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Soon the calls to end the battle and retreat back to ignorant bliss and the shrill demand for cessation of  attacks will be heard.  But, as this essay warns, a turning point has been reached and our course cannot be abandoned without encouraging even worse events to come.  Instead of sound bites of one or two syllables the mainline media has used to describe the ongoing fight, MILNET presents an essay on what this battle really means and where it came from.

Once Begun, the Battle Must Continue

As each new success in the War Against Terrorism heartens us, the time is coming when the voices of dissent will raise in their calls for an end to the violence, call for an early peace and an end to war.  As in times past, the appeasers will confuse themselves with peacemakers and set out on their noble mission to reign in the power of America.  But this war is not a simple battle won or even a man taken.  It is a war that will need to be won over many battles and like World War II consists of major campaigns on several fronts.

To understand the rationale for this view of the War on Terrorism, you will need some new tools, a new look at civilization, modernization and the clash betweens these and the principles of culture, language and religion that have pervaded nearly every war in the past.  For those looking for a learned and in-depth study of the subject, we call attention to "Clash of Civilizations" - Remaking of World Order" by Samuel P. Huntington, Touchstone Publications, 1997.

Idealogy

A simple analysis might yield only ideology as the rationale for such a war, but that is such an over-simplification that we cannot let it stand.  Many historians have beat their drum to the clash between the third world nations and those who have risen to modern wisdom and strength before them.  The small guy versus the giants, waging a war to achieve dominance in a world that is as foreign to them as their idealogies are to those in power.

Granted  ideology is embodied in the Islamic Jihad, the idea that pure Muslim's cannot live together with any religion and some interpretations say that the taking of the life of infidels or Muslim brethern tainted by the infidels is a path to heaven.  And there are passages in the Koran that speak of Jihad against those seeking to destroy Islam.  Just as the Christian Bible speaks of the lord God smiting the enemies of the chosen and Moses leading God's people out of the hands of their oppressors.

Turning Points

Civilizations grow and wither, yet a number of religions, cultures and languages have survived.  At each fall, civilization's remnents remind us that a people can be all too fleeting in the eyes of history.  All reach the turning point where their very survival can be decided.

And that is where we are today.  Now we stand at the fork.  The so called Western values are being challenged by those who would destroy us.  Why?  Not just because of religion or culture or that mythical thing we have heard called "Western Values".  There is no such thing as "Western Values"..  The cause of the terrorist is certainly not centered around language.  And oddly enough, ideals are only partially the fuel of this battle.  According to nearly all historians whether they be "Western" or not, analysts of history, cultures, and civilizations all agree that one ideal has remained the key characteristic between those who have flourished in the last few centuries and those who now wish to destroy us.

Freedom of Choice

With freedom of choice comes  personal dignity and the right to choose for yourself.  Granted choices are laid on us by events and conditions around us that make some choices seem implausible if not impossible, yet we are allowed to make the decisions for ourselves, right or wrong.  A young woman in modern society decides to master the art of study so that she can have the skills necessary become a young, bright, new medical student, and a young man chooses to follow his father and grandfather into military service.  Another chooses to remain in the small town, while his friend chooses to move to the Metropolis.  A young farmer stays with his third generation farmer father, while next door the young woman attends law school and becomes a U.S. Senator.

Choices like these are found worldwide, in Europe, Africa, South America, and yes even in the Middle East.

If you look where freedom of choice flourishes, you now see the target of those who despise and hate its wonder.  Look at the most prosperous Middle Eastern country today and you will find its people struggling to fight off murderous intent to destruction of their economy, people and way of life.  Israel stands as a star of freedom of choice, including the nearly insane concept of allowing a many centuries old and clearly murderous enemy to live within its very borders.

So is this war between haves and have-nots?  Perhaps.  But not the cruel economic rule of the rich and poor, the high class and the low.  No, it is more about those who have freedom of choices and those who repudiate those choices.  The Koran speaks of modeling one self to the image of God, performing good deeds in life on this planet to reap rewards in Heaven.  Much like the Judeo-Christian teachings, Islam fosters living with a good heart, the clean life, the compassionate and the giving to those in need.  So how does this beautiful religion come to become the centerpiece of such awesome destructive power and reach?

A Re-Introduction to Evil

U.S. President George Bush and his administration, and specifically the Secretaries of State and Defense are united in their unequivical description of this horrible force.  It is evil.  Just as an evil man might turn the teachings of Judeo-Christian believes to his own evil uses, so have many done with the teachings of Islam.

It is not Islamic believes and ideology that America and our allies fight against, but those who have subverted those believes to serve an evil purpose.  The appeasers say, "understand what has brought us to this point', as if we have "asked for" the barbarism that threatens us.  This approach flys in the face of a major contributor to our dilemma, the appearance of weakness and quibbling over political correctness and over-reaction to racial injustice that no longer permits a policeman or a reporter from identifying a suspect in a murder by the obvious description - the color of his skin and his racial or ethinic background.  With the pendulum swung so far to the left that we cannot protect ourselves from those who sincerely and happily will go about killing anyone they please and in huge numbers.

Preversion Within

The war we fight is as much against stupidity in our country that has police buearacrats refusing to interview based upon the real world profile of the those in our borders who threaten us, as it is against the terrorists themselves.  If we follow the logic of these people, a terrorist is only a terrorist when he has killed one of us, not before.  If we allow the air-heads to continue to disarm our police and federal agencies, the best place for a terrorist to live and threaten us will be right down the street from us.  We must refuse to let that fact continue to plague us.

So then the war must continue until those who would subvert this great people, religion and culture are removed from the face of the earth.  We need to put a face,  a name for those people practicing this perversion.  Use a name that does not identify with Islam or Muslim nations, because it is not entirely nations or the religions and majority of idealogies that we face.  It is a select few that preach the hate and destruction.  It is almost as if Satan or the Devil is amongst us.  Thus we here the word evil and evil-doer used over and over again.   The litany applies because we refuse to take the bait and identify an innocent people and religion with the atrocities.  An 11 year old will simply call them "the bad people" and understand immediately who we mean, if not the particular characteristics of which we speak.

The human condition has improved over centuries of modernization of human civilizations and today we live in a time where the greatest opportunities for self-realization are abundant in over 75% of the globe.  Not all embued with the so-called Western culture, but yet all practing self-determination for its peoples.  And those we are now seeking to destroy are happy to place before us their delight in their torture, murder and subjugation of any religion other than their own, and even more frightening to modern peoples, horrible and agregious assaults on the basic human rights of their own female populations.

This 7th century barbarism cannot continue.  This attack on freedom of choice and abundant economic and human condition cannot go unpunished.  This use of terrorism must stop and will stop.  Therefore the war must go on until the scourge is removed from the face of our planet.

But within our country, it is clear that a decade of polictical correctness and inter-racial relations gone astray has put us in the position of relying soley on our government to protect us.  Just as the left designed it.  Example:  Insane police chiefs who refuse to help the FBI question members of middle eastern communities in their state or city because it is singling them out racially or by religon.  Think about it.  German infiltrators during World War II intent on sabotage would be protected by the Portland, Oregon police deparment.  Ludicrous.  That is clearly a danger within.

The Call to War

Outside our country, those who would harbor the terrorist, feed or support him will find they are targets.  Thin excuses will not avail them of mercy.  Those who practice the skills of the terrorist in their own country or cheer the terrorist on, or subjugate their own people in the teachings of hatred rather than co-existence and tolerance of modern cultures, will become the grist in the war machine.  As Churchill proclaimed, ".  We will not stop, we will not yield.  We will fight them where they stand".  And we we would add, "we will fight them in whatever hole they hide and wherever they try to run".

And while some might perceive our reasonable approach and compassion to the people unable to resist or throwever these tyrants as a weakness, we know that what we do is not evil.  We are applying ourselves to a battle for survival of modern and human oriented ideals that surpass the simple test of a civilization, go further than the tenants of a religion and fly in the face of restrictive idealogies that do not stand for the basic human rights to freedom.

We all have the right to choose.  And we choose to survive this 21st century threat that has existed for decades and now has blossomed to real threat in the here and now.  And awakened to the inevitable battle for survival, we choose now to end it.  And if it takes decades to achieve so be it.  In the end, our right to live in peace, grow without fear and choose to live our lives with a good heart and without acrimony towards those who to choose live with us, gives us the right to also choose to survive, even if that survival means the destruction of an evil idea that threatens the very heart of this and future generations..

Refuse The Appeasers

So when the appeasers stand to say "enough", we must answer with our strength of conviction, "only when the evil is gone".

We will quibble about what "gone" means when the measure is immeasurable, worry about "enough" when we can no longer find the evil we have been chasing.  Then and only then will we have the luxury of debating what constitutes enough and how small the evil has become.  The battle will be over when the targets can no longer be found.

When the total count of evil-doers is in the tens instead of hundreds or thousands, then perhaps we will have at last reached the time when we can once again debate the finer points of civilization and what it means to be a modern, caring civilization.  For now, we must focus on our survival.  Focus on the means to identify those who mingle with, bring money to, feed or house terrorists.

And band together with all nations who face this same challenge.  We must not fail to recognize other nations who face our peril, especially those who now face it day to day, have faced it for decades, and who of late, have not felt the brotherhood and support that we once gave them.  It is time to stand side-by-side with those dedicated to the survival of our ideals of freedom and the rights of choice.  Only if we do this we will see the end of the menace that threatens us and sadly will threaten us for some time to come.

A Simple Course

The concept our government's leaders have laid out for us is simple and easy to understand.  Our human potential is for further growth, whether it be basic human economies or the basic freedoms to choose, learn and flourish with improvements in our daily lifes.  And we cannot do that under the threat of hundreds if not thousands of people who will stop at nothing to destroy us.

Today is a frightening time yet we choose to be strong and resolute.  We choose to be vigilant and aggressive in our efforts toward survival  instead of  foolish introspection while the murders continue to kill our people.  We choose to reject the image of Nero fiddling while Rome burns, and instead choose to take the battle to our enemy with vigor and as much rapidity as we can muster.

We won't stop in Afghanistan.  When the time is right and the evidence clear enough, we will move to the next den of murderers and go after those who would threaten us either directly or through the threat of sales to terrorists of weapons of mass destruction.  Anyone with more than half a brain worries about the terrorist with nuclear, biological or chemical weapons and now that we have finally awakened to the depth of depravity of our enemies, we can no longer stand by and watch while the supporters of terrorists help them or directly give or sell them these weapons.

When the murderers are no longer a threat to us, then we can lean back and once again contemplate the finer points of our modern civilization.  But that is not now.  The battle must continue.
 

© Copyright 2001, Michael Crawford - MILNET

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