May 12, 2004
A grim but salutary service...
Andrew Sullivan writes:
...In fact, of course, the Berg beheading does a grim but salutary service. In the midst of our own deserved self-criticism, we are suddenly reminded of the larger stakes, the wider war, why we are in Iraq in the first place. Most Americans do not in any way excuse Abu Ghraib, but also see that any sort of moral equivalence between our flawed democracy and Islamism's pathological hatred is obscene. In a purely strategic sense, stiffening American resolve and inflaming American outrage at this juncture is exactly what a smart al Qaeda would avoid. But there is no such thing as a smart al Qaeda. Evil can sometimes be stupid, and often is. Hitler, remember, invaded the Soviet Union...I bet there are more than a few people right now saying, "What's the matter with those guys? Don't they know there's a War going on? A Global War Against Bush?"
We are also reminded that part of what we are fighting in Iraq is Al Qaeda! Remember all that "Bush Lied" crap? And "Iraq is a sideshow--a distraction from the fight against Al Qaeda?"
And the "Bush Lied" crowd really dodged a bullet when the Al Qaeda chemical weapon plot was stopped in Jordan. 20 tons of poison gas, including VX! Trucked from Syria. It's very that Syria has the advanced technical capacity to produce VX. So guess where it probably came from? Chew on it, you "Bush Lied" ninnies. You are lucky it didn't happen; 80,000 dead would be hard for our newsmedia to suppress, even though they are enlisted in your war, and not the War on Terror.
Update: I just heard on the radio some clips of Democrats referring to this as a cycle of violence! Get it? It's our sins that killed Mr Berg. Al Qaeda would not do bad things, if we weren't committing atrocities. That's the same thing they say about Israel. Hamas shreds men women and children with bombs full of nails, Israel kills a Hamas leader, and all the blobbo pundits and politicians start up the, "mumble gurble cycle-of-violence mumble mumble must-exercise-restraint grobble grobble ancient grievances mumble mumble..." Now these Democrats are saying the same crap about my country!
I got bad news for you, Senator Porkbottom. Al Qaeda are not enlistees in your Global War against Bush! They are not your allies. They will happily cut your throat when the opportunity occurs. And if they are "retaliating" in a cycle of violence, exactly what American evils were they forced to respond to when they cut Danny Pearl's throat? What sins did we commit, to bring on 9/11?
And bad news for Democrats. The American people are not going to buy your moral-equivalence-we-are-just-as-bad-as-they-are line. You said it about us and the Soviets, you say it about Israel, and now you are saying it about us and the terrorists. And it's always been a filthy lie. And come November, you're OUT. You're history!
>The American people are not going to buy [Democrats'] moral-equivalence/we're-as-bad-as-they-are line. You said it about us and the Soviets, you say it about Israel, and now you're saying it about us and the terrorists. And it's always been a filthy lie. And come November, you're OUT. You're history!
Much as I hope you're right, I think the U.S. has just about reached what's called the 'tipping point', where the total of the irrational, the perpetually immature, the terminally self-indulgent, the irredeemably lazy, the power-mad and the merely venal, exceeds the number of 'good' people in the country.
For those not familiar with the tipping-point concept, a great deal of research has been done as to what pushes a neighborhood--and by extension a city or country--over the edge from merely shabby to a cesspool of crime and vice. They've actually got it down to *percentages* of how many good role models are needed to keep things from tipping into what most of us would call disaster.
Here's a fun exercise for liberals: Who do you think is more likely to go into the military--an honest, idealistic, rule-following, family-loving guy, or a thieving, drug-dealing gangster-wannabe? Okay, now what percentage of each group go on to become *cops*? (Obviously only a small percentage of all cops are former military, but that's not the question.)
(Stay with me, here--we're about to get to the payoff:) Now: When you encounter a cop, which type of person would you prefer to encounter? Which type are you more likely to find in a corrupt third-world country?
The point here is, if you libs/Dems keep voting for pols who disparage our troops by their words and legislative votes, don't be surprised if you get...wait for it...fewer people volunteering for the military. Thus, fewer great role models--and thus we edge a bit closer to the tipping point.
Posted by: sf at May 12, 2004 12:03 PM
