The Late Great United States?

January 27, 2007

From comments being made by some politicians, that is how I have come to think they view America. At the least, that is the appearance they are leaving around the globe as they make comments as did Senator John ‘F’in Kerry (D. Ma.) in Davos, Switzerland when he called America, ”a sort of international pariah.”

Although just his latest gaff, Kerry isn’t new to bashing America, including those of us who served honorably while he used a short stint to build the foundation of his ever waffling political career. Back in 1971 his comments were more directed at Veterans, the very ones he often claims to revere, but stated we were “monster[s] in the form of millions of men who have been taught to deal and to trade in violence,” or when he also said on Meet the Press in 2005, "I agree with Sen. Kennedy that we have become the target and part of the problem today, if not the problem."

In agreeing with fellow Senator Ted Kennedy (D. Ma.), Kerry was referring to a speech given by Kennedy at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in January, 2005, relating the current War on Terror in Iraq with the Viet Nam War. Among things said by Kennedy were, “We lost our national purpose in Vietnam. We abandoned the truth. We failed our ideals. The words of our leaders could no longer be trusted.”

Relating to Iraq, he continued, “We have reached the point that a prolonged American military presence in Iraq is no longer productive for either Iraq or the United States. The U.S. military presence has become part of the problem, not part of the solution.”

Lest you think I find culpability only in these two Senators, I refer you to MSNBCs Chris Matthews and his show, Hardball, where on September 5, 2006, in an “interview” with New York Green Party gubernatorial candidate Malachy McCourt, addressing Capital Punishment, the following exchange took place;

Matthews: "Look, let me ask you this. Where are you on capital punishment?"

Malachy McCourt: "Capital punishment? I think that if, if I've got to find that guy in Spain who indicted Pinochet and get him for war crimes, and I get him to do the same thing for Bush. And in that case, I would be for capital punishment.”

With all the friction between political parties today, as well throughout our history, I cannot recall any call for the “execution” of a sitting President. Leaders of other nations as well as their citizens see and hear news reports from America. What do they think of a country, at war, with candidates calling for executing those leading us in war?

With all the turmoil that has been ongoing between Israel and the trumped up scam of Palestinian refugees and the efforts of past and present administrations of both parties in encouraging these people to come together, how unconscionable is it that a delegation of Democrats secretly meet with Hamas, a known terrorist group whose main goal is the destruction of Israel, the sole democracy currently in the Middle East? What message is sent to the rest of the world when we are engaged in a “War on Terror” and some of our politicians secretly meet with other known terrorists?

How must others view Americans as a junior Commissioned Officer in our Army deserts the men he took an oath to lead and is held up as a ”hero” while Military Members wounded in the war are being protested?

Having been massacred in 1975 and 1991 by the forces of Saddam Hussein, I find it totally unreasonable that Iraqi Kurds, who have long felt they were natural allies of America, should now be worried the promises of support made because a panel of 9 Politicians and one former Justice, none with extensive Military leadership background, state that we need to turn to the very ones resupplying and supporting insurgents killing our troops and the innocent Iraqis for assistance.

As the continual call of too many troops have died rings within the anti-war groups, how ironic is it that politicians oppose reinforcing the troops, as some call for, also speak of or hint at defunding the war effort?

Far from being the sole domain of one political party, we also see as Republican Chuck Hagel splits his party as fellow Republicans, John Warner, Susan Collins and Norm Coleman join forces with the opposition party in opposing any reinforcements to secure Baghdad and give the fledgling Iraqi democracy a decent chance at reaching the very political solution sought by many. What message is sent to leaders and citizens of other countries as they see all this division openly while we are once again attempting to prosecute a war that is long overdue being fought?

I grant you that many leaders of other countries were and are opposed to our eliminating Saddam Hussein and facing terrorism in Iraq, but is their opposition sincere? Or, is it because they lost the cash cow discovered as the Oil For Food Scandal unraveled and millions skimmed from that program to United Nations and European Nationals became known?

Since the hippies of my generation started placing flowers in their hair, smoking their dope, turning on and tuning out, the attitude of “breaking away or overthrowing of established order” has grown, except when the “established order” is coming from those in agreement with hippie generation. They preach “peace” and “love” but fail to see that their own ”anything goes” lifestyle contributes to fear and hate others feel towards Americans.

German author Henryk M. Broder sees this in his book Hurray, We’re Capitulating as he remembers the appeasement attitude prevalent prior to World War Two and how it only brought a temporary reprieve and a much greater fight in the coming war back then.

No doubt, America has problems, many problems. Sending messages of derision and division while we are engaged in the very fight that may determine the survival of Western Culture and Free Democracies across the globe is one of them. In spite of all of our problems, though, America is not the problem.

Fight them now or fight them later when they are much stronger, we are going to have to fight the terrorists as they seek world domination.

Ones like Kerry may view America as a “pariah,” or even “the late great United States,” but sooner or later, this Sleeping Giant will awaken and squelch the dissenting voices from within hating America and seeking her defeat.

Lew

UPDATE 1: From Australia, Radical cleric calls for Islamic utopia

UPDATE 2: In the ever conflicting reports from our lamestream media sending messages to our enemies and allies alike that we are a "paper tiger," two articles posted today on the war;

From the upcoming February 5 issue of Newsweek: More than 3,000 U.S. service members have now died in the Iraq war. At first it was difficult not to feel overwhelmed by the number of deaths. After four years, it is now difficult not to feel numb. In a nation without a draft, the emotional connection between the front and the home front is the weakest it has been in a major conflict in recent memory. There are so many news accounts of troops killed in combat that the details blur. The death of one soldier, or 20, loses its power to shock, except to the families of the fallen.

At some point, the way we talk about the war itself changes. We speak less and less about husbandless wives and parentless children, and instead obscure the suffering in vaguer, more distant and—guiltily—easier terms. We shake our heads and talk about the "losses."

In Washington, the talk is now all about Iraq. Democrats, emboldened by their control of Congress and the president's sinking poll numbers, no longer fear being labeled "Defeatocrats" if they take a stand against George Bush on the war. And some Republicans, including Sens. Chuck Hagel and John Warner, are speaking out against the handling of the war and about the cost in human life. Nonetheless, the president, trying to appear conciliatory and resolute at the same time, is determined to send an additional 21,000 troops to Iraq, no matter what anyone else thinks. If Congress rejects the idea, Dick Cheney told CNN last week, "it won't stop us."

Black Hawk Down: The True Cost of Iraq War

From today's issue of the L.A. Times: "Has the American reaction to the attacks in fact been a massive overreaction? Is the widespread belief that 9/11 plunged us into one of the deadliest struggles of our time simply wrong? If we did overreact, why did we do so?"

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"The people who attacked us in 2001 are indeed hate-filled fanatics who would like nothing better than to destroy this country. But desire is not the same thing as capacity, and although Islamist extremists can certainly do huge amounts of harm around the world, it is quite different to suggest that they can threaten the existence of the United States."

"Yet a great many Americans, particularly on the right, have failed to make this distinction. For them, the "Islamo-fascist" enemy has inherited not just Adolf Hitler's implacable hatreds but his capacity to destroy."

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"But it is no disrespect to the victims of 9/11, or to the men and women of our armed forces, to say that, by the standards of past wars, the war against terrorism has so far inflicted a very small human cost on the United States. As an instance of mass murder, the attacks were unspeakable, but they still pale in comparison with any number of military assaults on civilian targets of the recent past, from Hiroshima on down."

****

"...the war against terrorism has not yet been much of a war at all, let alone a war to end all wars. It is a messy, difficult, long-term struggle against exceptionally dangerous criminals who actually like nothing better than being put on the same level of historical importance as Hitler — can you imagine a better recruiting tool? To fight them effectively, we need coolness, resolve and stamina. But we also need to overcome long habit and remind ourselves that not every enemy is in fact a threat to our existence."

Was 9/11 really that bad?

UPDATE 3: Hillary Clinton, who voted for the Iraq War and in 2003 stated about the WMDs not found in Iraq, "The consensus was the same, from the Clinton administration to the Bush administration. It was the same intelligence belief that our allies and friends around the world shared.” now chimes today with "We expect him to extricate our country from this before he leaves office"

Nowhere do I hear any words of VICTORY, WIN, DEFEAT THE ENEMY, or words of that effect from the left.