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| Terror Networks |
| Thomas Sowell: Point of no return? |
| 2006-08-22 |
| It is hard to think of a time when a nation -- and a whole civilization -- has drifted more futilely toward a bigger catastrophe than that looming over the United States and western civilization today. Nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran and North Korea mean that it is only a matter of time before there are nuclear weapons in the hands of international terrorist organizations. North Korea needs money and Iran has brazenly stated its aim as the destruction of Israel -- and both its actions and its rhetoric suggest aims that extend even beyond a second Holocaust. Send not to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee. This is not just another in the long history of military threats. The Soviet Union, despite its massive nuclear arsenal, could be deterred by our own nuclear arsenal. But suicide bombers cannot be deterred. Fanatics filled with hate cannot be either deterred or bought off, whether Hezbollah, Hamas or the government of Iran. The endlessly futile efforts to bring peace to the Middle East with concessions fundamentally misconceive what forces are at work. Hate and humiliation are key forces that cannot be bought off by "trading land for peace," by a "Palestinian homeland" or by other such concessions that might have worked in other times and places. Humiliation and hate go together. Why humiliation? Because a once-proud, dynamic culture in the forefront of world civilizations, and still carrying a message of their own superiority to "infidels" today, is painfully visible to the whole world as a poverty-stricken and backward region, lagging far behind in virtually every field of human endeavor. There is no way that they can catch up in a hundred years, even if the rest of the world stands still. And they are not going to wait a hundred years to vent their resentments and frustrations at the humiliating position in which they find themselves. Israel's very existence as a modern, prosperous western nation in their midst is a daily slap across the face. Nothing is easier for demagogues than to blame Israel, the United States, or western civilization in general for their own lagging position. Hitler was able to rouse similar resentments and fanaticism in Germany under conditions not nearly as dire as those in most Middle East countries today. The proof of similar demagogic success in the Middle East is all around. What kind of people provide a market for videotaped beheadings of innocent hostages? What kind of people would throw an old man in a wheelchair off a cruise liner into the sea, simply because he was Jewish? What kind of people would fly planes into buildings to vent their hate at the cost of their own lives? These are the kinds of people we are talking about getting nuclear weapons. And what of ourselves? Do we understand that the world will never be the same after hate-filled fanatics gain the ability to wipe whole American cities off the face of the earth? Do we still imagine that they can be bought off, as Israel was urged to buy them off with "land for peace" -- a peace that has proved to be wholly illusory? Even ruthless conquerors of the past, from Genghis Khan to Adolf Hitler, wanted some tangible gains for themselves or their nations -- land, wealth, dominion. What Middle East fanatics want is the destruction and humiliation of the west. Their treatment of hostages, some of whom have been humanitarians serving the people of the Middle East, shows that what the terrorists want is to inflict the maximum pain and psychic anguish on their victims before killing them. Once these fanatics have nuclear weapons, those victims can include you, your children and your children's children. The terrorists need not start out by wiping our cities off the map. Chances are they would first want to force us to humiliate ourselves in whatever ways their sadistic imaginations could conceive, out of fear of their nuclear weapons. After we, or our children and grandchildren, find ourselves living at the mercy of people with no mercy, what will future generations think of us, that we let this happen because we wanted to placate "world opinion" by not acting "unilaterally"? We are fast approaching the point of no return. |
| Posted by:Shung Phinetle2153 |
| #8 What Middle East fanatics want is the destruction and humiliation of the west. Bravo - that's a point that seems to escape so many. If the stakes weren't so high- I'd find it amusing the way the liberals attempt to help them by repeating their lies on lebanon, palestine, Iraq, Iran etc. It's all about oil, Israel, poverty, etc. But then the fanatics just humiliate the liberals by showing how little they care for their "help". They don't need the liberals help. They hate the liberals and intend to kill them. If they want to act like dhimmis - the fanatics will let them - but the liberals should understand that to the fanatics liberals are just dirty little infidels whose help they do not need or want. |
| Posted by: 2b 2006-08-22 23:37 |
| #7 The real, simple fact is that the MMs and the Islamofascists simply have no understanding of the world they are creating IMO. Despite the bleatings on many sides I am convinced that Western Civilization will not fall. But Western Civilization will not be the same after it does what it must to survive. The "edge" will be harder, harsher, more inclined to slap down anything that might be considered "upstart" or "against the norm". That's not necessarily a bad thing. In order to progress, in order to bolster Western Civilization against the Barbarian Hordes that constantly pound on its gates, and in order to become prepared to confront anyone else out there" we might potentially meet one day, we must get hard, we must get bitter and callous, and we must stop acting out our fantasies that everyone "can just get along". The fact is, some folks just can't "just get along". The fact is, some folks just need killin'. A long time ago in a long-lost couple of novels, a couple of authors said (paraphrased), "First, we must become wolves. That means leaving behind our monkey ways, climbing down outta' the trees, and learning how to deal harshly with a universe that doesn't give a rip whether we live or die as a species. That means there are three basic rules we need to follow. Those rules are," "Rule 1 - Alien species (or civilizations) that we might encounter (now or) in the future are going to be the most powerful, most intelligent, most ruthless, most successful (civilizations) species (in) on their home (countries) worlds." "Rule 2 - The survival of their (civilizations) species will be more important to them than the survival of our (civilizations) species is." "Rule 3 - They will assume that Rules 1 and 2 apply to us (our civilizations/species) as well." The fact is that in this war we simply have no other choice - we win or they do. If they do, we lose. Simple choices really. Survival as a culture, civilization, and species - or complete annihilation. The end result is going to be a cold, hard, determined civilizations which will have left all kinds of moral equivalency and garbage in its wake and which will have earned a chance to look outwards towards the rest of the universe. And I pity anyone lesser than that civilization that we run across... |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2006-08-22 20:19 |
| #6 In case I don't get the chance to say it before the mushroom cloud rises over one of the world's kafir cities (thank you self-righteous head-up-your-ass proponents of appeasement and moral/social equivalence (yes, I'm talking the Democratic Party, Euroweenies, and ACLU)), bye-bye Boston, later London, adios Atlanta, hasta Austin, c'est la vie gay Paris, it's been real Rio, toodles Toledo, Cioa Moscow. |
| Posted by: Hyper 2006-08-22 13:31 |
| #5 "Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollahs need to die before the end of September." Why before the end of September? Just curious. |
| Posted by: Texas Redneck 2006-08-22 13:31 |
| #4 Afterthought: the inter-generational threat is on the minds of our leaders. They will act soon. And they won't be dropping concrete-bombs. Who remembers the Reagan era public diplomacy. Millions watched the government financed TV show, "Let Poland Be Poland." Tens of millions around the world, received copies of the slick government publication, "Soviet Military Power." The public needs more than sketchy CNN fluff on Iran. Sorry, President Bush, but nobody will ever refer to you as "The Great Communicator." You need to de-retire the Reagan' publicists, and let them profile the enemy. Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollahs need to die before the end of September. |
| Posted by: Snease Shaiting3550 2006-08-22 11:37 |
| #3 Containment/evolution should work with the NKs. Iran is another matter. The genocide statements by Ahmadinejad has served the West a pretext to force regime change in Iran. |
| Posted by: Snease Shaiting3550 2006-08-22 11:27 |
| #2 No. The problem is that we don't need the warning of the canary, and those that do are not listening to him |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-08-22 09:21 |
| #1 Sowell is spot on, as usual. Problem is, he's just one canary in the coal mine. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-08-22 08:51 |