If you would like to add a comment to any of the threads here on AADB, registration with blogspot.com is not required. Simply click on the ‘comments’ link at the bottom of an essay, and either enter a nickname under ‘choose an identity’ or post your comment anonymously. Serious comments are always welcome.



REQUIEM

Below are the two final essays to be posted on Allegiance and Duty Betrayed. The first one is written by a friend -- screen name 'Euro-American Scum' -- who, over the past four years, has been the most faithful essayist here. He has written about everything from his pilgrimage to Normandy in 2004 to take part in the 60th–year commemoration of the invasion, to his memories of his tour in Vietnam. His dedication to America’s founding principles ... and those who have sacrificed to preserve them over the past 200+ years ... is unequaled. Thank you, E-A-S. It has been a privilege to include your writing here, and it is a privilege to call you my friend.

The second essay is my own farewell. And with it I thank all of the many regular visitors, and those who may have only dropped in occasionally, for coming here. I hope you learned something. I hope a seed or two was planted. But, even if not, I thank you for stopping by ... 25 March, 2010

8/01/2006

Suicide by Concession

It’s becoming more and more obvious that, in deciding to do away with Hezbollah, Israel may eventually find that she has bitten off more than she can chew. I was not aware until the war on the Israeli/Lebanese border began just how integrated into the culture of Lebanon Hezbollah now is. Ain’t it funny how, with one hand, this cadre of madmen performs all manner of humanitarian gestures (can a gesture be truly ‘humanitarian’ if its intent is to forward a violent, evil, barbaric agenda? ... but I digress ...) for the Lebanese community at large, while, with the other hand, they are indiscriminately using those very same ‘beneficiaries’ as human shields?

And what if Israel does succeed in decimating Hezbollah? What does she then do about those who actually pull the strings (i.e. Iran, Syria ... and, even further backstage, Russia)?

I’m not in any way suggesting that Israel should cut and run. This is one war that needs to be fought to the finish. No more diplomacy. No talk of ceasefire. But the frightening question is, how many enemies is she fighting here? There’s one main visible one, and a myriad of depraved directors behind the scenes.

Chuck Hagel yesterday asked President Bush to push for an immediate ceasefire (stating that America’s link to Israel is a ‘special and historic one … but it need not and cannot be at the expense of our Arab and Muslim relationships’). One would think Senator Hagel considers America’s alliance with Israel as ‘quaint’ or ‘traditional’ (kind of like drinking eggnog at Christmastime). But, according to Senator Hagel, it’s time to let old ‘traditions’ die in deference to our genuine (as opposed to mere traditional) friendships ... with the likes of Islamo-fascists.

And a similar chorus of ceasefire/diplomacy proponents – in politics and the media – is going to grow exponentially over the next few weeks. The whispers are already becoming clearly audible, and will soon swell into a mantra of piercing demands that Israel lay down her weapons and stop ‘brutalizing’ the innocent people of Lebanon. I’ve got one simple scenario for this growing chorus to consider:

Your enemy has been single-mindedly, premeditatedly stationing itself in a convenient geographical location from which to annihilate your homeland – while conveniently buying-off the people of that country with ‘humanitarian’ gifts, and thus succeeding in paying them to look the other way while you import, over a mere few years, tens of thousands of rockets into your offensive military staging point. And this enemy, and its malevolent benefactors, have openly proclaimed that their over-riding destiny consists of annihilating (annihilate: to cause to cease to exist) you. Exactly what would ceasefire/diplomacy accomplish? ... other than to publicize to the world that you have either (1) gone insane, or (2) embraced a death wish.

I read a column a few days ago (darned if I can remember where, and I neglected to copy the by-line when I saved it) that made a powerful point:

Many talk of Israel's right to exist and this is an important point. If the situation were reversed and it was Jews from Morocco to the Philippines and from the Caucus Mountains to the Sudan, and in the middle was this tiny country the size of New Jersey filled with Muslims, well, would all of those Jews be going all out to wipe out that tiny lil’ Muslim nation? I don’t bloody think so.

God bless and strengthen the nation of Israel, and keep her resolute in the face of vile global anti-Semites and leftist ideologues who crave her final suicide by concession.

~ joanie

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Michael Ledeen just published The Thirties All Over Again? in NRO which is spot on:

"The greatest failure of our leaders, with rare exceptions, is their refusal to see the war plain, which means Iran and Syria (might as well call them "Syran," since they operate in tandem, with Tehran pushing most of the buttons). It was never possible to "win in Iraq" so long as we insisted on fighting in Iraq alone. You can not win a regional war by playing defense in one country. It was, and remains, a sucker’s game. Syran pays no price at all for killing our kids and our allies in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now in Gaza and Lebanon/Israel.

Syran reasonably concluded that there was no price to pay for killing us, and so they predictably expanded the scope of the war. Our leaders do not see this whole; they see each component as a separate issue. They see that Hezbollah is an Iranian entity. They see Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers at work in Lebanon and Iraq. They know the best weapons in the war come through Syran and in many cases are manufactured by Syran. Any logical person has to conclude that you cannot win this war without defeating Syran.

But not a single voice comes from the White House to explain this, let alone to craft a strategy to accomplish it. The best foreign-policy speech in a long time — a lucid analysis of the threat of Islamic fascism and several excellent suggestions of how to combat it — was made two weeks ago by Senator Santorum The Great Test of This Generation - Naming and defeating the enemy, Islamic fascism...."

Anonymous said...

I like your "scenario" to ask the chorus that's going to be growing the next couple weeks.

I'd be interested to hear their answer but hell isn't freezing over yet. They don't think they're accountable to anyone.

Anonymous said...

Your excerpt of Ledeen’s article is wonderful, John. I also applaud his ‘ … we are many things, and we are not like the Europeans, many of whom are reviving their anti-Semitic fantasies in an effort to cope with their weakness and irrelevance.’

Bravo! :)

Rick Santorum was a huge disappointment when he endorsed Arlen Specter over the venerable Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania’s 2004 senate race. His, and the President’s, endorsement of Specter cost Toomey the race -- Specter won by less than .5% (point five percent) of the vote.

I wore out shoe leather back in ’94 stumping for Santorum in his first senate campaign, but swore, after his stunt in 2004, never to vote for him again (being something of a hothead at the time, I suppose ... :)

Setting that crucial disappointment aside, Santorum is a breath of fresh air in Washington -- which explains why the latest polls show him 10+% behind Bob Casey, Jr. in the upcoming senate race, and why the DNC is pouring more money into this senate race than any other. What a coup it will be when they dethrone the third most powerful republican in the senate.

Santorum’s recent courageous remarks regarding Islamo-fascism have brought loud screams from the self-righteous media here in Pennsylvania. They are extrapolating, as they always do, and accusing him of branding all Muslims as terrorists. But I believe their indignation has backfired, because Santorum is creeping up slightly in the polls since his heart-stopping speech before the National Press Club a few weeks ago.

But it will be a major uphill climb – maybe even something of an upset – for him to retain his seat come November. Bob Casey is saying all the right things in his campaign commercials (even though he only believes probably ten percent of what he is claiming to embrace), and the DNC money is pouring into Pennsylvania by the millions.

It’s really too bad. If November turns out the way recent polls are predicting, the number of ‘good guys’ in Washington will be reduced by one (which will bring the total pretty darn close to zero).

~ joanie

Anonymous said...

Isreal doesn't care about world opinion. They are even saying that they won't accept UN forces in the buffer zone they are carving out. They would have to be another kind of international force like NATO. Israel knows what they have to do and nobody is going to stop them.

Anonymous said...

Your enemy has been single-mindedly, premeditatedly stationing itself in a convenient geographical location from which to annihilate your homeland – while conveniently buying-off the people of that country with ‘humanitarian’ gifts, and thus succeeding in paying them to look the other way while you import, over a mere few years, tens of thousands of rockets into your offensive military staging point. And this enemy, and its malevolent benefactors, have openly proclaimed that their over-riding destiny consists of annihilating (annihilate: to cause to cease to exist) you. Exactly what would ceasefire/diplomacy accomplish? ... other than to publicize to the world that you have either (1) gone insane, or (2) embraced a death wish.

Fortunately Israel hasn't done either, so to hell with the accusers!

Anonymous said...

Israel, with much consideration, performs what it thinks it can accomplish. Maybe the "pc" world is against Israel, but Israel is fighting for its very existence. If it fails, we fail. And if we fail, radical Islam will succeed. If that happens, maybe the left in this country will finally understand the old saying..."Don't wish for something, you may actually get it."

Anonymous said...

Excellant essay! Great blog! I will be visiting often.

Anonymous said...

It's time to think about impeaching President Bush for cowardice in the face of the enemy. His stabbing Israel in the back proves the man is not only a liar ("You're either for us or against us"?)and unfit to be commander-in-chief of our military.

In November, I intend to vote for the Democrat candidate for U.S. House of Representatives for our district in hopes of giving them a majority.

Bring on the revolution!

Anonymous said...

From Endgame Conservatives by Jed Babbin"

"Mr. Bush's democratization strategy, naive and Wilsonian, has put us in the posture of strategic defense. His original formulation -- that nations are either with us or against us -- has been whittled away to a confrontation - cum - engagement strategy that enables Iran to offer cooperation in Iraq while buying time to build nuclear weapons. The President is in the process of putting the UN in control of the Iran nuclear issue. This will result, in all probability, in allowing Iran enough time to achieve nuclear weapons. In Iraq, we are on the defensive because we haven't taken sufficient action to end the foreign interference that disrupts the nation-building effort. It's time to extricate ourselves from the Wilsonian policy quagmire. Let's press on with this war through the endgame and defeat the enemy decisively on both the military and ideological fronts. When that happens there will be time to encourage the rise of democracy in the Middle East, and many more of its peoples willing to undertake it."

Anonymous said...

Mr. Bush's democratization strategy, naive and Wilsonian, has put us in the posture of strategic defense. His original formulation -- that nations are either with us or against us -- has been whittled away to a confrontation - cum - engagement strategy that enables Iran to offer cooperation in Iraq while buying time to build nuclear weapons. The President is in the process of putting the UN in control of the Iran nuclear issue.

Excellent!

Anonymous said...

From a NY Times article today, title "Israel Seeks Hint of Victory":

Israelis also fear there has been damage done to their relationship with the United States, where some may complain that the Israelis were given time to clobber Hezbollah and did not get the job done.

Israel obviously doesn't know that we like wars won in an instant or we lose patience.

Anonymous said...

When Israel capitulated - at the urging of the U.S. or for some other reason - the silence on the Internet was eerie. It was as if the blogosphere was too shocked to speak.

Now that the horrible truth is starting to set in - that Hezbollah has won and Israel and the U.S. have lost - the recriminations are starting.

From Ha'aretz, Let the devil take tomorrow by Moshe Arens:

"To lead the nation in a war to victory was just too much for them. Too heavy a burden for their narrow shoulders. That trio - Ehud Olmert, Amir Peretz and Tzipi Livni - asked and received a mandate to lead the people of Israel, promising to take our fate into our own hands and unilaterally establish Israel's borders by evacuating Israelis who live in Judea and Samaria, and turn Israel into a country "in which it will be a pleasure to live." We do not know and probably will never know if they would have been up to that task, but we now know they are not fit to govern Israel in these trying times."

Anonymous said...


THE MIDEAST'S MUNICH - War With the Mullas is Coming
by Arthur Herman

"August 16, 2006 -- HISTORIANS will look back at this weekend's cease-fire agreement in Lebanon as a pivotal moment in the war on terror. It is pivotal in the same sense that the Munich agreement between Adolf Hitler and Neville Chamberlain was pivotal in an earlier battle against the enemies of freedom. The accord in October 1938 revealed to the world that the solidarity of the Western allies was a sham, and that the balance of power had shifted to the fascist dictators.

"Resolution 1701 shows that, for the time being at least, the balance has likewise shifted to the terrorists and their state sponsors. Like Munich, it marks the triumph of the principle of putting off until tomorrow what needs to be done today. Like Munich, it will mean not peace in our time, but a bigger war in our future."