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Home Front: Culture Wars
Can the West defeat the Islamist threat? Here are ten reasons why not
2006-09-10
David Selbourne

LET US SUPPOSE, for the sake of argument, that the war declared by al-Qaeda and other Islamists is under way. Let us further suppose that thousands of “terrorist” attacks carried out in Islam’s name during the past decades form part of this war; and that conflicts that have spread to 50 countries and more, taking the lives of millions — including in inter-Muslim blood-shedding — are the outcome of what Osama bin Laden has called “conducting jihad for the sake of Allah”.

If such war is under way, there are ten good reasons why, as things stand, Islam will not be defeated in it.

1) The first is the extent of political division in the non-Muslim world about what is afoot. Some reject outright that there is a war at all; others agree with the assertion by the US President that “the war we fight is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century”. Divided counsels have also dictated everything from “dialogue” to the use of nuclear weapons, and from reliance on “public diplomacy” to “taking out Islamic sites”, Mecca included. Adding to this incoherence has been the gulf between those bristling to take the fight to the “terrorist” and those who would impede such a fight, whether from domestic civil libertarian concerns or from rivalrous geopolitical calculation.

Continued at link; apparently baloney is still popular in Britain.
Posted by:Snolutch Shiting8268

#11  The question is not whether we will win. We will. The question is how many Mooselimbs we'll have to kill to win. I'd say the over/under is 1 million, but that's really up to them.

Many more I would say because the Muslim supremacists will not have it any other way.
Our Darkening Sky: Iran and the War
Posted by: SR-71   2006-09-10 23:26  

#10  "I'd say the over/under is 1 million, but that's really up to them."

Six hundred million by 2020. That's my O/U.

Posted by: Dave D.   2006-09-10 23:15  

#9  
#8, fine post. If you "turn the table around" it's hard to imagine that things look very bright from the jihadist point of view. The jihadi survivors of Operation Phantom Fury can't have gone home and delivered glowing reports of their battlefield experiences, at least not with a straight face.

"Back from the glorious struggle, Achmed? Where's Mahmoud? Where's Abdullah?"

"Little brother, it took me a week to comb Mahmoud and Abdullah out of my beard."
Posted by: Matt   2006-09-10 21:09  

#8  #2I don't know. Selbourne may be consumed by his verbal flatulence, but does anyone still feel as though we're winning this war? I used to, but I'm not sure I do anymore.

"Â…I received orders to move against Colonel Thomas Harris, who was said to be encamped at the town of Florida, some twenty-five miles south of were we then wereÂ…Harris had been encamped in a creek bottom for the sake of being near water. The hills on either side of the creek extended to a considerable height, possibly more than a hundred feet. As we approached the brow of the hill from which was expected we could see HarrisÂ’ camp, and possibly find his men ready formed to meet us, my heart kept getting higher and higher until it felt to me as though it was in my throat. I would have given anything then to have been back in Illinois, but I had not the moral courage to halt and consider what to do; I kept right on. When we reached a point from which the valley below was in full view I halted. The place where Harris had been encamped a few days before was still there and the marks of recent encampment were plainly visible, but the troops were gone. My heart resumed its place. It occurred to me at once that Harris had been as much afraid of me as I had been of him. This was a view of the question I had never taken before; but it was one I never forgot afterwards. From that event to the close of the war, I never experienced trepidation upon confronting an enemy, though I always felt more or less anxiety. I never forgot that he had as much reason to fear my forces as I had his. I never forgot that lesson." Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant
Posted by: Hupereck Ebbish7621   2006-09-10 20:48  

#7  The question is not whether we will win. We will. The question is how many Mooselimbs we'll have to kill to win. I'd say the over/under is 1 million, but that's really up to them.
Posted by: Matt   2006-09-10 19:55  

#6  Selbourne mistakes the fecklessness of the elites with the totality of Western civilization.
Posted by: Rob Crawford   2006-09-10 19:46  

#5  From the article...
10) Finally, the West is convinced that its notions of technology-driven modernity and market-driven prog- ress are innately superior to the ideals of “backward” Islam. This is an old delusion. In 1899, Winston Churchill asserted that there was “no stronger retrograde force in the world” than Islam. More than a century later, it is fondly believed that sophisticated hardware and Star Wars defences will ensure Western mastery in this war, if it is a war.

Well Mr Selbourne, I have become utterly convinced that a lot of people know exactly what Islam is about, and those in power are trying to give it that final chance to be something that the West can co-exist with. To that end, modernity and progress are probably the best tools that can be used at the present time.

If that fails, there is no need for 'Star Wars defences', as there are a shedload of weapons in the Enduring Stockpile.
Posted by: Tony (UK)   2006-09-10 19:26  

#4  I don't agree with his conclusion that the West will lose, or is likely to lose the war ( and yes, Mr. Selbourne, it is a war). Having said that, the guy makes a good many points that many fine posters here at RB have made over the years.

I would have preferred if Selbourne entitled his work: "why it's gonna be damn hard to win the war on jihad".
Posted by: Mark Z   2006-09-10 19:08  

#3  Well thought out & well written.
I tell you naught for your comfort,
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher
Posted by: gromgoru   2006-09-10 19:02  

#2  I don't know. Selbourne may be consumed by his verbal flatulence, but does anyone still feel as though we're winning this war? I used to, but I'm not sure I do anymore.
Posted by: Infidel Bob   2006-09-10 18:59  

#1  @ssholes like David Selbourne need to live in a Muslim majority nation for a few years in order to cure this sort of self-hatred and correctly resettle it upon a more appropriate target.
Posted by: Zenster   2006-09-10 18:46  

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