DON'T FORGET HISTORY: MAKE IT

Chuck Colson has this very reasonable warning:

"We Westerners forget history. We forget that from the time Muhammad began writing the Qur'�n in 610 A.D., Islam and the Christian West were engaged in armed conflicts that lasted for a thousand years. Islam even occupied Spain during much of this period, and it wasn't until 1683 that the Ottoman Empire was finally defeated at Vienna.

We see what is happening today as an isolated case of terrorists taking a misguided reading of the Qur'�n. I wish it were that simple. The truth is there's an element in Islam-some estimate as high as 20 percent-who see this battle as a resumption of the thousand years of war. In fact, Osama bin Laden was a student of Mohammed Qutab whose brother, Saeb Qutab, a radical Egyptian Islamist, argued for a resumption of this conflict with the West. Saeb Qutab was thoroughly anti-Semitic, had a burning hatred of the West, and saw its destruction as the world's only hope. And that's what filled the mind of Osama bin Laden.

We're kidding ourselves if we think that containing a few terrorists will allow America to live in peace and safety. We're kidding ourselves if we think we can bring troops home from Iraq and that's the end of the war. This war is going to be with us for generations. Millions of followers of Osama bin Laden and those like him believe that it is their manifest destiny as Muslims to bring about the utter destruction of Jews, Christians, and Western civilization."

What Colson does not mention is that we could end the war with Islam in a couple of months if we chose to. Immediately after the 9/11 attacks, GWB announced a doctrine of community responsibility: Not only the terrorists themselves but the communities that supported them would be held responsible for their deeds. It was that doctrine that took the USA into Afghanistan. It would therefore be a simple implementation of that doctrine to start heavy bombing of communities -- such as Fallujah, Tikrit and Qom -- which supported terrorists. Once the members of such communities got it into their heads that terrorist attacks would be very likely to lead to THEIR deaths, the whole situation would turn around very rapidly. Israel could then do the same with heavy bombing of Gaza, Jenin etc.

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ELSEWHERE

Canada's National Post newspaper has started a blog for its editorial board which is surprisingly conservative. They haven't got permalinks yet but I gather from a couple of postings dated 16th that Canadian Liberal Prime Minister Martin recently said: "Until such time that an election is called, I'm going to govern. That is my priority." That reminds me of a well-known observation by another Leftist: "Our programme is simple. We want to rule Italy" -- the words of Benito Mussolini, the founder of Fascism.

Democrat politicking a danger to America: "Instead of trying to chart a path of progress, many of the president's critics have devoted themselves to fomenting public despair over a war that, they keep repeating, should never have been fought.... The global war on terrorism is not a game from which we can simply walk away when it seems it isn't going our way.... the only deterrent to terrorism is strength... What is weakness? Weakness is when America's leaders compare Iraq to Vietnam, announcing to the world a faltering resolve to see our mission through. To our allies in the Middle East and beyond, these predictions of defeat send a clear and chilling message to hedge their bets, because the United States cannot be counted on. And to our enemies, they send an equally clear message: You can win".

Your government will protect you: "After the 9/11 attacks, the nation's disparate intelligence and law enforcement agencies pledged to team up to create a centralized "terror watch list." The goal: to ensure that al-Qaeda members could not slip into the USA undetected as they did before Sept. 11, 2001. Yet as recently as last month, a top Homeland Security official told Congress the list was still a "work in progress.""

Dick McDonald on Democrat deception: "John Kerry and his media pimps continue to rant about unemployment. He calls it the worst since Hoover. The media splashes his rant all over the planet. Are Kerry and the media that uneducated? FDR had finally got unemployment down to 14% before WWII bailed him out. Bush's 5.7% unemployment factor was "full employment" in my econ 101 class. But times have changed. One can't find truth in today's newspapers or television. The public has to get the truth from other sources. What a sad ocuntry whose only town criers are deeply prejudiced socialists bent on destroying the capitalist system."

It would be more logical to ask Islam to apologize: "The president was asked at least four times at his press conference whether he wanted to take the opportunity to apologize for the 9-11 attacks. It was the press corps in full baying mode". Tyrrell has a good sarcastic comment: "As soon as the press conference ended, I decided that I would ask these know-it-alls if they remembered President Franklin Roosevelt's touching apology to the American people after our Navy and Air Corps were caught utterly unprepared at Pearl Harbor".

The wicked one has some old Chinese proverbs that will be news to most Chinese.

My recipe for today is for chicken tikka, not to be confused with chicken tikka masala. Tasty Indian chicken kebabs (not curried). See here.

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH

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The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

Three more examples of Leftist dishonesty: They blame the 9/11 attacks on "poverty" in the Islamic world. Yet most of the attackers were Saudis and Saudi Arabia is one of the world's richest countries! They also say that they oppose racism yet support "affirmative action" -- which judges people by the colour of their skin! They say that they care about "the poor" but how often do you hear them calling for the one thing that would bring about a worldwide economic boom in poor countries -- the USA and the EU abandoning their agricultural protectionism? Leftists obviously care more about conservative farmers than they do about the poor!

America is engaged in a titanic struggle with hate. The American Left hate America, much of Europe hates America and, most of all, the Islamic fundamentalists hate America. Fortunately America is -- in every sense -- the world's strongest country.

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