March 24, 2004

“…Bring It On…”

 

          -John F. Kerry

 

 

To All,

      The Liberal Senator from Massachusetts should perhaps be careful what he wishes for:

 

To Make An Omelet…:

     With the successful targeting of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual head of the terrorist organization Hamas, many of the assumptions that are the basis of the Liberal World View are about to be sorely tested. With luck, they will be debunked.

 

     Most importantly, the primary issue is one of self-defense. In Sheik Yassin and the Boyos of Hamas, the Israelis and the West can find no accommodation for either the short or long haul. Of the two main paths of Islam that Westerners have come to identify, Yassin belonged to the “…kill all the infidels…” side of the masjid. Such a theology as his has no room for the more peaceful outlook that calls for the struggle to be against those unacceptable aspects within the heart and mind of each believer. As such, Sheik Yassin had always rejected the notion of any Israeli state encompassing biblical territories, no matter how small, or inconsequential, nor even with U.N. imprimatur. What is more, his followers wage the kind of low intensity warfare that allows their inability to organize much beyond the tribal level to survive contact with an opponent fully capable of handling its neighbors on the modern battlefield. Without drawing Hamas and the other terrorist groups out to engage in more intense operational tempos, the terrorist groups can continue to attack on their own schedule. This, of course, does not bode well for the Israelis being able to successfully defend their own families, homes, or otherwise bring an end to strife one way or another. As such, it is unacceptable.

 

    Israel, in addition, faces the dilemma that too few modern states really believe in the principles of self-defense, whether at the individual or national level, when it conflicts with their own interests. Also compounding the problem is a U.N. that would disarm the world’s residents, while preserving all the advantages of modern armaments to those elites bent on graft and oligarchy. In fact, it takes our U.S. President in the post-9/11 environment (or perhaps an Australian Prime Minister in the post-Bali environment, for that matter), coming from legal traditions that have had a long held basis for the rights of the individual, to recognize that the leadership of an otherwise criminal organization merits “targeted liquidation”. Better that than the more indiscriminate methods of a less advanced “Greatest Generation”, where area bombing and siege warfare were the methods of the day.

 

     As such, liberal pundits and would-be policy makers are clueless in that their own ideas and nostrums are predicated on the bedrock of a compromise peace over Israel. People who would hide behind the skirts of women, or store arms and explosives in mosques and kindergartens, or endure generations of graft, or send someone else’s 11-year-old to carry a homicide bomb are not of the same deal-making mindset as the Kumbaya Crowd. In reality, it is more likely going to take a test of arms (and the casualties that go with it) between those Palestinian factions willing to fight and the IDF before the Palestinians realize that obduracy leaves them nothing for the future.

 

    In an opinion column by Amir Taheri, it is noted that Israeli Prime Minister Sharon has begun a campaign to “decapitate” Hamas (and presumably a host of other terrorist organizations currently conducting guerilla warfare in Israel). Apparently this is the predicate of doing the kind of “Thump and Retreat” that will allow for a pullout from the unsustainable settlements in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. If enough Hamas leaders are “whacked”, and if terrorist operations are that much less coordinated, then the fait accompli of the wall and a de facto partition will establish final borders by that oldest of methods, military dominance. And in a blow against continued operations by terrorists groups, they would theoretically be so mauled as to be unable to claim “victory”.

 

     This in itself is a fine attempt, since at least it is action that goes outside of the cycle currently favored by the Eurocentrists. There is only so much one can do with the Gordian Knot of Geopolitics before someone tries the more common sense solution of edged steel. Like with President Bush’s actions in Afghanistan and Iraq (which led to the payoffs in Libya and Pakistan), the Israeli Government has decided to risk trying something else. Given that it upholds that most important principle of self-defense, especially in the face of internationalist hypocrisy, the current “unilateralist” approach deserves its chance at implementation. Otherwise a wider war, with all the concomitant casualties and slowdown in the world economy, would be the only other time-tested solution. Perhaps this more measured approach, violent as it may be, deserves a chance. After all, Total War is always the final option.

 

Story references may be found at:

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/21654.htm

 

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/ct20040323.shtml

 

 

That Was The Week That Was Update:

     The Donkey Party has to face up to certain realities. The past couple of weeks have not been the best for them, and the so-called “Clarke” scandal may backfire in such a manner as to stretch the string of bad press for a full month.

 

     For starters, last week began with the images of John Kerry, the Democrat Presidential Candidate, trying to do his best imitation of Otto Rocket on a bunny slope in Idaho. Unfortunately, Kerry kept veering back and forth, left and right on his run down the gentle slope (Some things never change.) In fact, he did this so much that he ran into a Secret Service agent stuck, er….tasked with the duty of taking a bullet for a VIP. Luckily the agent has had the proper firearms safety training, so no accident resulted from the collision (It looks like the Brady Bunch have got it wrong again, since it is most likely that no trigger lock was involved.).

 

     Then to add insult to injury, the National Enquirer had the effrontery to publish their latest “Gotcha!” cover for the nation’s supermarket check-out stands. In this case, customers were treated to full color photos of certain famous “She-Donkeys”, sans make-up and in public. Even now Terry McAuliffe is most likely offering bounties to buy up every outstanding issue showing Barbara Streisand (Yecch, that was a bad day), Sharon Stone, Farah Fawcett, and Susan Sarandon without benefit of foundation, lipstick, mascara, or industrial-strength Bondo. One can only imagine the mischief certain Republican opposition research elves could make with those photos. Properly enhanced, the fundraising potential among broken glass Republicans, not to mention mothers with children, is unlimited.  

 

     In another interesting tidbit, more coverage was on the story that John Kerry was at a meeting in Kansas City in 1971 where his fellow travelers in the Viet Nam Veterans Against the War were discussing the possibility of “fragging” a couple of U.S. Senators. Apparently Kerry did have an FBI tail, and two other newspapers have confirmed Brett Hume’s recent reporting of the story. Naturally Kerry is weaving about on answering the questions about this latest gem, but sooner or later the various national veterans organizations are going to have to make an endorsement. For now, every day that goes by without a VFW or Legion endorsement tends to put “paid” on Kerry’s strategy of reminding everyone about his Viet Nam record. It will be interesting to see which way the organizations go.

 

     Lastly, the current media “frenzy” of Richard Clarke’s “expose” of the Bush Administration’s handling of the war on terror seems to have unearthed more failures in the Clinton Administration. Testimony in front of the 9/11 Commission revealed that the Clinton Administration felt that it could not use significant military force to respond to al Qaeda’s attacks in the 1990’s. Apparently that is due to the Clinton Administration’s unwillingness to spend political capital (not that Bubba had much to spare) on dealing with crazy people bent on killing Americans. What is more, William Cohen described the intelligence derived over the Sudanese aspirin factory, where he still maintains that constituents for VX nerve agent were being made despite arguments to the contrary by the owners and a lack of corroboration by Hans Blix.

 

    Now, this is not to say that the Bush Administration and its friend have not been “vetting” Richard Clarke’s claims in the meantime. Sean Hannity “zinged” the career bureaucrat by replaying an October 2000 radio interview of Condoleeza Rice where she clearly demonstrates a thorough understanding of who and what al Qaeda is. This interview was some months before Clarke’s interview with Ms. Rice, where Mr. Clark claims to have gotten the impression that Ms. Rice did not know al Qaeda from Dominic de Villepin (Wait, is there a difference there?). One can only wonder as to Clarke’s true motives for the way in which he covered the meeting. While Morton Kondracke thinks that the possibility that Clarke was upset over not getting the Number 2 slot over at the Department of Homeland Security is the cause for the book, one must take into account that Mr. Clarke might not play well with others, especially female superiors and/or minorities (Well, if the partisan orientations were reversed, the Dems would be tossing the race card on the first go.). Mr. Clarke’s connection with the Kerry Campaign’s Rand Beers also may have some bearing, yet to be determined, on the numerous reasons for why and when his book is out.

 

    In a nutshell, like in the now-famous run-up to the Iraq War, at least one pundit is pointing out that the topic du jour has been drawn onto a field suitable to the strengths of President Bush. Like in 2002, the Dems have maneuvered themselves into talking, and talking, and talking about war and security when a) Kerry is 20-30 points behind on the issue; and b) Madrid and the latest rounds of attacks in Israel are fresh in everyone’s minds. In fact, Dick Morris hinted on “Hannity and Colmes” that Kerry may get defined as a candidate on this very issue, and will most likely come up the worse for wear over it. Given that Kerry only has about $ 2.5 million currently on hand, he is going to have to kiss Uncle Walter’s (Cronkite) fuzzy slippers a lot if he expects to keep MoveOn.org and the Soros 527’s happy and spending money on counter-programming.

 

     Unfortunately, voters are still facing some seven months of campaigning. While this is enough to drive the average voter up the wall, imagine what it will be like for those activists and journalists that face enough occupational exposure to the sonorous Kerry as to make even Erin Brokovich uneasy. Oh well, we only have but one life to give to our country. At least we can throw darts at a blow up of La Streisand while we suffer the scourging to come. Stay tuned.

 

Story references may be found at:

 

http://www.nationalreview.com/buckley/buckley200403231433.asp

 

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/
ny-uspost0324,0,3804847.story?coll=ny-homepage-big-pix

 

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=6331

 

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/21657.htm

 

http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/
20040322-082826-7678r.htm

 

 

Respectfully,

 

 

Anthony Canales

SFVMC-NRA

 

© 2004 Anthony Canales

All rights reserved.