Buchanan vs. Sharansky
Written by Jack O'Reilly on February 14th, 2005Full Transcript Here. Can’s say that I believe wholeheartedly in either of them.
Sharansky believes in utopia. The problem with some “neoconservatives” is the emphasis of the NEO part, which definitionally (is that a word?) states they were once liberals and still hold a flawed liberal view of human nature being good.
Question: Who here thinks that parliamentary democracy in Saudi Arabia would be better than the current thugs?
I ask this, keeping in mind Buchanan’s historical observations that we tore down the monarchies during WWI and we got Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin. The French revolution had a democracy before Napoleon ravaged Europe.
The main problem with Buchanan’s position, however, is that it’s too focused on historical causes of Middle Eastern terrorism against the US. Let me explain. If we could go back in time to 1948, I believe the world would be a lot better off if Israel had never been formed in the first place. Heck, I’d have gladly given them the upper peninsula of Michigan to avoid the bloodbaths we’ve endured for the past 50 years.
It is true that our intervention is what has led to the rise of Islamofascism and it’s popular support in the Middle East. But wishing for Israel to have never been created in the first place, is like wishing our cars ran on water instead of gasoline.
We must face the problems of today, and the question is whether or not our current support of Israel helps or hurts our national interest. We have no sacred pact with Israel. I think God will find a way to bring about the Apocalypse without our entangling alliances. (Sorry to offend any Fallwellians).
I believe that if we stopped supporting Israel, they would ultimately be driven into the sea. But the Islamists would not stop there. At this point, they’re coming for us whether or not we support Israel.
But in terms of the general population, we could significantly reduce the recruiting capability and street cred of the al-Qaedists if we were a fair arbiter between the Israelis and Palestinians. How bout a nice Kosher/Hallal dinner where we all sit down and say: “Palestinians, stop blowing yourselves up on busses, and we’ll pull out of our settlements.” We all know it cannot be vice versa because the Palestinians cannot be emboldened to think that terrorism can achieve their political goals.
p.s. I still wholeheartedly support the war in Iraq. Like a Brig. General told me this summer: “We need to win the away game, to keep this from becoming a home game.” This is more important than all the cotton candy, butterflies, and democracy rhetoric. I don’t buy that our actions are creating more terrorists than we’re killing. We’re sending a message: don’t F with us. Islamofascists respect strength. They believe that they’ll never lose a battle if Allah’s on their side. We need to win this one–whatever the cost–to show them, and the rest of the world, that Allah’s on our side.
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AM
“I still wholeheartedly support the war in Iraq. Like a Brig. General told me this summer: “We need to win the away game, to keep this from becoming a home game.” This is more important than all the cotton candy, butterflies, and democracy rhetoric. I don’t buy that our actions are creating more terrorists than we’re killing. We’re sending a message: don’t F with us. Islamofascists respect strength. They believe that they’ll never lose a battle if Allah’s on their side. We need to win this one, whatever the cost, to show them, and the rest of the world, that Allah’s on our side.”
This is the crux of the issue and this is why Buchanan is such a shameful representative of the right. He doesn’t seem to care that now that we are involved in a two front war in the Middle East that we might lose and would lose if we followed his advice. Well I simply won’t tolerate it, we need to lay waste to our enemies, not placate them with concessions vis-à-vis Israel. I could care less about whether or not a Jewish state exists 30 years from now. What I do care about is that we don’t have another Sept. 11th 30 years from now. The idea of attacking America must become so fearsome to these people that they go out of their way to avoid doing so. The Arab world respects power and fear, we must give them ample doses of both. Israel is used as a foil for these people to blame America. The real issue is our presence in the Middle East period, until it ends we are a target, and it ain’t ending until it is in our strategic interest to do so.
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PM
You are outlining a good short-run strategy for fighting the war on terrorism. Quite simply, we have to destroy them before they destroy us. There can’t be any negotiations or pacts, just decisive military action in faraway and distant lands. Withdrawing from Israel won’t make any difference, they hate America because we are the only force that can stand in the way of a Pan-Arab state. Indeed, I would much rather have the terrorists fighting members of the Marine Expeditionary force, than innocent American civilians in shopping malls and office buildings. This is absolutely the only strategy in the short-run.
Still, this is not a viable long term strategy. Pre-emption is great for a while, but it only treats the symptoms. I really believe we must change hearts and minds in the long-run, so that another generation does not grow up in the terrorist mindset. The way to do this is to unshackle the chains on freedom in the Middle East - only free societies can discredit the terrorists’ faulty grievances and resentments that lend legitimacy to their murderous ways. Free societies will give Arabs a stake in society and hope for a better life, thus they are less likely to fall victim to the terrorist mindset. Look at Muslim (not Arab) democracies across the world, many of them are far from perfect, but they are not breeding grounds for terrorists. No “neocon” believes in utopia, they just believe everyone has the capacity to live in freedom. Surely, a free world is far from heaven on earth, just look at our own country. Still, free societies in the long run in the Middle East are in the best interest of American security, but no one expects them to be perfect or model democracies. They will most definitely be flawed, but we can be certain that they will not breed more generations of terrorists.
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I finally got a chance to check out your web page, and I must say that I’m impressed. Hope everything is going well. Take care!