not a full fledged liberal democracy with the Vagina Monologues playing in the playhouses of Basra but it is much better than what was before and what passes as normal in the Middle East.

The Cold War was not won by the unconfident by those unwilling to gamble. It was won by the bold who were willing to push back. Radical Islam has been pushing and pushing and we have finally decided to push back.

The typical Bush critic is not a defender of the West but a detractor. The problem is we have significant numbers of people here in the West who decry our sexism but then turn a blind eye to the Taliban, Al Qaeda et al and actively support the forces of Islamic radicalism.

11/01/2005 07:44:00 AM  
Blogger John Aristides said...

My take on the Long War is here. It is, itself, rather long, for any who are interested.

11/01/2005 08:05:00 AM  
Blogger fooburger said...

I think this is mainly fuzzy confusing crap. Nothing in this essay involves anything actionable at all. "This war is going to be fought in the thoughts of people!"
Great... so we're all going to become psychologists, because that's our new 'weapon'?
This is crap. The struggle against militant islam has propoganda elements much like all previous wars. But the majority of the hard work is going to be done in the field by US military forces of one sort or another. This doesn't represent some miniscule 10% of the war.
We are going to have to drive out dictatorships around the world, and once that has happened, peace will be possible.

Normally Belmont posts are much clearer and state real opinions, whereas this appears to retreat into the classroom and question everything without attempting to resolve any answers.

11/01/2005 09:04:00 AM  
Blogger The Wobbly Guy said...

Ideas are important because the military force of democratic nations require the support of their own people if they are to succeed. In a conflict such as this, likely to last decades, that is especially crucial.

Wars, particularly conflicts in the modern age, are all waged in the name of one '-ism' or another.

If the US military is not supported by the majority of the US populace, how lethal they are in the field will not matter. Hence the importance of understanding that the real battle is still fought for hearts and minds, not just of the people of the 'other side', but of one's own. A voting majority that believes in the UN, the Democrats, internationalism, pacifism, socialism, and a panacea of delusions will cripple any military force.

11/01/2005 09:15:00 AM  
Blogger John Aristides said...

Fooburger laments the lack of answers. It does not then follow that the questions are unworthy.

The decision to blow yourself up for Allah and 72 virgins is consummated in the mind. Why should you reject the logical corollary that the decision not to blow yourself is consummated there, too. It is a binary decision with vast underpinnings. It seems rather obvious that one of these options is more beneficial and therefore its likelihood should be bolstered.

The battle is in the mind because that is where you find the will, and the inclination, to commit murder. You must ask the right questions if you are ever to get the right answers. In that respect, Wretchard's essay is, as always, both timely and...significant.

11/01/2005 09:19:00 AM  
Blogger Jack said...

"I’d guess that the Europeans, even in aggregate, for all their faults, have a far shorter distance to travel than any single Arab country to even survive in a globalized environment. If it wasn’t for oil, the Middle East would be as hospitable as Africa, but without the charm."

Agreement, and why I don't buy the EUrabia concept. I'd wager that in 50-100 years, Europe will still survive, it will just be radically different. The fall from Kantian utopia to reality will be both jarring and transformational.

11/01/2005 09:35:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

The mind, aristides, is also where we find the will to resist tyrants and despots. To relish personal freedom and liberty and wish to extend it others, for the betterment of all.
The power of the mind and the perspection of it's own realities, both as individuals and communities is where wars are won.
Ask any Super Duper Paratrooper or Devil Dog Marine.
The fight must be exported to the minds of the opponents people. The civilian hearts and minds in Uzbeckistan or Pakistan, etc.

Personal Freedom tempered by Responsibility, that should be a marketable program, even within Mohammedan Societies.

11/01/2005 09:43:00 AM  
Blogger diabeticfriendly said...

fooburger states:

Great... so we're all going to become psychologists, because that's our new 'weapon'?
This is crap.

actually no, i, as a "zionist" do believe, in the power that c4 & the islamic world has granted me shall then place sexy nippled pagan wenches infront of the blessed, modest moslem people, thus, tormenting them to destruction. Girls Gone Wild, Porno, Jerry Springler, Al Goldstein & Howard Stern (all zionist generals) will thru the power of that jew creation (the "book") shall use the tools of the modern day, the internet, to destroy islam from within...

if you think i am joking, I aint, and all I can say is....



to f*ckin bad islam.....

11/01/2005 11:23:00 AM  
Blogger Sparks fly said...

Fairness is just another name for the law. The letter of the law kills but the spirit gives life.

The problem with discovering or rediscovering yourself is threefold: you can't stop throwing up or shaking with fear or being depressed.

You must be b... again.

11/01/2005 11:34:00 AM  
Blogger ledger said...

Newt Gingrich does makes some very important points (although he uses criticism in a scatter gun fashion). He does define the enemy better as the "Irreconcilable Wing Of Islam." That's fairly precise but not exact. And, he notes that this Irreconcilable Wing Of Islam (or IWOI) knows no boarders - true. He also calls it a long war. Which is probably correct. But, most wars go on longer than expected.

Gingrich is very critical of the CIA and other Intelligence organization. He notes that during the 50 years of the being engaged with Korea "Only 10% of our analysts are fluent in Korean... Sixty-five percent of the analysts are unable to order food in a Korean restaurant or ask for directions to the rest room. Yet these are the people we depend on to plumb the depths of North Korean psychology..."

He has a point. And, this same problem is apparent in our inability to analyze the Islamofascist plotting against us. I would guess that Arabic is just as difficult to learn as Korean (or Mandarin for that matter). The IWOI has used Arabic as a natural encryption mechanism - simple but effective. Thus, I agree with Gringrich that there should be some mandatory level of language proficiency in the CIA.

This is easy to say but not so easily done. It takes much more than 63 weeks of intense lingual training to learn such a language to the point of deciphering technical jargon, slang, and code words. There must be a strong curriculum and a strong incentive to learn those languages.

Generally, it's a good idea to lead by example. So, some of the higher rank CIA people should study a language and project that down to their subordinates.

Another of Gingrich's points is that intelligence personnel must be versed in the "Money" trail aspect of the IWOI. I suspect this would involve a thorough knowledge of Arabic banking and accounting methods. This is difficult. Very few people are interesting in learning Eastern accounting and banking. But, that's not to say it should not be done. And, I don't really believe that the fundamentals of banking and money transfers are much different between East and the West. I do understand the Muslims don't use "interest" but do use a fee based system. That is not all that different from western banking. I suspect that we have not clamped down on money transfers from so called "charities" for PC reasons.

In Gingrich's 25 recommendations, he recommends greater Agency flexibility to "turn" drug smugglers or other "Grey Area" individuals into states witness at the very lowest level of the Agency. That's a good idea - but, harder to do than suggested. There could be a bargains with the devil that would be counter productive. But, the idea is basically sound. His twenty-five points makes sense, but I would go farther.

Here some ideas to crack down on the IWOI:

1) Stop using the soft glove treatment on them. If a known propagator of murder is to be released in Indonesia by some crooked judge then surgically take this terrorist out (let it be known that dangerous individuals should not be released to kill once more). Track all of his family members and let it be know there are consequences to supporting that individual in any fashion.

2) Use reciprocal tactics on the IWOI. If a "Clerics" kills people they should be killed. Strip away the stupid idea that "clerics" are members of a religion. They are not. They are killers using religion as a cover. The KKK had strong religious slogans but, that did not stop the Authorities from investigating them. Certain laws will have to be adjusted - but that can occur. If an individual dressed in a turban and a robe insights murder he's a killer and should be neutralized. It's important for "clerics" to understand that their own personal safety is not guaranteed. If "cleric" issues a death threats of any sort, he should be designated a target. For example, if some "cleric" issues a death threat in Pakistan, he should be considered very dangerous and surgically neutralized.

3) The MSM should not be use as a tool of transmitting orders or instilling terror. If the enemy, uses the media as a means of transferring orders than said media outlet should be investigated and sanctioned. At the least we should be able to issue counter propaganda via the MSM.

4) The treason laws should be updated to reflect the new threat. Anyone aiding the enemy should be sanctioned. Some, will scream the 1st amendment has been violated - too bad times have changed. If one gives aid and comfort to the enemy then one should be considered joining with the enemy (and treason/sedition laws should be invoked). Law makers should have some introspection as to their own public statements and the long term consequences of said public statements. Law makers should not take "donations" from the enemy or aid the enemy in any way.

5) If the enemy is using a mosque as terrorists training building or a weapons stockpiling point then said building should be investigated and/or targeted. There are just too many Mosque which house terrorists. The notion of religious freedom should not be misused. Once a mosque has become a point for inciting violence then it's no longer a religious place.

Granted not all of these ideas are perfect nor are some of Gingrich's. And, some may not be practical at this point. But, they deserve some consideration. If there are specific adjustments to the Gingrich's ideas and the above ideas, speak up.

11/01/2005 11:50:00 AM  
Blogger Strabo the Lesser said...

I agree with those who compare Europe's situation to the Roman Empire, but I would suggest the late empire rather than the social wars. The romans invited the barbarians to live within our borders, with higher rates of reproduction, while stifling economic growth with high taxes... the population hollowed out, the law became corrupt, and the Avars pressed on the borders.

11/01/2005 01:34:00 PM  
Blogger diabeticfriendly said...

where does opium come from?

11/01/2005 01:53:00 PM  
Blogger Charles said...

The problem in such a struggle is defining "we". Who "you" were was the essential question in the Reformation; and much depended on the answer. The bitterness with which it divided Tudor England is still remembered in the following account.

Queen Mary I of England is called Bloody Mary because she persecuted Protestants during her short reign (1554-58). Her sister, Elizabeth Tudor, persecuted Catholics during her long reign (1558-1603) and she is called Good Queen Bess. Mary is criticized because she burned Protestants whom she considered heretics, but Elizabeth is praised as shrewd for persecuting Catholics, who did not accept laws passed during her reign making her both secular and spiritual ruler. Violations of these laws were considered an act of treason punishable by hanging, drawing, and quartering.
/////////////////

A helpful thing to understand in Europe is that the "political" wings of the reformation--the calvinists--were defeated in France when they overplayed their hand and in 1572 were killed in the St. Bartholemew's Day Massecre. As well, in England the calvinists under Cromwell also overplayed their hand and calvinism went into decline subsequently in England.

However, Calvinism got a second life in the USA with the Puritans--who were congregationalists--, and the presbyterians (mostly scotch irish).
//////

Joseph Galloway (1731-1803), a former speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly and close friend of Benjamin Franklin, opposed the Revolution and fled to England in 1778. Like many Tories he believed, as he asserted in this pamphlet, that the Revolution was, to a considerable extent, a religious quarrel, caused by Presbyterians and Congregationalists whose "principles of religion and polity [were] equally averse to those of the established Church and Government."

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel03.html

/////////////////////////

Is this Galloway related to the current generation's Galloway. Likely not. The principle's of Government to which the ancestor referred are covenential and calvinist.

11/01/2005 02:58:00 PM  
Blogger Charles said...

On the level of pure industry, the 20th century industries are dying and and whole bunch of new players are coming in to take their place. Basically an old civilization is dying and a new one is taking its place.

If you've every seen those pictures in the late 19th century when within a short decade, city scapes around the world were entirely changed. In one picture there would be streets filled with horses and buggies. In the next picture the same street would be filled with cars;telephone and electrical wires would run over head;

we're going through a similiar process with a whole new set of winners and losers.

11/01/2005 03:08:00 PM  
Blogger StoutFellow said...

Did Gingrich offer any suggestions for dealing with the Irreconcilable Party of the US Congress ?

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate returned to its daily work late Tuesday after Democrats enacted a rare parliamentary rule forcing a private session (search) of the chamber so senators could speak in secret about the lead-up to the war in Iraq

Democrats say the demand for a closed session was prompted by "misinformation and disinformation" given by President Bush (search) and his administration prior to entry into the war in Iraq and a failure of Republicans to look into it.

"If the administration had all the information that they have now back then, they wouldn't even have brought it to the Congress for a vote," Reid said of the Senate's 2002 consent to launch a war against Iraq.

"We know that there were no [weapons of mass destruction] now in Iraq. We didn't know it at the time. We know now that we didn't know at the time that there was no Al Qaeda connection. We know now that we didn't know then that there was no 9/11 connection. We know now that they had no plan for winning the peace. We didn't know that at the time," Reid, D-Nev., told reporters after the closed session ended.


The Democrats are beneath contempt. Disloyal opposition does not adequately describe their actions.

So much for the Long War.

11/01/2005 04:54:00 PM  
Blogger Karridine said...

"My only thoughts are that Gingrich's Long War is a consequence of a larger phenomenon, the end of the European era."

Could it be a consequence of a LARGER phenomenon? Could it be the consequence of events foretold by Jesus of Nazareth (Matt 24:14, Luke 21:24, Matt 24:15) promising the Coming of the Promised One?

For to argue that the Holy One has NOT come is to engage in the 'damnable heresy' of 'scoffing and denying' our Lord Who redeems us has returned.

Such an argument can only be true IF Jesus a)chose the wrong words to describe the second coming; b)didn't know His words would all come true in the same year; c)didn't WANT us to turn in adoration to the One Who came May 23, 1844; or if Jesus is NOT the Truth-Telling, the All-Informed.

Far larger than the 'end of the European era', these global disturbances CAN BE SEEN as evidence of humankind's adjustment to a new way of being, called to unify ourselves -hearts and minds- before the One True Creator, we are judged as we turn TOWARD unity, light, honesty, self-determination and responsible rationality OR turn AWAY into secularism, hatred, racism, materialism and nationalism.

I suggest that today's violent responses are all united in their non-obedience to and ignorance of the unifying and enlightening teachings given us by the Glory of God.

11/01/2005 06:30:00 PM  
Blogger sam said...

News Briefing with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Maj. Gen. Peter Pace:

SEC. RUMSFELD: It's important that we continue to assess and adapt because of the nature of the enemy that we face. It's an enemy that believes that we, the free and civilized world, don't have the stamina or the will to sustain a difficult effort over the necessary period of time.

I've watched the spread of Communism and the fall of Communism, the spread of Fascism and the fall of Fascism. At times, each toxic ideology was considered the wave of the future and was predicted to triumph over our way of life by people who should have known better.

GEN. PACE: I think with all that's going on, we can all take great pride in the fact that our nation has both the capacity and the compassion to assist the Pakistan government in their disaster relief efforts. Right now we have over 800 U.S. armed forces on the ground, side-by- side with their Pakistani counterparts, over 24 medium- and heavy-lift helicopters with nine more on the way.

Fixed-wing airplanes are dropping relief supplies. Almost 4,000 tons of relief supplies have been delivered.

News Briefing

Or for Verc,

http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2005/tr20051101-secdef4201.html

11/01/2005 07:41:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Cedarfart writes: Simple. The Rosenburgs giving the enemy the A Bomb and Lefty control of the MSM.


If the US wanted to attack the USSR with atomic bombs, they could have done so prior to the Soviets having got their atomic weapons in '48. The cold war wasn't about directly fighting the Soviets. Both parties pretty much at the outset of the conflict knew that a direct military conflict would be a losing proposition for both sides. This was an ideological fight, and it was fought largely through proxy wars: economic, cultural, political, diplomatic, technological, and occasionally military competition.

The USSR was, and still is, the richest country in the world in term of its natural resource wealth. At the start of the cold war it was also rich in its intellectual wealth. The soviets saved a great many Jews fleeing Nazi barbarism when practically no one else wanted to. Jews in turn fought alongside the Soviets, to save the Soviets from Nazi barbarism. A great many Jews perished with their Soviet brothers that fight. Those that survived the war, again helped rebuild the USSR. When Israel gradually switched its nonaligned diplomatic stance towards one of alliance with the Western powers, the Soviets started to turn on their Jewish population. In doing that, the Soviets lost a large pool of their most talented managers, intellectuals, scientists, mathematicians, writers, etc. -- their intellectual brain-trust. The country began to stagnate. With most of the Jewish population out of the country by the early 90's, management the state completely collapsed. The results are what you see today. A once great, first rate industrial and technologically superior country, eking a mere existence off its natural resources

11/01/2005 08:51:00 PM  
Blogger Charles said...

Cedarford said...
Heraclitus - How was it possible for the Cold War to last 45 years in spite of the fact that nearly every inmate in that vast, plodding bureaucratic Gulag WHICH COULD NOT EVEN FEED ITSELF, wished for it to perish?

Simple. The Rosenburgs giving the enemy the A Bomb and Lefty control of the MSM.

5:57 PM
/////////////////
while the leftists/communists fed the MSM the story line that American conservatives were stalinist/nazis and the McCarthy trials were Stalinist show trials in preparation for the US version of Stalin Doctor's Plot (a shoah in the making)for which the Rosenbergs were exhibit A.

I went to the Symposium on Cryptologic History given by the NSA last week. One the interesting things I learned was that relationship between the NSA and the FBI mapped pretty well over onto the relationship between J Edgar Hoover and Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Specifically the useless mishmash of frightening information that McCarthy was spewing looks very much the way J Edgar Hoover would have felt about the kind of info he was getting from the NSA.

The NSA told the FBI about the contents of the Venona Cables starting in 1948 but insisted that the FBI develop their own cases. The FBI could not use the information gathered by the NSA in court. This is pretty common practice today as in the case of Wen Ho Lee and many others. But the result is that a lot of spies and traitors simply skate free. -- Because the NSA has told the FBI about it but is unwilling to let the FBI use NSA info in court for fear of jeoprodizing NSA souces and methods.

The years after 1948 were the FIRST time the FBI did NOT get their man. Did J Edgar Hoover like it. Nope. As it happens the beginning and ending of McCarthy's public carreer coincides with his weekly meetings with J Egar Hoover. I asked FBI and NSA officials if J Edgar HOover told Senator Joseph McCarthy anything about the Venona Cables. They vigorously denied that Hoover told McCarthy anything. I asked them why the over all number of spies that the NSA pointed to were similiar to the number mentioned by McCarthy. No Answer. Of all the names that McCarthy mentioned all but two were wrong. McCarthy made charges about spies in the state dept or the army. Often the charges were vague.But some of the spies outed by Venona were in the state dept and some of them were in the army. Often the cables would reveal a code name for the spy but the code breakers couldn't affix a real name to the code name. Of 349 spies revealed by venona 171 had true names attached to them and 178 were known only by their code names. Sounds pretty vague? When the arrests started in the late 40s many spies stepped out of government and into the private sector--so no more evidence could be gathered on them. Some spies simply fled the country. Russia's computer silicon valley was started by two spies from the period who fled the country. They were Joel Barr and Alfred Sarant. This story is told ably by Steve Usdin in his book How Two Americans Spied for Stalin and Founded the Soviet Silicon Valley


similiarly many people fled the USA during the investigations of the late 90's into chinese influence peddling of the clinton administration.

11/01/2005 09:21:00 PM  
Blogger sam said...

Philosophy,

Are you high right now?

11/01/2005 09:50:00 PM  
Blogger ledger said...

Mika you make a good point - as does Charles. But, trying to reason with Cedr4 is a waste of time. He will just drag you into the muck.

One poster suggested a long time ago to just scroll past Cedr4 ignoring his twisted demeaning rants. I have followed that advice for months now. Cedr4 is not worth wasting words on.

11/01/2005 09:58:00 PM  
Blogger desert rat said...

Mr Theo van Gogh was murdered a year ago in Holland, today. His throat sliced and lifes blood spilled on the streets of Amsterdam.
At WSK Online there is an article by FRANCIS FUKUYAMA that offers a bit different insight then we usually see here.

"...We profoundly misunderstand contemporary Islamist ideology when we see it as an assertion of traditional Muslim values or culture. In a traditional Muslim country, your religious identity is not a matter of choice; you receive it, along with your social status, customs and habits, even your future marriage partner, from your social environment. In such a society there is no confusion as to who you are, since your identity is given to you and sanctioned by all of the society's institutions, from the family to the mosque to the state.
The same is not true for a Muslim who lives as an immigrant in a suburb of Amsterdam or Paris. All of a sudden, your identity is up for grabs; you have seemingly infinite choices in deciding how far you want to try to integrate into the surrounding, non-Muslim society. In his book "Globalized Islam" (2004), the French scholar Olivier Roy argues persuasively that contemporary radicalism is precisely the product of the "deterritorialization" of Islam, which strips Muslim identity of all of the social supports it receives in a traditional Muslim society.

The identity problem is particularly severe for second- and third-generation children of immigrants. They grow up outside the traditional culture of their parents, but unlike most newcomers to the United States, few feel truly accepted by the surrounding society. ..."

"... someone like Osama bin Laden appears, offering young converts a universalistic, pure version of Islam that has been stripped of its local saints, customs and traditions. Radical Islamism tells them exactly who they are--respected members of a global Muslim umma to which they can belong despite their lives in lands of unbelief. Religion is no longer supported, as in a true Muslim society, through conformity to a host of external social customs and observances; rather it is more a question of inward belief. Hence Mr. Roy's comparison of modern Islamism to the Protestant Reformation, which similarly turned religion inward and stripped it of its external rituals and social supports. ..."

11/02/2005 05:40:00 AM  
Blogger RWE said...

Interesting article by Francis Fukuyama in Opinionjournal.
It begins:
"One year ago today, the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh had his throat ritually slit by Mohamed Bouyeri, a Muslim born in Holland who spoke fluent Dutch. This event has totally transformed Dutch politics, leading to stepped-up police controls that have now virtually shut off new immigration there."
So the Dutch basically shut down immigration due to the death of one man while in the U.S. we lost 3000 on 9/11/01 and have yet to do anything like that?

11/02/2005 05:53:00 AM  
Blogger RWE said...

Desert Rat: Wretchard - and I for that matter - have pointed out that the Islamic terrorist attacks in the West have been pinted more at western muslims than anyone else. They were an attempt to bring muslims that had "escaped" back into the fold by demonstrating the power of Bin Laden and his associates.
Wretchard has further pointed out that this was engendered by the internal weaknesses of western liberalism, which the Islamic Fascists saw not as a huge, unstoppable and vastly superior civilization but as a loose collection of indolent narcissists just waiting for a good push to send them smashing to the ground.
Fukuyama seems to agree with all this (Wretchard should be justifiably proud), but further asserts that it was the modern multicultural mania (MMM) of western civilization - especially in Europe - that created their home grown terrorists.
But does Fukuyama assert that it was this MMM that led to international terrorism expanding out of the Middle East?
Not clear to me - but something to think about.

11/02/2005 06:10:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

Those Dutch are so reactionary, rwe. You can't expect US to even defend our frontiers, let alone deveop SOME KIND of rational Immigration policy.
We do not even enforce the existing Laws, let alone enact new or better ones.
Instead we have developed an underclass where it did not exist 20 years ago. People that live amongst US but are as afraid of the Government as they are of Criminals. Where spousal abuse is unreported, where unemployment is unrecorded and benefits nonexistant. Go by the inersection of Bell & Cave Creek Rds, in Phoenix, there are at least 100 infiltrators concregating on the corner. Each committing a Federal felony by their mere presence in the US.
A Federal Government that cannot defend the National Border is an inept Government, no matter who is the President.
Performance, or lack there of, counts.

11/02/2005 06:13:00 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Ledger,

Oh, I donno. Where would Wretchard's post count be without Cedarfart's baiting. And as long as Cedarfart is busy here, he's not busy blowing up synagogues.




Charles,

Syrian Bigwigs and Capital Flee under Implied Threat of Military Action

Faced with this torrent of menacing language, Bashar Assad’s close associates have already decided that escape is the better part of valor. Influential Syrian VIPs appear to have read the UN resolution carefully last week and are absconding. DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources reveal large cash withdrawals from Syrian banks, currency conversions and transfers to banks outside the country.

The flight of money was accompanied by an exodus of some of the leading families of Damascus – anxious to beat “the ban on travel and assets freeze” mandated by the UN resolution for suspects in the Hariri murder plot.

The largest capital transfer – estimated at $6-7bn – was made by the tycoon Rami Makhlouf who lost no time in removing himself, business and family from Damascus to Dubai.

.
.
DEBKAfile Special Report November 1, 2005

11/02/2005 06:39:00 AM  
Blogger RWE said...

Desert Rat: I guess that the 9/11/01 attacks came from external sources while the Van Goh murder was home grown explains the different approaches of the two countries.
We have made visitation by people like those who did the 9/11/01 attacks more difficult.
Fukuyama seems to say that the U.S. regards Islamic Terrorism as an external threat while Europe has come to regard it as primarily a home grown threat - and that both views are correct. Can't argue with that.
But he says that fixing the problem in the Middle East will not fix the problem in Europe. Not sure I agree. Seeing their wonderful "home" culture become more Western-like has got to take some of the vigor out of the "Angry Islamic youth" of Europe rather than encourage them.
Nazis were never popular in the U.S., but they got even scarcer after the Third Reich was buried and today are regarded as sick, sad clowns and baffoons at best.

11/02/2005 06:45:00 AM  
Blogger exhelodrvr1 said...

I wonder if the the anti-Muslim reaction in Holland forced the hand of the government. There was virtually no anti-Muslim activity in the U.S. following 9/11, while there was quite a bit in Holland following van Gogh's murder. The government probably feared (rightly) that they had better do something significant. I suspect that in the long run, the U.S. would have been better off if there had been more anti-Muslim activity following 9/11. And the Muslim community, in the long run, would also be better off, becuase it would have forced them to deal with their terrorist elements.

11/02/2005 07:49:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

Van Gogh was also a censorship issue in Holland, the murderer not enjoying the documentary about the plight of women under Mohammedan rules.
Could you imagine Mr Moore being beat senseless by a rabid Republican, I sure find the mental image of golf club wielding man dressed in Dockers and Polo shirt more humorous than disturbing. The near impossibility of it, here in Ameica. For Europeans random acts of Political and Religious violence are no longer so far fetched, with Mohammedans in Amsterdam, London or Madrid on the attack. The French recently dodged a bullet and the Germans hope for the best.

Perhaps the most liberal and open culture, US, which allows legal immigrants to assimulate into society is the best system.
Being an American is as much a state of mind as of birth, not so with Russia, England or France. Let alone Kuwait, Iran or Iraq.

No matter how long Mr Depp lives in the south of Gaul, no matter how well he masters the language, he will never become a Frenchman. The French will not allow it.

Sam Alito is a 2nd generation immigrant from Italy, nominated to our highest court. You would NEVER see such a thing outside US. The elitists would never allow an outsider in.

They stagnate, we progress.

11/02/2005 07:56:00 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Michael, Excellent post! Wretchard should repost it as one of his.

11/02/2005 08:26:00 AM  
Blogger didymus2000 said...

So Steyn and Wretchard are interested in the fate of Russia?

And particularly all those white Christian folks, as opposed to the Steynian "begins with Mu" Russians?

I could recommend some wonderful essays to read on that very subject, but, alas, they are written by Pat Buchanan.

Regrettably, Pat's writing is not on the approved reading list for Conservative multiculturalists.

For the sake of Western Civilization, we can be thankful that a thorough "idea laundering" by Steyn makes Pat's thoughts permissible in polite society.

The survival of Russia (let's stop pussy-footing around here, shall we? - "white Christian Russia") should be a much more important issue than it is.

I thank the Conservative multiculturalists for having the courage to pick up the banner, if ever so gingerly.

And, no, I don't burn crosses in my spare time, drag people behind pickup trucks, or splash paint on synagogues.

11/02/2005 09:54:00 AM  
Blogger diabeticfriendly said...

Z I O N was here!

kinda spooky...

hey c4, better look under your bed, those pesky zionists might be hiding there....

hey c4, did your wife leave you for a zionist? ya know, most zionists are quite handsome....

hey c4, since most "zionist" are liars, like you say can you really trust any of them? Start with Jesus, he was a ZIONIST...

11/02/2005 10:56:00 AM  
Blogger ledger said...

rogerlee: Serbs, though their methods were crude and their PR was terrible, were the first people of Christian Europe to truly understand the nature and scope of the threat that they now face, and the actions required for their survival.

That is an interesting point. Even after the military intervention the violence continues elsewhere.

11/02/2005 11:56:00 AM  
Blogger Charles said...

Michael McCanles said...


I truly wonder about another "Thirty Years War," which is what Gingrich in his Reformation comparison is really talking about.

////////////////
This year there's about 80 christian churches up for sale in Berlin alone. There simply isn't much christianity left in Europe today. I think this situation will turn around dramatically because the glory days of atheism from roughly the fall of the bastille to the fall of the berlin wall-- have passed.

However, reinvigorating christianity in Europe will be no mean feat. Luther began the process in 1517 in worms. The high water mark for the moslems in central Europe was 1532 when they laid seige to Vienna. The spanish had already completed their eviction of the moors by then. The Ventians and spanish would defeat the turks in a big sea battle at Lepanto 1571. Here's a pretty complete list of battles from the period

11/02/2005 12:26:00 PM  
Blogger desert rat said...

As of now "they" have no military.
There may be some armed gangs, but no more a military then the Hells Angels. Trained paramilitary at best. Police work, mostly.
The real battle is almost totally intellectual. Freedom, Liberty, Self Determination along with the Rights of Man. Those ideas WILL win converts. Political transformation, political power growing from the will of the people, backed by US, sending Lawyers, Guns & Money, as needed

Away from mullahs and imams and towards a consumption society of cell phones, McDonalds, MTV and Kill Bill.
What's not to like?

11/02/2005 12:33:00 PM  
Blogger Charles said...

rogerlee said...
I have to disagree with Newt Gingrich that the Long war will be 90% intellectual.
//////////////
well it should be understood by this board that one outcome of this long war will be that all the moslems will be kicked out of europe.

It should be further understood by everyone here that every means needs be made to insure that the moslems kicked out of europe return to the lands from which they came ie north africa and the middle east and east asia.

It should further be understood by everyone on this board that if these pissed off moslems come to the USA they'll find the USA crowded with mortal enemies ie christians and jews. They will make every effort to murder the USA.

Not to worry. God is not just merciful and Just. He has a sense of humor.

While the Moslems have grossely overplayed their hand on many levels--one of the consequences of the their efforts is the speed up of work on energy and desalination. The people working in hydrogen production and storage are just going to collapse the cost structure of the hydrogen economy in the next five years. Five years after that the cost structure for water desalination will follow a simliar path and the way will be paved to turn all the world's deserts green.

When the moslems are kicked out of europe they'll return to lands where cheap water from pipelines will be snaking inland from the coast all over the place.

Same thing will be true in the USA southwest Mexico and Australia. Similiar technology will kill water borne diseases in southeast asia.

11/02/2005 02:18:00 PM  
Blogger Charles said...

Charles said...
rogerlee said...
I have to disagree with Newt Gingrich that the Long war will be 90% intellectual.
//////////////
Here is a second arguement for the world entering a period similiar to the early 1500's. The kind of fundamental cosmological work going on today is as fundamental as was the work Kepler the late 1400's and early 1500's.

By DINESH RAMDE, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 23 minutes ago

Astronomers may have detected the dawn's early light — light from around the dawn of the universe, that is.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051102/ap_on_sc/early_stars

//////////////////////
Oh and I just saw this
Several days of Muslim Riots in Denmark (Not only in France)
Jyllands Posten ^ | Offentliggjort 31. oktober 2005 03:00 | Af ERIK THOMLE
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1513137/posts

11/02/2005 02:35:00 PM  
Blogger desert rat said...

the FRANCIS FUKUYAMA link that both rwe and I linked to this morning, 5:20am, describes just what is being discussed by C4. It is the "Westernizing" that radicalizes. The further we progress with our Agenda, the more radical will be the Opposition.
They may be, as in Iraq, a minority of the popuation, but their behaviour will grow ever more radical. Directly caused by our winning the Battle of Ideas.
As they say, it is darkest right before the dawn.

11/02/2005 04:33:00 PM  
Blogger desert rat said...

and, don't forget, traitors!

11/02/2005 05:00:00 PM  
Blogger John Aristides said...

Sirius, Rat, I analyzed that problem, here.

Westernization is a particular manifestation of the underlying cause of radicalization. More precisely, the cause is consciousness, or a heightened awareness, of place and status in the global arena.

(P.S. I have started posting the longer answers to questions that begin here on my own site, as a courtesy to Wretchard and the clubbers.)

11/02/2005 06:22:00 PM  
Blogger sam said...

The Butcher of Basra:

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Ali Ibrahim Al-Tikriti, a southern regional commander for Saddam's Fedayheen in the mid-to-late 1980's. Due to his ruthlessness in heading the brutal campaign to terrorize the population, he was known as the “Butcher of Basra.”

FP: Mr. Ibrahim, welcome to Frontpage Interview.

Ibrahim: Thank you Mr. Glazov for providing me the opportunity. I am very grateful for the opportunity to speak freely to the press unlike under Saddam's regime.

FP: Tell us about your background.

Ibrahim: I was born in Saddam's town of Tikrit in 1942. I worked within Saddam's inner circle shortly after his takeover of power in 1979 and participated in the Ba'ath revolution in 1963.

FP: Can you describe the Ba-ath revolution of 1963?

Ibrahim: During the revolution I played a 'strong man' approach. Saddam always admired the tactics of Joseph Stalin and he was my regional leader.

The Butcher

11/02/2005 06:44:00 PM  
Blogger ledger said...

Sirius_sir: It seems to me that one source of their current hatred is an understanding that they... have contributed nothing, to the modern world. This dearth of scientific and technological achievement informs their rejectionism. The irony of course is that their lives would be better and have meaning if they would only get with the program.

I agree with that one.

They ride on the coat tails of the West. They enjoy the West's petrodollars, use the West's technology, and in some cases have hoodwinked the West into fighting for them. Then they plot to destroy the West. I think it's a classic example of a clever enemy who plays a confidence game upon the West, slow bleeds it dry, and plans to finish it off at an opportune moment.

I should make clear my point to rogerlee. We helped them out of a trap that could have wiped them off the map in the Serbia/Bosnia area. Yet, even with that help they continue to attack us as they do with any unbeliever.

11/02/2005 07:12:00 PM  

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