Walid Phares has the top story at Human Events today.
Every commemoration of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 reveals our confusion. Eight years after 9-11, we are still asking ourselves too many questions, and in those questions are embedded the reasons the war has gone on so long.
Who is this enemy and why do they want to harm us, many ask. If you can’t define the enemy, you cannot defeat him.
Where are we this year in the confrontation with the forces that caused us harm and want to defeat us? Are we making progress in the war against the “terror forces;” are we far from victory; how much more sacrifice will it cost us to get to the other side?
Moe Lane
Steve Maley
KnightsofMalta
Dan Spencer
Dan McLaughlin
The first step is admitting that there are evil people in the world
Old_Crow (Diary) Friday, September 11th at 9:48AM EST (link)who are very intent on destroying our country, just because we are free.
Al Qaeda has been growing, in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. Our government is reluctant to even monitor let alone interfere with Al Qaeda’s recruitment efforts in America.
Until we really get serious, and start fighting this war with all our resources (CIA, FBI, State Dept, financial, etc) and not just the military, we are setting ourselves up for another attack – and eventual defeat.
“Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm.” — James Madison
If we lived in a facist state, they would still hate us
JSobieski (Diary) Friday, September 11th at 10:18AM EST (link)They hate us because we are infidels, and in fact the strongest of the infidels.
They perceived the USSR once as being the strongest of the infidels and they perceive that they and not the US were the cause of the USSR’s downfall.
We are Kufar, and thus they hate us.
My rules of the road for primary season.
Rule #1: Vote for YOUR first choice in the primaries
Rule #2: Vote for the R in the general.
Rule #3: Don’t let anyone convince you to violate Rule #1 or Rule #2
Rule #4: When in a center-right argument, reaffirm Rules #1-#3–it will help us all to get along better.
Rule #5: If you are using the language of the left, you probably aren’t furthering conservativism
Rule #6: The priority is issues first, candidates second, and supporters third. Nobody is bigger than the issues. Conversely, if you spend your time focusing on supporters, you are wasting everyone’s time.
STOP THE MADNESS!
A reduction in the rate of spending increases is NOT a cut!
In-state tuition for illegals is NOT amnesty!
Requiring someone to pay their medical bills is NOT an individual mandate!
Reducing tax rates is NOT a tax increase!
Question
michigan Friday, September 11th at 9:57AM EST (link)I remember right after the attacks we all seemed to bond and find strength as one people in our country. A few days later, I was stunned to watch Howard Kurtz state on one of the morning shows that he considered himself a reporter first before an American. I immediately emailed him stating my disbelief in his mindset. Surprisingly, he responded, politely disagreeing with me.
I never watched Howie again.
We all need to ask ourselves, are we an American, or do we just live here?
Oh, there are people who have examined the issue,
The_Gadfly (Diary) Friday, September 11th at 10:11AM EST (link)and clearly defined who the enemy are. The problem is that having defined who they are, we decided were either unwilling or unable to confront the sources of the problem directly. So instead we he have mostly fought the tentacles of the problem instead.
Which isn’t to say the battles we have fought in Iraq or Afghanistan were unnecessary or useless, it is only to say that if we had pursued the sources by now there would have been a clear victory or loss. I think Iraq is still one of the keys that eventually unlocks the problem, but we would have done much better to simultaneously and directly confront Iran as well. And while that was going on we should have been engaging in serious tough love diplomatic sessions with our nominal friends and allies who in truth are also contributing to the problem. And if the tough love didn’t work, we should have been opening all of the continental shelf for oil exploration, permitting the processing of oil shale, building nuclear power plants, and maybe even establishing prizes for research in energy development of all kinds including wind, solar, tidal, and geothermal (none of which particularly excite me but when you are serious about defeating an enemy you work against him on all fronts).