Reactive Folly

I don't think I'm going out on a limb here in saying... I think Iran is behind both headlines below, and intends to start a World War. Even if the terror plot is merely "fellow travelers", it certainly shows the folly of letting your enemies dictate the timing of the battle, which is what the Administration has been doing.

Had we just taken out Iran 5 years ago (15 years ago, 25 years ago...), so much would have been solved. No Iran, no "insurgency" of Iraqi terrorists, no war in Lebanon, etc. Instead, we have this long-drawn out fiasco where all we do is react to our enemies instead of defeating them. They grow more cocky, more ambitious, and eventually they're going to succeed at something.

Our government just doesn't get the point that they are trying to create a virtual Maginot line out of intelligence and police actions, and it can't be done. The huns will get through eventually. You've got to kill hun breeding grounds. Ie, governments of Iran, Saudi, Syria. Madrassas in Pakistan.

Which brings up an interesting question raised by Dr. Lewis's essay ("William Tecumseh Sherman andthe Moral Impetus for Victory", www.theobjectivestandard.com).

If the secession and war by the South in our American Civil War was fomented and the fighting sustained by leaders and newspapers down there, and if you've got to break the will of your enemy, partly by destroying their propaganda machine, then surely we should be destroying Al Jazeera, the Islamic schools (madrassas), and any other vehicles for loony Arab / Muslim propaganda that preaches lies, conspiracies, hate and destruction of the West, shouldn't we? I found it ridiculous that the Administration didn't do anything about Al Jazeera, for instance, after 9/11 or the Iraq war started.

My sense is that this was idiotic advice from State to "show respect for freedom of the press". I'd bet money on it. Or likewise, why don't we bomb the hell out of religious schools in Pakistan, let's say, that preach Islamofascism? Or assassinate Muslim leaders the preach terrorism? (Hell, the Brits practically treat nutty Imams in their country like they have diplomatic immunity.)

We don't have to show no stinking respect for them just cause it's their "religion". But I don't know where to draw the line on saying what the cause of this idiocy is -- is it multiculturalism gone mad, or just legal reasoning gone loony? I mean, I really do think that part of the problem is an idiotic belief (sorry, I can't help using insults) by our government that we can't just destroy, say, Al Jazeera, cause it would undermine freedom of the press. Or that if we destroy religious schools it will do the same for "freedom of religion".

British Authorities Say Plot to Blow Up Airliners Was Foiled
By ALAN COWELL and DEXTER FILKINS 46 minutes ago
British and American intelligence services had been tracking individual members of the group for several months, officials said, but it was not until late July that the suspected plotters seemed to accelerate their efforts to carry out the attacks.

http://www.lebanonwire.com/0608MLN/06081046AP.asp
Israel May Be Gearing Up for Escalation
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 10, 2006
Filed at 4:38 p.m. ET

IBL EL-SAQI, Lebanon (AP) -- Israel took control of the strategic southern hub of Marjayoun on Thursday and warned that its fight against Hezbollah could grow wider and more severe if diplomacy fails.