What Is Going On?

We will not tolerate these attacks by outlaw states. We will not cave in. - Ronald Reagan

I saw a group of terrorist-apologizing, anti-war zealots engaged in one of their frequent protests today. They carried a banner that read “We stand for peace and tolerance.” Their message was that all the problems in the world are caused by America, that the Muslims are peace loving freedom fighters, and that somehow, the Iraqis were better under Saddam than they are today (just don't ask for specifics). Despite studies that show Iraqi citizens today are safer than even citizens in Washington, D.C., they felt the need to continue to speak the lie that the situation in Iraq is getting worse.

Even though none of them have ever been there, even though none of them have ever spoken with a soldier who believes strongly in his mission, even though they live in the freedom guaranteed to them by those who are willing to serve, they insist that a little tolerance, understanding, and hugs will solve the problem that 1500 years of human history has not.

Muslim extremism did not begin after America rose to prominence. Islamofascists have been terrorizing the Middle East for as long as Islam has been around. Where do the liberals learn their history? How can any rational human being deny the clear record of violence?

The Muslim hatred of the Jews did not being with America's support for an independent Jewish state. The Muslim conquest of the Iberian peninsula began and ended long before Europeans first set foot on the North American continent. The Muslim subjugation of blacks up and down the African coast went on for nearly 1000 years before the first slave was brought to America. The attack on the USS Cole, the Khobar Towers bombing, and the killing of Marines in Beruit all predate America's involvement in Iraq. The senseless destruction of the stone Buddhas in Afghanistan had nothing to do with America. Muslims don't hate westerners because America is in the region. America is in the region because of the intolerant Muslim hatred of westerners. That is reality. It is incomprehensible to me how anyone can believe that withdrawing from Iraq will change this.

America has tried appeasement before. During the 1790s, America was a fledgling democracy far from the “civilized” part of the world. American merchant ships were seized by the Barbary pirates right along with the ships of the other western nations, not because they were American, but because they were not Muslim. All western nations were forced to pay tribute for the “privilege” of safe passage. Hundreds of citizens were sold into slavery. America sent emissaries to negotiate with the Pacha who promptly sold the emissaries into slavery as well. Appeasement does not work. It cannot work. There is no Islamic word for “truce” despite what the MSM and various Hollyweirdos are telling you.

The only thing Islam understands is force, and it wasn't until the US Navy succeeded in blockading and cannonading Tripoli while the Marines fought a heroic battle at the gates that the Muslim pirates stopped harassing American merchant ships. However, the US Navy was compelled to return to the region following the War of 1812 as a show of force to prevent a resurgence of the pirates. The Pacha was finally beaten into submission and the tribute ended. This was not a truce. This was the “regrouping” which the Koran allows (regrouping, of course, being the proper translation of the Islamic word). This was also the first time the entire free world had their collective posterior saved by America. It was not the last.

From the early 1800's to 1980, Muslim extremists did not cease their jihad, they merely pursued other targets because they perceived the American military to be too strong to engage directly. In the 1980s, the Islamofascists believed they were finally in a position of strength and the attacks on American interests resumed. However, they sought to avoid provoking America into a direct confrontation. Relying on terrorist activities, they instead sought to influence public opinion to force America to withdraw from the Middle East so that they could pursue their conquest unimpeded. Even today, the small number of jihadis try to avoid direct battle with the American soldiers because they are weak and we are strong.

But they are not stupid. The entire world saw what happens when America loses the political will to continue a fight. The more the liberals and MSM portrayed the negatives of Viet Nam, the more the average American turned against the war effort and what it meant. Even though we were winning the war, the negative sentiment forced America to “cut and run,” dooming millions to death and millions more to a life of misery under Communist rule. Now, the terrorist's best friend is the American liberal and his MSM allies. Their only goal is to cause just enough havoc to get on the 6 O'Clock news in the hopes that one more citizen will sour on the effort to bring democracy to another desperate people.

In the meantime, we sit and watch as the Hollyweird liberal elite spout anti-American drivel and chastise soldier and sailor alike. Every casualty is hyped out of all proportion while they decry the very country that made them multi-millionaires. And despite the purported hatred of America, not a single one of them has chosen to leave for Iraq or Mexico, or even Canada. Today more and more films and TV shows are made in Canada because of very favorable movie-industry tax structures and the lack of unionized labor. The very liberals who talk about the “illegal war for oil” and the “exploitation of the poor soldiers” are more than happy to flee the high wages demanded by their fellow liberal union workers in order to keep more money for themselves. All the while telling the rest of us that they know better than us what is good for America.

Recently, the Democratic Party asked Martin Sheen to run for Senate from Ohio. When declining, he said “You've confused celebrity for credibility.” If only Martin would take his own advice and just shut up. For one brief moment, one of the worst of the Hollyweird crowd had a lucid thought in which he realized that he was not in fact an expert on foreign policy. He was not an expert on public policy. In point of fact, the only thing he was expert at was standing where someone else told him and saying words someone else wrote. And this is the icon of the liberal left?

Irresponsible Congressmen like John Murtha and Lynn Woolsely are calling for an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Woolsley even wears her hatred of America like a badge of honor by criticizing her less liberal Democratic opponent for Congress for not endorsing the “cut and run” mantra. They are encouraging college students to break the law and deny military recruiters from campuses around the country. Rather than chastise them, the MSM gives them glowing endorsements and free publicity. Where are the feminists criticizing the Islamic treatment of women? Where are the liberals complaining about forced dress codes, the lack of a free press, and mandatory attendance at religious services? This is insane. These are all things about which they routinely hold press conferences when they find it in America.

It's not rocket science. America did not ask for this fight, but we will finish it. If we give in to the liberals' wishes and flee from our responsibilities, we will condemn even more people to a life of terror and misery, worse than anything the Communists in Viet Nam were able to “accomplish.”