Perspectives

What Wars Should We Fight?

Some would have us believe that there can never be a reason to go to war.  Others portend that only a war in which we have no National Interest is one in which we should engage.  And still others say we should only fight when we have an unparalled National Interest. 

Some say we should never be involved in a civil war.  Some say we should only be involved in peacekeeping, particularly in civil wars.  Some say we should only fight after we've been attacked.  And some say that attack must occur on our own soil before we should fight.  And then there's the age old philosophical question: If we knew then what we know now, should we have assassinated Hitler, preventing World War II, before he took power?

Is it really war, if we only send flying robots to bomb specific mud huts?  Or if only the enemy calls it war and we pretend it's just a common crime?  Is it war if the enemy has a flag, and are still only fighting to get a nation, or an empire?

The decision to go to war should not be made lightly.  It is a decision to have humans kill other humans, but that is sometimes the only way to save the lives of more humans.  The ability to win a war rests on one fundamental principal: breaking the enemy's will to fight.  There are many ways that may be accomplished, but to win a war, one must cause the enemy to choose to end the fight.

Historical Perspective - The Defeatist 70's

"Those who fail to learn from History are doomed to repeat it."

As I watch events unfold in the world, I increasingly remember parallels I have lived through. I've reached a point in life, where I realize that the current generation has no memory and little education in those same events. Growing up, I had a tainted view of Viet Nam, and elder relatives that spoke in terms of the Great Depression. I laughed at my cousin's crazy afro and bell bottoms, as he attempted to jump on the latest trends, and felt the pains of friends and family as the Nation went through the gas shortages, high inflation, and high interest rates of the Carter years. The American Steel companies were already locking their doors.

In the 1970's, the American people felt defeated. American Politicians & Peacenik Protestors had forced a defeat in Viet Nam. An American President had resigned in disgrace. An Old Ally in Iran had been overthrown, and an Islamist dictatorship had taken over, and taken our Embassy hostage. The Big 3 US Automakers looked ready to shutter the factory doors, as they couldn't compete for American consumers with cheap Japanese imports. Inflation and Interest Rates had hit double digits in the United States. And Nations were falling to communism around the world.

The US appeared impotent in the face of a 3rd World insurgency that had invaded Our Embassy and was holding Our Diplomats hostage. Presidential interference in the manner in which a rescue operation was carried out led to a disaster in the desert, while his "diplomatic" efforts made America look the fool.

The Growing Power & Threat of Islamism

A while back, I created a map overlay demonstrating the worldwide threats, with a focus on Islamism but also including secular and Communist regimes that ideologically or violently oppose us.  The world has changed since then.  Reluctant allies have distanced themselves in the last 3 years.  Lasting allies have fallen.  Old enemies have fallen to new enemies.  And my current picture editor isn't as good as the one I had then.

There is one small speck of good change in the world.  The Sudan split into two nations, helping to decrease the mass genocide of Islamists killing Christians and Animists in the newest Nation of South Sudan.  The South Sudanese have an uphill battle to establish their new government and this success began its path years ago.  North Sudan remains Islamist, in greater concentration.

Unfortunately, Islamism has spread dramatically in the last year, both in its violent attacks and in its takeovers of governments.  Tunisia was the first to fall, followed by Egypt, while the Islamist party of Turkey retained its power.  Some have hailed these as successes for democracy, but it is a failure of US Foreign Policy and a blow to Freedom.

The Obama Administration's response to seeing mass protests against an old ally was precisely as was the Carter Administration's.  Both in Tehran 1978 and Cairo 2011, the Administration urged a Military Coup against an allied leader.  The difference is that the Egyptian Generals were actually able to hold the reins of power for a short period of time, while the Iranian Generals had never really taken the concept as reasonable.  In both cases, the protestors were a mix of those supporting Freedom and Democracy and those supporting Islamism.  Forces for Democracy outnumbered forces for Islamism, but the Islamists were better organized.

To Advance the Rise of Islamism

"Humans have a basic need to convert others to their cause."

An educated friend explained that to me when I was telling him about another that was trying to convince me to become a vegetarian.  He holds true for politics, for causes, for religion (even Atheism), and for ideologies.  It validates their beliefs, if they can convince others to take it up.  Religion is the most obvious we think of when it comes to conversions, but politics & ideology is equally if not more dogmatic.

Islamism, is a political ideology that preys upon a religion, and attempts to convert the "believers" to it, before oppressing them with it.  There are many types of islamists and they don't agree on how best to achieve their common goal: a worldwide Islamist Caliphate.  In Current Affairs, we see the rise of islamism in previously democratic nations of the Middle East.  But, our own political leaders are downplaying the dangers of islamism as they focus on the means rather than the goals, in many of these efforts.

The most obvious of islamists, and the ones that are condemned most widely, are terrorists.  Al-Qaeda is the most known of these and the Taliban are their junior partners.  Islamist Terrorists are willing to kill anyone in order to further their goals of Islamist Emirates in the Caliphate (Islamist Empire).  Strangely, Western Politicians are now suggesting negotiations with the Taliban, despite their knowledge that the Taliban desire to oppress women, and their continued attacks on Afghan & Paki Citizens and Politicians.

Present and Future of Egypt

It is far too early to predict what the future of Egypt will be.  But the historical parallels with 1979 Iran present some very scary possibilities.  Egypt has been a target of exportation of Iranian Islamism for decades and Sudan has been the transit point for much of it.  At times, Iran considered Egypt to be the bridge too far, and at others a key to the future Caliphate.

The international political justification for positions on the Egyptian situation are particularly interesting.  Many politicians and many protesters were asking the Egyptian Military to take over from an elected leader, in order to establish democracy.  The same parties that claim we should not impose Western ideals of democracy on Middle Eastern nations were calling for the overthrow of a democracy by the minorities as a means of democracy.  The same parties that so vocally oppose military leaders, even when elected to office, such as Musharraf, were calling for the Military to take over, in Egypt.

Who is the Muslim Brotherhood?

And what is "political islam?"  Well, political islam is islamism, pure and simple, but in a benign way of saying so.  Islamism is a political and economic ideology that wants governments ran by mullahs and ayatollahs, according to "Sharia Law."  There are two branches of islamism: violent and political.  Regardless, their goals are the same though their primary means are different.  Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran are both violent and political forms of islamism.  Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are violent adherents of islamism.

And who is the Muslim Brotherhood?  It is a secret society established in 1928 and has formed political parties at times to advance its goals.  Members of the Brotherhood are required to keep their membership private and to donate a portion of their incomes to the Brotherhood.  If you know a Muslim, you may know a member of the Brotherhood, but don't expect him to say so.  Several terrorists of different organizations have ties to the Brotherhood.  Its size is unknown.  Its reach extends into London and into the United States.

The Christian Target

It wasn't so long ago that we reported about Al-Qaeda taking hostage a church in Baghdad.  Then that they made good on their promise to continue targeting Christians in Iraq and around the world.  Over the Christmas holidays, we reported on churches and Christians were attacked and murdered by Islamists in Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, and the Philippines. 

In Islamic countries, this violence has less backlash than when Al-Qaeda was more actively murdering Muslim Children at playgrounds.  That led to Islamists in Saudi Arabia to denounce Al-Qaeda as a Mossad operation.  Funny how that works.

But how has the world reacted to the attacks on Christians?  Some have bemoaned the exodous of Christians seeking asylum from Iraq, but mostly the world has sat silent.  Obama attempted to highlight not the Christians murdered but the Muslims injured in the blast in Egypt.  He didn't mention the larger portion of the Egyptian Police force that slinked away ahead of the bombing, but the few that didn't get far enough away.

And those elements that attempted to deny Islamist murder of Muslim kids as Al-Qaeda and OBL being Mossad?  Oh, the anti-Semites find Mossad behind the Al-Qaeda murders of Christians as well, again pointing to those few Muslims injured in the sinful (as per the Koran) attack on a Church.  Then again, the anti-Semites also find a Mossad plot behind shark attacks and the Stuxnet virus, and any other evil they perceive.  There's an off shot the Mossad may have been behind the Stuxnet worm, but other than motive, little evidence.  If they were, they should be cheered and not everyone that thinks they were is anti-Semitic.  But behind shark attacks in the Red Sea?  It demonstrates how desperate the anti-Semetic crowd is.

Michael Haltman has been a great job of following up on the Coptic Church murders.  Drop in to see his coverage.