Patriot Day
I am in Afghanistan now because five years ago today the United States was attacked. It was a brilliantly executed plan and extremely successful. Close to three thousand people died at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a small patch of land near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Smarter people than me have written reams of material explaining why we were attacked and how we should have responded. I want you all to know what I think.
We Westerners are by and large good people who try to do right by our families. We have a lifestyle that would make Solomon blush because of how we define our relationships with each other and our government. Westerners live with consensual government, free inquiry, innovative enterprise, and rationalism. We place a high value on freedom and individualism.
Our enemy, Islamic Fascists, hate us for what we are yet want the toys we create (cell phones, advanced weaponry, cars, etc). They believe Westerners are decadent and immoral yet the vast majority of Westerners willingly choose to abide by Christian principles. They believe in a government by decree and fatwa and we Westerners prefer the freewheeling mess of a representative democracy. There is no such thing as dissent in their eyes yet we tolerate a level of insult and epithet in order to protect free speech. Westerners believe in civic duty and responsibility and they treat civic positions as a way to enrich themselves and their tribe. They believe if something happens or doesn’t happen, inch’Allah (Allah wills it) whereas Westerners have a more rational and systematic approach to make things happen. Everything that is wrong with them is the fault of the West, not their own sordid and repressive culture. They treat their own women like chattel and keep them under wraps whereas Western women are free and independent. When a Western woman marries she made the decision, not her family.
So who are these Islamic Fascists anyway? They are Sunni and Shia and are found all over the world. Thanks to the Middle East Research Institute we Westerners can read for ourselves the vitriol purveyed to the masses of the Islamic world. Our problem as Westerners is that so many of us don’t believe there is a threat. Amazingly, there are Westerners who actually believe Western society is not worth saving and welcome any attacks from Islamic Fascists as justified.
I have seen the enemy and trust me on this, it ain’t us. I have watched Taliban videos where men who taught at government schools are shown being interrogated and then cut to where they are bound, blindfolded, and lying on the ground. While being held down their heads were hacked off by a man using a small dull knife. On other videos I have seen men sign up for Jihad, do a video will, and then see their pictures with a date and location of their suicide attacks with a claimed number of killed.
Some people like Jack Layton of the Canadian New Democratic Party suggest that we can negotiate with the Taliban. Based on what I have seen, not bloody likely. To an Easterner negotiation is an extension of the conflict whereas Westerners view negotiation as an end to conflict. We Westerners must not be seduced by the siren song of “negotiation”, we just have to kill them.
The last major shooting war where we fought Fascists was WWII. We never negotiated with the Germans, Italians, and the Japanese. The Western way of war is based on killing the enemy on an industrial scale. We have not really started killing Islamic Fascists in large enough numbers to actually change their minds about their Fascist ideology nor have we engaged all of the regimes that promote that ideology.
Therein lays the rub. We are in a war whether we like or not. The Islamic Fascists started it! To all those people in the United States and the Western world who think that we can just pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan and the problem will just go away are sadly mistaken. The Islamic Fascists will keep coming and coming until we as a society make the decision to finally deal with them once and for all.
Think about that when you are going about your business on Patriot Day.
CIAO’
CPT NightHawk
Smarter people than me have written reams of material explaining why we were attacked and how we should have responded. I want you all to know what I think.
We Westerners are by and large good people who try to do right by our families. We have a lifestyle that would make Solomon blush because of how we define our relationships with each other and our government. Westerners live with consensual government, free inquiry, innovative enterprise, and rationalism. We place a high value on freedom and individualism.
Our enemy, Islamic Fascists, hate us for what we are yet want the toys we create (cell phones, advanced weaponry, cars, etc). They believe Westerners are decadent and immoral yet the vast majority of Westerners willingly choose to abide by Christian principles. They believe in a government by decree and fatwa and we Westerners prefer the freewheeling mess of a representative democracy. There is no such thing as dissent in their eyes yet we tolerate a level of insult and epithet in order to protect free speech. Westerners believe in civic duty and responsibility and they treat civic positions as a way to enrich themselves and their tribe. They believe if something happens or doesn’t happen, inch’Allah (Allah wills it) whereas Westerners have a more rational and systematic approach to make things happen. Everything that is wrong with them is the fault of the West, not their own sordid and repressive culture. They treat their own women like chattel and keep them under wraps whereas Western women are free and independent. When a Western woman marries she made the decision, not her family.
So who are these Islamic Fascists anyway? They are Sunni and Shia and are found all over the world. Thanks to the Middle East Research Institute we Westerners can read for ourselves the vitriol purveyed to the masses of the Islamic world. Our problem as Westerners is that so many of us don’t believe there is a threat. Amazingly, there are Westerners who actually believe Western society is not worth saving and welcome any attacks from Islamic Fascists as justified.
I have seen the enemy and trust me on this, it ain’t us. I have watched Taliban videos where men who taught at government schools are shown being interrogated and then cut to where they are bound, blindfolded, and lying on the ground. While being held down their heads were hacked off by a man using a small dull knife. On other videos I have seen men sign up for Jihad, do a video will, and then see their pictures with a date and location of their suicide attacks with a claimed number of killed.
Some people like Jack Layton of the Canadian New Democratic Party suggest that we can negotiate with the Taliban. Based on what I have seen, not bloody likely. To an Easterner negotiation is an extension of the conflict whereas Westerners view negotiation as an end to conflict. We Westerners must not be seduced by the siren song of “negotiation”, we just have to kill them.
The last major shooting war where we fought Fascists was WWII. We never negotiated with the Germans, Italians, and the Japanese. The Western way of war is based on killing the enemy on an industrial scale. We have not really started killing Islamic Fascists in large enough numbers to actually change their minds about their Fascist ideology nor have we engaged all of the regimes that promote that ideology.
Therein lays the rub. We are in a war whether we like or not. The Islamic Fascists started it! To all those people in the United States and the Western world who think that we can just pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan and the problem will just go away are sadly mistaken. The Islamic Fascists will keep coming and coming until we as a society make the decision to finally deal with them once and for all.
Think about that when you are going about your business on Patriot Day.
CIAO’
CPT NightHawk
posted by CPT NightHawk at 16:01
2 Comments:
Son I have to tell you that you make your Dad's wife proud. It is men like you who will keep our women and children safe and free.
Be ever watchful and careful as you are truly missed back here in Missouri.
You should know but I'll tell you anyway I couldn't love you more if you was my own.
Donna
Captain,
I have to tell you. I spend a good part of each day reading blogs and political commentary. However, I've never seen things summed up as clearly and concisley as you have done in this very short piece. Thank you for your service, keep your head down, and keep up the good work.
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