Sunday, October 31, 2004

 
The West still doesn't get it. After defeats by Israelis in 1947-48, 1967, and 1973, and by the U.S. in 1991 and 2003, Muslims have learned the futility of using uniformed forces against the West. The threat of regime change may deter to some extent hostile regimes, but not their populations. This is not rocket science, but our elites(including well-meaning so-called neoconservatives)seem to be unable to think seriously about this. Bush can be forgiven for giving a population freed from Saddam a chance to show that their hearts and minds are not against us. Having failed that test, most Iraqis should be killed or driven into the surrounding hell-holes. A nation unwilling to attack populations warring against it probably does not deserve to exist.
Tonight's 60 Minutes ran breathtakingly inane drivel alledging that our troops are being killed and maimed because of insufficient body and vehicle armor. Right. Let's ensure that none of our troops spend a moment outside of an underground bunker or an M1 Abrams Tank.(Lemme see now....20,000 tanks at $4,300,000 a pop...and factor in 3 gallons of fuel per mile....)Even that might not be effective for long if the "insurgents" simply used bigger and better placed bombs.
Within hours of learning that we have finally recognized the Iraqi people(apart from trivial numbers of Christians)as our enemies, their roads will be clogged, not with our own "targets on the ground" getting blown up while they travel to point A to B and back again, but with tens of millions of refugees streaming for "havens" in Syria, Jordan, and Iran. We would be condemned by the "world," but the "world" has long hated us and does not recognize our right to exist. -And couldn't effectively oppose us. (Would China accept its incineration to protect Islam?)And would it make us "as bad as the terrorists"? No, it would make them dead, and give us a chance for survival. If we are not prepared to take necessary measures(as we were with the civilian population of the USSR)we do not deserve to survive.