The fight between civilization and barbarism

Ben Stein writes in the American Spectator:

Here are a few little facts you might like to know:

When the Israelis capture Arabs in their wars, the captured Arabs are well fed, well housed, and eventually returned to their homes. When the Arabs (specifically the Syrians) have captured Israelis, they castrate them, cut off their male organs, decapitate the Israelis, and stuff their male organs in their mouths and leave the bodies on the field. Sometimes they also defecate on the bodies.

Israel has a population of about six million Jews. If a rocket hits a group of Israelis who are lying in the sun and kills 12 of them, that is the equivalent of the United States losing 600 men in one rocket attack. If nine Israeli civilians are killed in a rocket attack on a Haifa repair shop, that is the equivalent of the USA losing 540 civilians in one swoop.

Hezbollah is basically an arm of the Iranian army. Iran has a population of close to 70 million. Hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, are eager to join the fight against Eretz Israel. Even if by some miracle Israel wiped out every Hezbollah killer in Lebanon tomorrow, Iran could easily replace them forever. Resupplying the missilery is child's play: just buy it from China, our dear friends, who will sell it to anyone. This means Israel is in for an extremely prolonged, agonizing period of suffering.

Stein concludes his essay:

The line of the fight between civilization and barbarism runs right along the Israel-Lebanon non-border. If it's not won there, it won't be long until the front line is right here, and then it will be too late. When George Bush stands up for Israel, he stands up for the whole future of mankind. Yes, he has flaws and has made serious mistakes, but right now, he is a hero for the ages.

Go here and read the whole article.

A Letter to Jewish Republicans:

My good friend, Bobbi Leigh Zito, wrote this letter to Jewish Republicans. I am republishing it here.

Fellow Jewish Republicans:

Why in this day and age do 75% of Jews consistently vote the Democrat ticket?

Here is what we have to tell them.

George W. Bush is the best friend Israel has ever had.

According to a recent Gallup Poll, most Republicans strongly support Israel, while only a minority of Democrats do. Democrats believe we should be more “balanced” in our approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Should we have been more “balanced” in our relations with Germany during WWII? Should we look for the kinder, gentler, less anti-Semitic side of Iran as well?

Almost all the anti-Israel, anti-Semitic rhetoric is from the Left: Cindy Sheehan, A.N.S.W.E.R.[A project of the World Workers Party (Communist)], leftist students and professors at most universities, Dick Durbin, Jesse Jackson, Howard Dean, Jimmy Carter, The LA Times, Spike Lee, etc., etc. etc. The list is endless.

Jews and Jewish interests are the main target of the Islamofascists. The largest Jewish population lives in New York, the bulls eye for terrorism in this country. Democrats are weak on defense and weak on the War on Terror. They voted against the Patriot Act, are against NSA terrorist wiretapping, against terrorist profiling, against looking at the bank records of terrorists, in favor of giving terrorists "constitutional rights," even when they are not citizens of this country. They are weak on the security of our nation.

Democrats see the War on Terror as John Kerry so eloquently put it, as “a nuisance" or more of a police action than an actual war. They want to cut and run in Iraq. When you have a bulls eye on your back, and on the backs of your children, how can you support a political party that is soft on defense and weak on the War on Terror?

With tax cuts and a pro-business philosophy, the economy is booming under George W. Bush. An increase in taxes and an increase in the minimum wage, which is what would happen if the Dems get in power, would disproportionately hurt Jews who are often the owners of small businesses and/or professionals, and as employers of other people. That in turn would of course hurt the poor as well. When was the last time you heard of a poor person giving another poor person a job? So, if you want to help the poor, don’t try and destroy the “rich.” Not to mention Social Security. Do you think young Jewish professionals might benefit from the privatization of Social Security? How about those who are on the lower income scale? Do you think they might benefit from privatization Social Security? [If your answer to any of those questions is no, you are not informed. To get informed go here, here, and here.]

Affirmative action (where you pass over more qualified white people so that you can hire unqualified black people), supported by the Democrats, hurts Jews and Asians--the two highest functioning and most educated ethnic groups, more than anyone else. Education is a major concern of Jews. How many Jews are sending their children to public schools these days? Of course, Democrats are against school vouchers and totally control the teacher’s unions. As for higher education, Ann Coulter coined the term “American Madrassas” to describe college campuses.

Then there’s the holy sacrament of the Democrat Party: abortion. Well, to be totally craven in my answer, I would say this: in the unlikely event that the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, it would become a state issue. Most Jews live in very blue states like New York and California (those in Florida are a bit too old to be worried about abortion) and so, your reproductive “rights” would remain unchanged. And what about those cranky old Jews living in Florida? Despite what the Dems and the drive-by media will tell you, the Medicare prescription drug program has been a huge success.

And, finally, the anti-religious, secular fascism of the Left is truly frightening. First they came for the Evangelicals and we didn’t do anything, then they came for the Catholics and we didn’t do anything...who will be left when they come for the Jews?

Folks, it’s time to wake up and smell the matzoh. We must, must spread the word to our misguided Democrat Jewish friends and relatives—yes even the brother-in-law you can’t stand to be in the room with—no matter how painful, we have to start talking to our Democrat landsmen and convince them to vote Republican in November and beyond. The future of America depends upon it.

You know, when I was a kid my parents used to say, “Jewish at home, goyish outside.” So, let them call themselves Democrats if they insist, but the ballot is secret—just get them to vote Republican.

Bobbi Leigh Zito

Letter from Ari Fleischer to former President Carter

The following is a letter from Ari Fleischer to former President Jimmy Carter relating to Carter's interview with Der Spiegel:

August 21, 2006



The Honorable Jimmy Carter
The Carter Center
453 Freedom Parkway
Atlanta, Georgia 30307

Dear Mr. President:

I just read the transcript of your interview with the German magazine, Der Spiegel, in which you accuse Israel of launching an “unjustified attack on Lebanon.”

Even after the interviewer reminded you that Israel was the first to get attacked, you charged Israel with lacking “any legal or moral justification for their massive bombing of the entire nation of Lebanon.”

As someone who served in the White House as a spokesman for a President, I am reluctant to criticize another President, but in this instance my conscience compels me to do so.

Mr. President, your words are music to Hezbollah’s ears and your message is a blow to long-term peace.

Just as you underestimated the threat of the Soviet Union in the 1970s, you underestimate the threat of radical Islam today. Your condemnation of Israel, the victim, only encourages Hezbollah, the attacker, to bide its time and attack again.

Ahmed Barakat, a member of Hezbollah’s central council, last week told the Qatari newspaper as-Watan that “Today Arab and Muslim society is reasonably certain that the defeat of Israel is possible and that the countdown to the disappearance of the Zionist entity in the region has begun. The triumph of the resistance is the beginning of the death of the Israeli enemy.”

I was raised a Democrat but I changed parties in 1982 because I believed your policies and the nuclear freeze movement invited increased Soviet militarism and adventurism. President Reagan’s military build-up and credible threat of the use of force helped bring about the demise of Communism and brought freedom and a better life to hundreds of millions in Central and Eastern Europe. It also secured a lasting peace.

I’m sorry to see you articulate about Hezbollah and its aggression the same weak world-view that encouraged Soviet aggression. As Ronald Reagan showed us, peace through strength is the only formulation understood by those bent on destruction.

I understand your longing for peace and your fond hope that Hezbollah can be reasoned with. However, when you call Israel’s defense “an attack”, when you call what is justified “unjustified”, and when you call morality immoral, I conclude that the pro-defense, strong foreign policy lessons of the 70s and 80s remain unacceptable to you. Also, when you criticize Israel for targeting so-called “civilian” areas in Beirut and other areas where Hezbollah hides its operations, the result would be – if Israel listened to you – the creation of safe havens from which more violence and rocket attacks would be planned and launched.

Sadly, Hezbollah today is planning its next war. For the sake of peace, Israel deserves your praise, not your condemnation.

Sincerely,



L. Ari Fleischer

IDF to Israeli leaders - "Don't deny us victory"

The following is the text of a petition signed by IDF reservists who served in the Spearhead Brigade in Lebanon, sent to Defense Minister Amir Peretz and IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz in protest at the handling of the war by the government and senior military officials:

We, fighters and commanders at the Spearhead [Hod Hachanit] Brigade, were called up to enlist under an emergency mobilization order [Tzav 8] on July 30, 2006. Our attendance was complete in all battalions.

As we were signing on the battle equipment and weapons, we knew that we were signing for much more. We left behind wives and children, girlfriends and families. We put aside our jobs and livelihoods; we were prepared to carry out our mission under the most difficult of conditions, in heat, thirst or hunger.

At the back of his mind, each and every one of us knew, that for the just cause of protecting the citizens of Israel, we would even put our lives on the line.

But there was one thing we were not and would not be willing to accept: We were unwilling to accept indecisiveness. The war's aim, which was not defined clearly, was even changed in the course of the fighting.

The indecisiveness manifested itself in inaction, in not carrying out operational plans, and in canceling all the missions we were given during the fighting. This led to prolonged stays in hostile territory, without an operational purpose and out of unprofessional considerations, without seeking to engage in combat with the enemy.

The "cold feet" of the decision-makers were evident everywhere. To us the indecisiveness expressed deep disrespect for our willingness to join the ranks and fight and made us feel as though we had been spat on, since it contradicts the principles and values of warfare upon which we were trained at the Israel Defense Forces.

The heavy feeling that in the echelons above us there is nothing but under-preparation, insincerity, lack of foresight and inability to make rational decisions, leads to the question - were we called up for nothing?

We are now on the day after, and it seems that the immorality and the absence of any shame are the fig-leaves to be used in order to cover up for the blunders. The blunders of the past six years and the under-preparation of the army have been carried on our backs - the backs of the fighters. In order to face the next battle prepared - and this may happen soon - a thorough and fundamental change must take place.

The crisis of confidence between us as fighters and the higher echelons will not be resolved without a thorough and worthy investigative commission under the auspices of the state. When the commission completes its task, conclusions must be drawn both on the level of strategic planning and national security, and on the personal level of the parties involved.

We paid a heavy price in order to fight and come out of the battle victorious, and we feel this has been denied of us. We will all attend calls to enlist in the future for any mission we will be required to complete, but we would like to know that these missions will be part of a clear objective and will be carried out by striving to engage in combat.

As soldiers and citizens we expect a response at your earliest convenience,

We the undersigned

Fighters and officers of the Spearhead Brigade
Israel Defense Forces

Teaching children to choose death - not life

When you have a culture whose children are taught from birth that it is better in the afterlife than in this life, you create a people who do not value life, and who seek death as "martyrs."

This is the cruel manipulation of children. It is abusive to teach children to believe that they should prefer death over life.

Judeo-Christian societies are taught that God tells us to "Choose life."

Do you wonder what the future of these beautiful children could be, versus what it most certainly will be? Do you wonder about the health of a culture that will sacrifice its children in pursuit of world domination? How does such a sick culture with 7th Century ideology persist in the 21st Century? These are questions we all will have to address at some point.

Blunt Message to '08 Candidates

Writing in Townhall.com, Douglas MacKinnon says that the Lieberman loss in Connecticut, the attempted Al-Quaida plot to blow up airplanes, and other, so far foiled, terrorist plots should send a message to candidates intending to run for President in 2008. He writes:

For a number of people in the business of preventing terrorism, it says the 2008 presidential election has to be about electing the candidate most qualified to ensure the national security of our country. It says that ignorance is far from bliss, and potentially suicidal.

Having an indecisive or weak leader, as unfortunately Israel has today can be a disaster in a crisis. This article and this one are illustrative of the unwillingness of the Prime Minister of Israel to let the IDF(Israel Defense Forces) execute its plan to finish the war with Hezbollah in 10-14 days. He was more concerned about what the international community thought about Israel's actions than about what it took to succeed. As a result, Hezbollah and the other jihadists in the Middle East no longer consider the IDF to be invincible. This is sure to lead to other attempts to defeat Israel, which would not be the case if Israel had moved to an early ground war, as proposed by the IDF.

MacKinnon's article is worth reading. Another excerpt:

various discussions I've had with friends in the military and intelligence services, one point and worry keeps being repeated. Those in the business of protecting America, whether they agree with all of his policies or not, are grateful to have George W. Bush as president.

Their point in expressing such gratitude is that — like him or not — since Sept. 11, 2001, Bush has committed to hunting down and destroying cowardly terrorists who have not only hijacked a religion but, as we have seen in Lebanon, hijacked whole countries in the name of killing the innocent.

These members of the military and our intelligence services know that, in concert with a number of allies including the United Kingdom, Israel and a few Arab nations, the "Bush Doctrine" is to exterminate the threat before it can once again reach our shores.

While the ACLU and some politicians and members of the media on the left may strongly disagree with a number of the tactics employed, they get to live, thrive and complain under the very blanket of that critically important policy.

With the latest plot exposed to blow up these airliners, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) put out the predictable statement that, "We once again urge law enforcement authorities and elected officials to caution against stereotyping entire religious or ethnic groups based on the alleged actions of individuals."

It is not stereotyping if these growing threats continue to come from only one source — a minuscule, twisted segment of the Muslim community. It is a fact that law enforcement has to take into consideration.

With this obviously growing threat in mind, the worry of those entrusted to ensure our safety is this: What if the next president of the United States, for political or "moral" reasons, finds the tactics employed by Bush to be abhorrent or uncivilized.

What if the next president, because of his or her own beliefs, or the beliefs of supporters and others in the administration, deems it unseemly or illegal to hunt down and destroy those who mean to decimate our nation.

[...]

Republican or Democrat. Liberal or Conservative. Man or woman. The next president of the United States has to carry on the Bush doctrine against terrorism or all of us could pay an unimagined price.

I agree.

From Abroad: A California Republican in Israel

Larry Greenfield, the California Director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, is on a fact-finding trip in Israel. The following is his report, as published today on the FlashReport.
_______________________________________________


I asked a bright young Israel defense Forces military officer what he thought of the growing international condemnation of Israeli efforts to defend against relentless rocket attacks raining down on his country -- some 200 a day now, well over 5000 murderous assaults in a month from both Lebanon and Gaza.

Definition of Barbarism: Rockets filled with ball bearings meant to inflict widespread terror and the purposeful and indiscriminate maiming of men, women and children. 1 million Israelis have left their homes or hide in shelters day after day.

By the way, Israelis take in their brothers, and so you do not hear about their refugees, and many of the victims of Hezbollah rockets include Israeli Arab Christians and Moslems.

Also, visiting injured soldiers and civilians in Israeli hospitals reveals American-style top medical care--- both deeply compassionate and highly technologically advanced.

The USA initiated 2 Just Wars, thousands of miles away, in response to terrorism on our shores, and the threat of more terrorism, and I shared my belief (hope) that if even a few missiles harmed US citizens from across our borders, well, then, pity anyone in the path of our guaranteed complete annihilation of terrorists and their harborers or sponsors.

We spoke together about deterrence, and the notion that citizens are only safe if their leaders project and provide such overwhelming response to aggression that enemies choose not to start the fight.

He thoughtfully shared that although Israelis are unified and determined, and doing well against Hezbollah,and Hamas, if it were not for the USA, and the leadership of President Bush, Israelis themselves might begin to lose heart and feel vulnerably alone in the defensive war against radical Islam.

He then turned the question on me, though, and wondered and worried about both growing left-wing pacifism in the West as well as rising global anti- Semitism (assaults on Jewish communities from Austalia to Paris to Seattle).

Acknowledging his concerns, I agreed that Israel, western civilization, and the USA suffer now from moral relativism and deceit in our media, some university professors who have done more than village communists to promote socialism and pacifism, and occasional drunken bravado, or much worse, from the blame the Zionists crowd. We do need more Braveheart, and less anti-Semitism, that is for sure.

But, I added, do not be concerned. The American heartland, mostly Christian, understands that Israel, a loyal ally, is in the right, and is appreciated for never asking for direct US military intervention in her battles against terrorism. Israel and the US have each others backs, and both are sharing intelligence while battling shared enemies on different fronts.

So where do American Jews fit in, he wondered?

Recent polls of American citizens show a sharp distinction between Republicans and Democrats in support of Israel, both generally, and in its defensive efforts to debilitate Iranian supplied terrorist strongholds and preserve a sense of deterrence on both its Southern border with Gaza and its Northern border with Lebanon.

Recent reports in the LA Times, Miami Herald, and Washington Post among others indicate a continuing sea change in Jewish political identification, towards the GOP, among the Orthodox, those who care about Israel, and the young. One example: leftist campus activism is pushing Jews into the arms of College Republicans and other genuine supporters of rational comprehension of and action against Jihadists.

As World War III develops, Jews have certainly noticed pronounced Arabism in Europe, such as the craven governments who supplied and supported Saddam, a vicious anti-American and Anti-Semitic gang at the UN, and leftists like President Chavez in Venezuela who cozy up to an Iranian dictator who seeks to wipe Israel off the map and calls for Death to America.

By now, most honest Jewish observers have made up their minds about biased and leftist global mainstrea media, weak-kneed European socialists, and the depravity and barbarism of Islamic terrorists who violate all notions of human rights and the rules of warfare.

They also recognize that Republicans, far more than Democrats, applaud an Israel that warns civilians and does not target them, while battling Hezbollah and Hamas who purposefully target innocents.

Finally, Jews know that the Islamist suicide/homicide bomber whose backpack was filled with rat poison- laced explosives to cause maximum brain damage on the streets of Jerusalem has now morphed into a Terrorist Inc. warrior who is now backed by a coalition of terror states, and who seeks not just to kill Jews but to destroy the Jewish state. And the United States, too.

Unless soundly defeated, Iran and Syria will not stop until the West is economically, politically, and militarily challenged and injured far beyond what has been predicted.

What is left to learn by American Jews about the need to stand and defend, to grow up, and to leave behind decades of soft utopianianism and painfully wrongheaded policies that promoted, for example, dangerously doomed and naive negotiations with Yasir Arafat, the godfather of this modern terrorism?

What is left to say to American Jewish Democrats, who just saw their brightest light, US Senator and former national Vice Presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman, tossed out of his job by a neophyte preppie whose campaign slogans come from the anti- Israel far left?

Seven words, actually. Thank you America and thank you GOP.

Everywhere I have been in Israel, from the Southern front where Israelis continue to be hit by Islamic resistance fighters, to the Northern cities and towns under a constant barrage of rockets (imagine your town under missile attack hour after hour....) I heard the voices of confident unity about Israeli military capabitility and purpose and a shared dedication to standing up to existential assault.

I also clearly heard respect and admiration for an American President who rejected Arafat for good after the Karine A terrorist ship was caught red handed, and a resolute Republican Congress which consistently passes legislation supporting Israel (with many more Democrat dissents than Republican, the record reflects).

I further heard about US Ambassador John Bolton, who has repeatedly stood against the corrupt gangsters that make up the UN general assembly, and who has battled for Western values and interests with stunning dignity and dedication.

Mr. Bolton, by the way, has been harshly opposed by Jewish Senators Schumer, Boxer, Feinstein, Feingold, Wyden, et al. They will bare this shameful treatment of a hero of America and a hero of the Jewish people as the defining example of their ingratitude and moral decadence.

I finally and gratefully heard a growing admiration for American Christians, who have repeatedly had to overcome suspicious animosity for their honorable and sincere efforts to stand by Israel, according to their reading of scripture that (Gen. 12.3): I will Bless Those that Bless You, and Curse Those that Curse You. (It is deeply rewarding to see Jews begin to shed their wrong-headed beliefs that Christians are motivated by impure motives in this regard).

So, Israelis know what American Jews are, thankfully, finally understanding in increasing numbers.

Indeed, it is high time to stop voting for FDR (who applauded Neville Chamberlain's ignominious handshake with Hitler, by the way), and time to support the party of liberty.

Lincoln freed the slaves. Ronald Reagan taught us peace through strength, and promoted the rescue of Jews and Christians from behind the Iron Curtain. Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) has revealed the corruption and decadence of the United Nations. And President Bush and the GOP Congress today have continued the tradition of liberation and resolute response to massive evil.

One more note to ponder: Democrats who threaten to take over House Committees do not exactly inspire respect as friends of Israel or American leadership against tyranny and radical Islam.

The GOP case for Jewish support is clear and more and more American Jews are finally standing with the United States and Israel, and for defense against Jihad, by thanking America and moving to the GOP.

_____________________________________________

Larry Greenfield is the California Director of the Republican Jewish Coalition and a statewide Co-Chair of Californians for Schwarzenegger. He has served in the Armed Forces of the United States in Naval Intelligence Reserves. Please join with me in praying for Larry's safety as he continues on this dangerous trip.

The reason that Muslims hate Jews

One wonders why many Muslims grow up hating Jews. As this video shows, they are indoctrinated from the cradle to hate. To me, this is a form of child abuse.

What kind of civilized culture teaches their children to hate?

Missed opportunities are costly in the Middle East

The United States and Israel are making major mistakes in the Global War against Islamic jihadists. The mistakes will end up causing unnecessary deaths of both Israelis and Americans.

The United States should have recognized that Israel is on the frontline and is fighting Iran’s proxy in this War against Civilization, on behalf of the United States and the West, and it should have not only encouraged them to succeed, but should have put no restraints on them and should be providing what military and intelligence assistance they can.

Israel’s indecision and failure to act quickly and decisively in striking a death blow against Hizbollah will cost it. Israel has already lost the PR war, and if it ends the current fighting without having demolished Hizbollah and its armaments, it will appear to the Muslim world that the once fabled invincibility of the Israel Defense Forces is no longer.

This will undoubtedly provoke other attempts at attacking Israel.

As former Israeli Ambassador Yoram Ettinger expresses it,

"The more Israel appears unwilling – or unable – to obliterate Hizballah's capabilities, the more it advances Hizballah's regional posture, adrenalizing the veins of terrorist regimes, weakening pro-US Arab regimes such as Jordan and Kuwait, exacerbating Mideast instability, undermining Israel's and US' posture of deterrence, planting seeds for the next and more horrific war, and lessening US interest to expand strategic cooperation with Israel.

The more Israel distances itself from its defiant tradition, which has been forged by the 1948 Declaration - and War - of Independence (in face of US military embargo!),by the 1967 Six Day War (resisting US pressure and French military embargo) and by the 1981 bombing of Iraq's nuclear reactor (in spite of US, UN and European threats), the less committed are many of Israel's staunch allies on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue and in the Christian community.”

Ehud Olmert,unfortunately, is not the strong decisive leader that Israel needs at this time. His hesitation in striking Hizbollah with Israeli boots on the ground rather than an ineffective air campaign at the beginning of the conflict when he had the whole world on the side of Israel, was a significant opportunity lost.

If Israel does not disarm Hizbollah, and that is looking more and more likely, Hizbollah will be back with even more dangerous missiles, supplied by Syria, from Iran, and will cause even more serious damage to Israel and Israeli lives.

Israel is the proxy of the West in its fight against the barbarians of Islamic Jihad. This is really a fight between Western civilization of the 21st Century and the Islamic Jihadic civilization of the 7th Century.

Israel is restrained by the United States because the American administration did not want to disrupt the fledgling democracy in Lebanon. That is typical naivete of the West. The Lebanese Government is not a friend to the United States. Lebanon supports Hizbollah, and wants to destroy Israel. If Lebanon really wanted to disarm Hizbollah, it could have. The United States missed an opportunity to have Israel deal a death blow to Hizbollah.

Rather than calling for a multi-national force to separate an armed Hizbollah from Israel, France, and other European countries, as well as the United States, should be joining Israel in this fight to destroy the jihadists.

Rather than calling for a cease-fire, the Western countries should let Israel finish the job that needs to be done on their behalf.

This fight will come to the United States in one form or another, sooner or later. Better to have Israel do what damage it can in the Middle East now then face the damage that will come to the United States because of its failure to understand the mentality of the Islamic jihadists and the majority of Muslims in the Middle East.

The majority of Muslims in the world want the total destruction of the State of Israel, and many also want the destruction of the United States.

When will we realize that? How many more opportunities will we miss?

Dr. Yaron Brook, Executive Director of the Ayn Rand Institute, said it well.

"Israel must continue its war in Lebanon until it obliterates Hezbollah’s presence there. And the leaders of every civilized country should be urging Israel to do just that.

"Israel is Western civilization’s frontline in the war against Islamic totalitarianism, a religious ideology that seeks to subjugate the whole world to Islam.

"It is in the self-interest of every free or semi-free country in the world that Israel defeat Hezbollah, an Islamic terror group sponsored by the Islamic republic of Iran.

"The Islamic totalitarians will not be defeated until we in the West support Israel and gain the courage and the moral certitude to fight them without restraint."

When will we wake up and realize that we, here in the United States, are involved in war for our existence and for the existence of the entire civilized world?

The future of Iraq

I just had to post this from the Egyptian Sandmonkey:

A meeting on the future of Iraq was held in Cairo, at the Institute of Strategic and Futuristic studies. There was a representitive there from every Iraqi political faction: Maliki people, Allawi people, Talbani people, Sistani people, you name it.

The Sistani and Sadr representitives were sitting side by side, both dressed in their Shia cleric Batman outfits, and when it was their turn to speak, they opted both to have one of them speak a unified position. This is what they said:

"A lot of you have expressed concern over the Future of Iraq. We would like to announce that despite everything, we are not worried at all about the future of Iraq. This is because the Mahdi is bound to re-appear very soon and save us all from all that is happening. As we speak, he is sitting in his cave, with milk on his left, and honey on his right!"


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Ever get the feeling that the world is run by utterly insane people?

We are going to have to deal with this kind of reasoning in our ongoing battle with Islamic jihadists. In other words, there is no rational discussion that will win them over, only force.

NO Cease-fire Until Hezbollah Is Obliterated

Echoing numerous world leaders, Pope Benedict has called for an immediate cease-fire in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, asking both to “immediately put down their arms.”

"But that’s the last thing Israel should do," said Dr. Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute.

"Israel must continue its war in Lebanon until it obliterates Hezbollah’s presence there. And the leaders of every civilized country should be urging Israel to do just that.

"Israel is Western civilization’s frontline in the war against Islamic totalitarianism, a religious ideology that seeks to subjugate the whole world to Islam.

"It is in the self-interest of every free or semi-free country in the world that Israel defeat Hezbollah, an Islamic terror group sponsored by the Islamic republic of Iran.

"The Islamic totalitarians will not be defeated until we in the West support Israel and gain the courage and the moral certitude to fight them without restraint."

The Spirit of Appeasement - Avi Davis

Nobel Laureate Alexander Solzyhentisyn, in his acceptance speech before the Nobel Prize Committee in 1970, declared that the 20th Century had been one long record of appeasement by the West in favor of totalitarianism. "The spirit of Munich is not a thing of the past," he stated sardonically, "...it is predominant in the 20th Century. The entire civilized world trembles as snarling barbarism suddenly re-emerges and moves into the attack. And the West finds that it has nothing to fight with but smiles and concessions."

During the half hour on the morning of July 13, when Katyusha rockets slammed into the northern Israeli town of Safed, those words took on a profound meaning for me. The news hit hard, since two of the Hizbullah-launched rockets landed within 400 yards of my Israeli home in the center of Safed's Old City. But beyond my personal anguish, I became aware of an implacable reality. In the 58 years since the War of Independence, Safed had not experienced a single terrorist incident, let alone a major rocket attack. Violence, of the type experienced in other parts of the country, had never been a feature of life in the town. But the explosion of seven Katyushas in the same hour, resulting in one death and 30 injuries, swept the once-tranquil mountain village, suddenly and traumatically, into the turbulence of the 21st Century and the worldwide struggle between freedom and Islamo-fascism.

No one should have been surprised. In the six years since Israel's retreat from the fourteen-mile security zone in southern Lebanon, Hizbullah, Iran's Lebanese proxy, had created an arsenal of nearly 13,000 missiles poised against Israel's northern towns. Anyone who had visited Israel's border with Lebanon and witnessed the garish, provocative displays of yellow flags, posters, fortifications and abundant weaponry, in places only 50 feet distant, knew that it would be just a matter of time before Hizbullah's juggernaut of destruction would be unleashed against the north.

The Hizbullah terrorists who launched those rockets were, of course, not measuring their place in history. They were capitalizing on what they perceived to be instability, weakness and distraction among Israeli leaders. The kidnapping in Gaza and subsequent Israeli retaliation offered a convenient feint and opportunity to instill a realization in exasperated Israelis that the Arab wars against Israel did not end in 1973, 1993 or with the collapse of the second Palestinian intifada. Those wars continue and will continue as long as Israel exists.

That is the sad message delivered by the Katyushas that battered Safed that Thursday morning. For no matter what Israel does - whether it be the signing of peace treaties, withdrawal from disputed territory, the securing of United Nations guarantees of its borders or the policing by international peacekeepers - nothing will stem the tide of hatred and revulsion in the Arab and Muslim world against the Jewish state. Arab revanche, it must finally be understood, cannot be answered with either appeasement or accommodation; it can only be met with crushing force.

It is this reality that has yet to sink into the mindset of both Israeli and American leaders . Having been burned by the conclusive failure of the Oslo peace process, Ehud Barak, six years ago, piled tragedy upon mistake. He ordered an evacuation from the Lebanon security zone, abandoning the IDF's loyal allies - the Christian-dominated South Lebanese Army - without so much as a whisper of assurance by the Lebanese government of calm on its southern border. While witnessing the build up of the Hizbullah and Hamas arsenals over five years, Barak's successor, Ariel Sharon, made the second calamitous mistake of withdrawing from Gaza, mandating the destruction of flourishing Jewish communities only to behold, within days, the transformation of the settlements' ruins into launching pads for Kassam missiles aimed directly at southern Israeli population centers.

The foolhardy tide of concessions has not yet abated. As Israel reels under attacks on two fronts, the present prime minister, Ehud Olmert, continues to hew to his unfocused policy of unilateral withdrawal, by calling for even further territorial concessions, proposing to abandon dozens of West Bank communities in an attempt to create permanent borders for the State of Israel. That those borders would prove indefensible does not seem to trouble him. But the war in which Israel is now engaged is simple proof that walls, fences, unilateral disengagements or even bilateral agreements are no protection against sophisticated weaponry in the hands of terrorists who have little respect for, or interest in, the maintenance of the status quo.

With the incontrovertible confirmation of the folly of such an approach, a pitiless reality must now surely be settling in - withdrawal and territorial concession will never be interpreted in the Arab world as anything but weakness, retreat and surrender. It is a certain invitation to war and a guarantee of unending violence and strife.

The era of smiles and concessions must be brought to an end. The answer to terrorist kidnappings and rocket launchings can only be overwhelming, devastating military force - a message that must be understood not just in the terrorist strongholds, but in the faraway capitals where their sponsors hatch, plan and finance their proxies' next battles. [emphasis added]


Avi Davis is an adjunct fellow of the Foundation for the Defence of Democracies, a Washington, D.C.-based policy institute