Move Over Korea: Why the War on Terror is Now the Forgotten War

Back from a few days away from the blogsphere….I realize that most of the postings on this site have to do with the war on terror and my views on how it is being conducted, but as a citizen who lives smack in the center of the worlds biggest bullseye, security is foremost in my thoughts. Immediately following the events of 9/11, I told anyone around me who would listen:

“ Remember how the attacks on the WTC and Pentagon made you feel. Remember how deeply your worldview and sense of security has been tragically altered….remember it, because in two or three years the country will have forgotten.”

In the midst of the massive reinvigoration of Americana and the near unanimous call for patriotic cause in defense of our nation, those words made me sick…it made me sick because I knew it was a prediction that would inevitably come true. Five years and two months later, I think I can justifiably say that we as a nation have “forgotten.” I say this with the caveat that there is still a sizable element of Americans who have not forgotten nor have they lost sight of our struggle for survival against the most frightening foe we have faced in the history of our country. I’m specifically referring to mainstream America as has become abundantly clear in this past election, the reporting of the media, and the failure of the public to grasp that we are at war. I am not going to waste this posting on the fatal mistake of submitting to our enemies by withdrawing from central fronts in the war on terror or ignorantly brushing aside an enemy that consistently asserts his desire to destroy America and our allies. I’m going to make the following statement: America does not have the fortitude that is necessary to mount a sustainable fight in the war on terror as a result has broadcast it’s weak underbelly to our enemies, a mortal mistake that will cost us dearly in innocent American blood.

Over the next several days I will explore the reasons why we have lost our souls as a country at war and why this will result in further attacks on our soil. Some of the topics I will explore are:

Ø The role of the media in influencing the public's aversion to war from Vietnam onward
Ø The utter failure of the Bush Administration to adequately gain ongoing support for his war effort
Ø The Machiavellian tactics of the far Left in effectively creating an anti-war movement in its pursuit of power
Ø Congressional losses in the midterm election and the message that it has sent to the rest of the world, including our enemies

These are some of the key indicators that show our defeat in a war that is 10% military and 90% public opinion. I can only hope that something will be done to reverse this trend, but much like my pragmatism immediately post-9/11, I sincerely think that the only catalyst to change at this point is another attack on our soil. Gut wrenchingly sad…but true.

Turning a Deaf Ear

Doesn’t anyone in America listen to our enemies? I know for sure that they pay excruciating attention to us and our political affairs. The most recent example of this can be found in today’s Al Qaeda in Iraq audio released by Zarqawi’s successor, Abu Ayyub al-Masri. Al-Masri basked in the resignation of Rumsfeld calling Bush a “lame duck”, labeled Bush the ‘most stupid’ president (sound familiar to the American Left), called him a ‘coward’ who will pull out of Iraq as opposed to fight, and reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to destroy Israel and the United States. While dispatches from the underground such as this are certainly common occurrence, the chilling aspect of this latest release is that is rehearses the tired musings of the American Left almost verbatim (Bush as coward, Bush as stupid) and that it reaffirms the global motivation of Al Qaeda to destroy the West. With an American withdrawal in Iraq, known by everyone else in the world (including our enemies) but us as the central front in the war on Terror, the jihad will continue until Washington and Jerusalem fall. In reality, this latest release by al-Masri will get another four hours of play in the media and fall below other newsworthy internet items….however; the determination will remain strong in our enemies. I am simply amazed at how we consistently fail to listen to our enemies and take their intentions for the truth; instead we rationalize it as directed against Bush or as ‘hot air.’ We have ignored them before and we were attacked, we continue to ignore them and we will be attacked again. I promise.

Iraq and the Democratic Victory: Now What?

In the midst of every defeat comes an opportunity and it is true leaders who rise up recognize this and use it to their full advantage. The Democratic coup in the House and by all signs the Senate is a profound rebuke against the perceived direction of the Republican Party as well as the Bush Administration. The people have spoken, and they want change….we have to accept that and grasp the opportunity they have given us. Most pundits place the election firmly as a referendum against the Iraq War. Does this mean that the majority of the American people want an immediate withdrawal from Iraq? Absolutely not, as a matter of fact only a thin minority of Americans support a withdrawal strategy. Americans want to win the fight in Iraq and do not think that current administration policy is the right approach at doing so. You know what? They are right and they are right on three fronts. First, I have always said that President Bush has done an abysmal job of clearly articulating a victory strategy in Iraq. When a President elects to send the sons and daughters of other people across the world to sacrifice their lives, he is obligated to the American people to explain why they were sent. As the world’s most formidable military, 90% of our war fighting strategy should include publicly engaging and “selling” the war to the American public…our boys and girls are perfectly capable of winning any fight they encounter, it is the duty of the Commander in Chief to fight the war at home. For a Harvard MBA, President Bush certainly gets an “F” in marketing. Second, strategically our military is not fighting to win. We are the most capable fighting force in the history of mankind, we need to unleash our power on our enemies. The goal in Iraq is simple: administer a savage defeat to the insurgency and systematically incapacitate them. Our soldiers and marines are forced to play touch football with an enemy who is tackling them. What does this mean? Kill Moqtada Al Sadr, destroy the militias, clean out the Sunni Triangle, level insurgent hotbeds like Sadr City or Ramadi. We are at war with an enemy who recognizes it more than we do. The number one goal in Iraq is unconditional victory through unrestricted force. This is the only language that the Arabs understand. Finally, as Middle Eastern scholar Bernard Lewis has illustrated time and time again, democracy is just not a familiar concept to the Islamic world. We should worry less about imposing our form of government on a culture who might not readily accept it, rather we need to work with them to find a solution that fits them. This might mean dividing the country in Kurdish, Sunni, and Shiite provinces….it might mean supporting a military style dictatorship…or it might mean supporting a peaceful Islamic ruler. It is rather arrogant to assume that we can force feed democracy to a country who has never experienced it before. Either way it is up to the Iraqi people, not those in Washington. If we stick to a goal of total victory, the violence will not factor into whatever decision-making the Iraqis must undertake. Regardless of who is running Capitol Hill, we need to start acting like the proud Americans we once were and finally win this thing once and for all as it is never too late to become the second Greatest Generation.

Top Five Misconceptions of the Left and MSM

Below are the answers to the top five complaints of the Dems and the Mainstream Media…use this as a guide to instantly halt any uneducated, Bush Derangement Syndrome Blather you may encounter going into the election.

Misconception Number One: Bush Lied, People Died

Answer: President Bush, after prudently considering high level intelligence from a variety of sources including our own Central Intelligence Agency, Russian Intelligence, British Intelligence, Italian Intelligence…all of which came to the same conclusion: Iraq posed a risk to the United States by their active pursuit of Weapons of Mass Destruction and material support of terrorism. Couple this with the fact that Saddam Hussein had no only used WMD against his people on several different occasions, had flouted the United Nations for over a decade, and had overtly expressed support for Islamic fundamentalism, the United States was perfectly justified in acting. President Bush did not lie to anyone, rather he acted on sound information that the rest of the world, including the United Nations all believed. On more minor point to add: the invasion of Iraq was the “longest telegraphed punch” in the history of modern times, Saddam Hussein had plenty of time to conceal or destroy his existing weaponry…we haven’t found anything because he haven’t looked hard enough.


Misconception Number Two: George Bush is bad for the economy

Answer: Turn on the news! Just today the economy posted its lowest unemployment rate in 5 years (4.4%). Last month, the Dow Jones crashed through it’s all time high mark, GDP is growing at a very healthy pace (in a NON SPECULATIVE ENVIRONMENT, but based on solid corporate fundamentals), inflation is down and under control, and oil prices are nearly $20 from their all time highs…and this is just a sampling of data. As Larry Kudlow says, the economy is the “greatest story never told.” The MSM media and the Left have carped for so long about how the economy is being ruined; people have started to believe it….a massive lie that is just simply untrue.


Misconception Number Three: The War in Iraq has nothing to do with the War on Terror

Answer: Again, turn on the news people! Every single one of our enemies has stated within the past two months that Iraq is the primary battleground in their jihad against the United States. If Bin Laden himself as said that the battleground in Iraq is a central front, how can it not be?


Misconception Number Four: The Bush Tax Cuts are ineffective and have only helped the rich

Answer: This past quarter, federal tax receipts have reached an all time high and subsequently unemployment has dropped significantly due to the increase in the availability of jobs. Despite all the pessimistic bellyaching, virtually every metric of individual economic health has increased over the past 5 years. As President Bush said, “Americans know how better to spend their money than the Government.” In terms of taxes only helping the rich, first off there has been an explosion of Americans who have qualified income to place them in the “rich” category. Are there the stereotypical fat cats that haunt the ranting of the socialized Left, figures like Trump, JP Morgan, etc….no, this category is bursting with entrepreneurs, small business owners, and folks who have made the very most of the American dream. By no means are they getting a more fair deal than the lower income people whom the Left readily exploit, as a matter of fact, the largest portion of individual income tax receipts are from those Americans considered “wealthy” and whose tax rate is FAR higher than lower income Americans. Just doesn’t add up does it? It is a populist argument that holds absolutely no water whatsoever.


Misconception Number Five (Certainly Not the Least): George W. Bush is an idiot

Answer: Tell me how someone can get attend Philips Academy, Yale University, and Harvard Business School and still be an idiot? How can someone fool tens of millions of people into placing their lives and livelihood under his trust….twice? While President Bush certainly isn’t the most eloquent person around at times, he is in no way an imbecile who cannot make decisions of his own. Quite the contrary, he is an extremely intelligent leader who hears all sides to an issue and then makes an educated decision…and sticks with it. Perhaps that is a fault considering he inherited the Oval Office from someone who would take a Public Opinion Poll prior to making any substantive consideration.

The list, obviously goes on and on….you get the picture though, a cold counter sprinkled with cold fact is the best way to stand your ground against the putrid arrogance of the Left who will assault you with conspiracy theories and half-baked logic. Remember this come Tuesday

Misleading Headline

I jump on the net this morning and come across the follwing headline from an Associated Press article: "U.S. Troops Kill 13 Suspected Rebels in Baghdad Raid"....I thought this was a war, not a drug bust....

I open the story and read a little bit further: "Five people were killed inside the building, including one man wearing a vest rigged with explosives, while eight other men who fled were gunned down by troops on the ground and planes or helicopters circling above.....everal of those killed appeared to have been foreign fighters from outside Iraq".....I never knew that wearing a suicide vest still left a shadow of a doubt whether or not someone was an actual rebel or a "suspected" rebel.

Yet another subtle reminder of how the American Left and Mainstream Media view and report the war in Iraq...just ridiculous.

How Do We Want This to End Up?

I never thought I’d see it….Off the “top of my head” I realize that over the past two months we have had our President insidiously badmouthed by an extremist dictator on our soil, an extremely dangerous rogue regime test a nuclear weapon in the face of the international community, we have had a high level US politician flagrantly insult our fighting men and women for all the world to see, an enemy desperately escalating violence in an attempt to influence our national election, and as recent as this morning we have had another rogue state arrogantly launch a barrage of missiles perfectly capable of transporting a nuclear warhead and striking Israel or US forces in theater. If you do not say it, I will: the world thinks we are weak and is defiantly challenging us for all to see. The Machiavellian tactics of leftist politicians and their mainstream media mouth piece in trying to wrest power from the Republican Party have severely damaged the international prestige of the United State, perhaps irreparably.

By choosing the convenient tactic of battling the current administration through mocking, ill-informed barrages that grotesquely emphasize soldier casualties, defeatist outlooks, and anti-war or anti-anything Bush rhetoric, the Left has effectively weakened the image of the United States for all to see. In doing so and not engaging in a meaningful debate over what the policy should be, they have created a divided front and exposed us to a weakness that is unmatched in the post-9/11. Why else would North Korea and Iran categorically defy any and all internal efforts at disarmament? Both Kim and the Mullahs know that the United States will stand by and do nothing, both from a unilateral and multilateral perspective….what they see is country that is so constrained by internal divisions that it is effectively crippled in any response to hostile action by a rogue state. How can Hugo Chavez refer to our President “the Devil” while standing in New York City? He can spit in the face a proverbial symbol of American power because he knows that he will get a laugh from half of the country and a pat on the back from half of our elected officials without any legitimate retribution. Why is the insurgency in Iraq escalating their campaign of civil unrest and terror over the past month or so? Because they know we are going into an election and that the American media is at the beck and call of any and all jihadists…in other words their holy war has always been fought in the living rooms of the United States and they know that by spilling untold amounts of blood they can influence the very political processes we hold dear. Contrary to popular belief our enemies are not stupid, rather they are very adaptive and intelligent adversaries who quite obviously have a better understanding of our political nature than we do….while it seems to be quite difficult for the American public to get a good metric of our successes in the war against hostile regimes and terror, our adversaries simply have to turn on the television to know where they stand. We can thank the Left for this.

Having played organized sports my entire life; I have had the luxury of being able to draw many rich analogies between the real world and the playing field. From this I have learned three things: 1) There is never any place on a team for member (or members) who are not committed to the goal of winning. 2) The opponent will exploit and adapt to your every weakness and finally, the most inspiring and profound contests are won within the last minute of play as that is when the champions truly shine. While the forum should always be open for constructive debate, there is no room for defeatism in American politics. Our enemies will meticulously monitor and adapt to our political landscape in order to prevail against us and as a beacon to future strategic action. This is the fourth quarter, let’s pull out a win come Tuesday because that is when the true champions in the United States need to come out and vote.

The Reality of Racism in Modern America

There is a disease of epidemic purportion that has permeated our social fabric for the past thirty years, a disease that has in many ways served to almost completely incapacitate an entire element of American society….racism. This is not the textbook definition of racism that has been taught to us since the moment we stepped into the classroom: that of the white majority oppressing a black minority over hundreds of years in the form of Southern slavery, Jim Crowe laws, discrimination, and so on…The disease is of the opposite type, it is a near institutionalized belief that White America works to oppress Black America in a form of quasi-slavery. Slavery in the form of poor education, dismal housing, lack of opportunity, high crime rates, drug infestation and so on…they are all viewed as tools employed by the white elite to discriminate against Black America. The thinking goes that as long as the ‘black man’ is held down, he will not be allowed to prosper to the fullest extent of his potential and therefore be equivalent to the white man. While many blacks hold differing views that revolve around personal accountability and elevation of man through positive means, one only needs to turn on MTV, CNN, BET, or take a ride on the subway to realize that the mainstream black culture blames the white establishment for their plight. While history proved this rationale to be true up until the 1960s, there was a point where Black America made the transition from being externally oppressed to being internally oppressed. This internal oppression has embedded itself so deeply in black culture, politics, thought, and society that unless a concerted effort is made to effect change, an entire community will be left by the wayside.

Martin Luther King jr. will forever be memorialized as the black leader who solidified the equality of blacks in American society. The mainstream Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s had a universal and explicit agenda: to achieve an equal footing with White America. This equality was explicit in its inclusion of suffrage, desegregation, social programs, education, politics, and so on. The dream was simply to be considered equal, and the fight was against institutionalized racism and its manifestation in the United States Government. With the Civil Rights Act and subsequent measures, the dream was achieved. While no one can argue that the dejure equality immediately healed the wounds of an oppressed sector or society, it certainly provided a tremendous starting point for affecting change. After Dr. King’s assassination, the Civil Rights Movement seemingly lost its way and began to move away from a freedom movement to a siege movement. Leaders no longer spoke of achieving equality; rather they focused on using white guilt over racism to demand compensation for black suffering. Affirmative Action, reparations, Black Power, and so on, all became hallmarks of the black leadership from the 1970s to modern time. No longer is the message: “We want to be considered equal”, it is “Not only want to be equal but we want to be paid for what you (read whites) did to us.” If the guilt isn’t enough, this supposedly infestation of residual white racism began to be blamed for everything from poverty to homicide rates in the black community as discriminatory means to keep the blacks oppressed. In turn, the white establishment has taken this hook, line, and sinker.

Despite the monumental concessions provided to the black community solicited by demagoguery guilt by self-serving leaders, the black community continues to be in decline. By most if not all measures, Black America is far worse off in all respects than any other subset of our society. Why does unemployment of young males account for over 50%? Why do crime rates continue to remain obscenely high in black neighborhoods? Why is the high school graduation rate at or near 50%? Why are state and federal welfare recipients overwhelmingly black? Is it for lack of opportunity? No. Is it for lack of funding? Certainly not. Is it for residual white racism that does not allow blacks to advance in our society? No. The post-MLK black community has fostered a culture of victim hood and reverse racism that has become so entrenched that Black America as a whole has gone from being the oppressed to becoming the oppressor.

Consider the following three examples: the Duke Rape Case, Hurricane Katrina, and Hip Hop Culture. For those of you not familiar with the case, this past spring three Duke Lacrosse Players were accused of raping a black stripper who had been hired to dance at a team party. The District Attorney, in the heat of a close election in a majority black district, smelled blood and immediately launched a campaign of destruction at these three boys. He made a calculated effort to drive a wedge between the Duke University community and the surrounding area of Raleigh Durham using the underlying racial sentiment of the black community as his proverbial hammer. Botched case aside (which is a whole different article), before even hearing the convoluted and blatantly false details of the case, the black community immediately erupted in protest against the white Duke lacrosse players: marching in front of their home, making death threats at the Grand Jury hearing, and holding massive vigils on behalf of Crystal Gail Mangum. In the words of one student the Duke players deserved prosecution even if they were innocent as retribution for all the crimes committed against blacks by whites in the past. A profound example of the seething sentiments held so close under the surface by an entire community for those of another race. Another equally high profile manifestation of this ingrained culture of victim hood is quintessentially captured in rapper Kanye West’s statement during the Hurricane Katrina disaster: “George Bush hates black people.” I can write volumes over the Hurricane Katrina fiasco and hurl blame in a number of directions; however, not one once of blame can be assigned to entrenched white racism. The bottom line is that the victims who milled about the Superdome and Civic Center were all people who simply could not or would not take care of themselves. As harsh as it may seem, decades of overwhelming welfare spend in New Orleans and almost infant-like dependence on the Government for aid led to a city where quite literally an entire community couldn’t fend for themselves for 24 hours. The disaster was a direct result of Nanny State welfare policies that provided food, water, and shelter to generations of citizens who in the face of disaster did not have the tools or wherewithal to flee the coming storm. Do we ever read about the massive destruction and loss of life in Mississippi or Alabama? Do we ever read about the fact that the majority of Katrina victims were white? No…because the Superdome was a sea of black faces, the media and the black community (including the grossly incapable Mayor Nagin) choose to point the finger to white racists. Finally, Hip Hop Culture is quite literally the most prolific form of institutionalized racism that exists today. What other form of mainstream art advocates, no, mandates and enforces violence, drug use, rape, prostitution, and racism to name a few. Rappers had become the symbol to black youth of what success should be: bling, guns, women, and drugs. Turn on a rap video any time of day and you will see young men surrounded by scantily clad women, smoking marijuana, and talking about killing someone. When asked why they portray such a message, the common response is that they are reflecting the way it is on the street…in other words the way they were forced to live by the white man. The near universal acceptance of hip hop as a valid art form has had the direct effect of being the only default way to rise out of the ghetto and into success. Guns and drugs. Acceptance of the status quo…If Martin Luther King jr. accepted the status quo he would have held rallies with leg irons on.

Victim hood and its culture of festering reverse racism will continue to be the number one oppressor of Black America. It is up to the black community to take a stand for themselves and adopt a culture of work ethic, disavowal of the status quo, and social elevation by seeking leaders such as Shelby Steele or Bill Cosby who advocate such a shift. If not, the community will continue to marginalize themselves into further oppression and alienation from broader society. As we as an American people continue to move away from the terrible years of true discrimination and our lineages drastically diverge from the original white oppressors, guilt over perceived racism will cease to become a meaningful tool and Black America will have a difficult choice to make….