The Smell of Fear
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Harrison
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al qaeda appeasement Blackhawk Down Chamberlain Democrats Diplomacy fatwah Khobar Towers Liberals Obama Osama bin Laden Somalia Terrorism USS Cole
Peace in our time soon leads to war.
All of the talk by the Obama administration of opening up a “dialogue” with regimes such as Iran and North Korea has reminded me of former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. Not only did Chamberlain not oppose Germany’s absorption of Austria in the Anschluss but he also signed the Munich Agreement in 1938 which allowed Germany to carve out a large swath of Czechoslovakia so as to “safe guard” the safety of ethnic Germans. Upon his return to England, Chamberlain said:
The peoples of the British Empire were at one with those of Germany, of France and of Italy, and their anxiety, their intense desire for peace, pervaded the whole atmosphere of the conference, and I believe that that, and not threats, made possible the concessions that were made.
Ever since I assumed my present office my main purpose has been to work for the pacification of Europe, for the removal of those suspicions and those animosities which have so long poisoned the air. The path which leads to appeasement is long and bristles with obstacles. The question of Czechoslovakia is the latest and perhaps the most dangerous. Now that we have got past it, I feel that it may be possible to make further progress along the road to sanity.
Of course, history records that Adolf Hitler, smelling weakness, moved in for the kill and, after signing the “agreement” not to start a war went on to do just that sending untold millions to their deaths. The times are different but the lessons are the same.
To those who say that the United States “poisoned” the “world atmosphere” through aggressive, unilateral actions it is important to remember that Islamic terrorism existed before September 11, 2001. Former President Bill Clinton was tested numerous times during his two terms by Islamic terrorists:
- 1993 – The first World Trade Center bombing
- 1996 – Khobar Towers bombing – Saudi Arabia
- 1998 – U.S. Embassy bombings Kenya/Tanzania
- 2000 – USS Cole Bombing – Yemen
Let us also not forget the debacle which occurred in 1993 Somalia when American soldiers were killed and one had his body dragged through the streets. This event was chronicled in the movie Blackhawk Down. Every president faces tests… the point is not what happened but why it happened.
After the body of the U.S. soldier was dragged in the streets and broadcast on CNN and other news networks instead of rooting out the culprits, former President Bill Clinton withdrew all American troops. The result was he showed how weak his leadership and, by extension, the United States, was.
Our enemies (that’s right… enemies) were watching and learning. Just what does “showing weakness” get the United States? It is no coincidence that after the incident in Somalia and former President Clinton’s cowardly withdraw of American forces al Qaeda staged no fewer than four attacks on the United States and Osama bin Laden declared war no fewer than three times.
Osama bin Laden took a powerful lesson from the actions of former President Clinton. In bin Laden’s own words he said (I have put certain words in bold) :
Few days ago the news agencies had reported that the Defence Secretary of the Crusading Americans had said that “the explosion at Riyadh and Al-Khobar had taught him one lesson: that is not to withdraw when attacked by coward terrorists“.
We say to the Defence Secretary that his talk can induce a grieving mother to laughter! and shows the fears that had enshrined you all. Where was this false courage of yours when the explosion in Beirut took place on 1983 AD (1403 A.H). You were turned into scattered pits and pieces at that time; 241 mainly marines solders were killed. And where was this courage of yours when two explosions made you to leave Aden in lees than twenty four hours!
But your most disgraceful case was in Somalia; where- after vigorous propaganda about the power of the USA and its post cold war leadership of the new world order- you moved tens of thousands of international force, including twenty eight thousands American solders into Somalia. However, when tens of your solders were killed in minor battles and one American Pilot was dragged in the streets of Mogadishu you left the area carrying disappointment, humiliation, defeat and your dead with you. Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threatening and promising revenge , but these threats were merely a preparation for withdrawal. You have been disgraced by Allah and you withdrew; the extent of your impotence and weaknesses became very clear. It was a pleasure for the “heart” of every Muslim and a remedy to the “chests” of believing nations to see you defeated in the three Islamic cities of Beirut , Aden and Mogadishu.
Liberals do not like to discuss these kinds of things because it takes the subject into an area where they feel uncomfortable: “unilateral actions” and concepts such as “showing weakness” and the role of religion. Liberals instead want to be touchy-feely and find a way to “resolve differences” and open a “dialogue.” These things might be fine when the U.S. is arguing with the European Union over straight versus curved bananas but when it comes to a battle over the type of civilization we will have or whether the murder of innocents is justified by god or not this approach is not going to meet with any success.
Our enemies are not stupid nor are they complacent. The messages that the United States sends out are not ignored nor are they forgotten. Although I am willing to give President Obama the benefit of the doubt when it comes to making the tough decisions, his speeches in Europe did not do much to warm my heart.
People like Osama bin Laden are listening and making their plans.
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10:46 AM
Gee, Harrison, fear-mongering is such a noble enterprise. I also noticed your “selective” recitation of history.
Btw, Bush 41 got us in to Somalia. Clinton was left with cleaning up a mess. If you recall, we eventually withdrew, because at that point in time, the US was unprepared to do wage war in urban areas on foreign soil. A fact Bush 41 failed to consider.
10:59 AM
The facts show that the U.S. had the troops there to defend themselves and even if G.H.W. Bush didn’t send “enough” Clinton could have easily sent more but it wasn’t until CNN displayed a U.S. soldier’s body being dragged through the streets half naked did Clinton end the mission. The two incidents (body dragging and pull out) happened so closely to one another that they were related. The reason was P.R. driven foreign policy.
There was nothing “selective” about the examples I used as Chamberlain’s “peace in our time” is perhaps the most infamous example of appeasement leading to greater conflict later and Osama bin Laden’s own words make it very clear he learned something valuable.
I suppose if somebody suggested that it is wise to keep one’s doors and windows locked when they are away from home they could be accused of “fear mongering” when, in fact, it is simply commonsense.
4:37 PM
Harrison,
This sounds to me like the same old right wing rhetoric that we heard during the Bush years. Because of America’s penchant for taking unilateral military action whenever we feel “dissed”, our country has become a pariah among nations. The swaggering “shoot first and ask questions later” attitude has done nothing but make us a target for every piss-ant dictator who wants to gain fame by trash talking the “big guy”. Chavaz of Venezuela is a case in point.
Fortunately, the Obama administration is acting rationally by trying to establish a dialogue with nations we have gone out of our way to alienate over the last eight years. If you want to call that “touchy-feely” that’s okay with me. Yes, the world is a dangerous place, and yes there are nations and terrorist groups who want to do us harm; but we will never be able to make the world safe for democracy by blasting them all to oblivion. Its time that we grow up and out aside all our military toys for a while.
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6:19 PM
You forget a few facts along the way. Kennedy was not “touchy feely” with the Soviets during the Cuban Missile Crisis and, indeed, his “unilateralist” polices forced them to cancel plans to base nuclear weapons in our hemisphere.
Furthermore, Reagan acted “unilaterally” by placing MX nuclear missiles in Europe which forced the hands of the Soviet Union into true negotiations for a reduction in nuclear missiles. At the time the world screamed that “Raygun” was going to lead us all to WW3. It didn’t happen. Had he been “touchy feely” with them and not walked out of the 1986 Reykjavik summit because the Soviets wanted us to give up SDI he would not have demonstrated his seriousness. The Soviets, unable to compete economically, fell within 3 years. That is called dealing from strength.
Carter, on the other hand, made the following statements:
“Certainly we have no desire or ability to intrude massive forces into Iran or any other country . . .”
“This is something that we have no intention of ever doing in another country. We’ve tried this once in Vietnam. It didn’t work, as you well know.”
Carter also wrote to the Soviet Union’s leader:
of America’s and the Soviet Union’s “common efforts towards formation of a more peaceful, just and humane world,” adding, “I hope that our countries can cooperate more closely in order to promote the development, better diet and more substantive life” of the world’s poor.
The Soviet Union, in Afghanistan, made landmines look like children’s toys. That’s how naive Carter was.
The Soviet Union promptly invaded Afghanistan leading to a war that drew in the United States, enabled the Taliban to take hold once the U.S.S.R. left, then allowed Osama bin Laden to set up camp there.
That’s where “touchy feely” got us.
And I find it curious you ignore the central part of the article… the words of Osama bin Laden where he clearly says:
“Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threatening and promising revenge , but these threats were merely a preparation for withdrawal.”
al Qaeda then launched no fewer than 5 terrorist attacks against this country after Clinton’s pull out of troops in Somalia.
It is too early to tell how things go with Obama but, if history is any guide, it is not going to be a good ride.
And Obama’s trip to Europe produced nothing in hand, just more promises of things that had already been promised.
6:24 PM
You’re way ahead of me on the ‘benefit of the doubt’ scale.
And all the truth in the world won’t stop the leftists from rewriting history (and not just in textbooks, mind you.)
Imagine my surprise to learn I had remembered it wrong all along: that terrorism committed in the name of Allah never existed before President Bush (unless they’re losing an argument and need to play the Beirut card) and that President Bush alienated our good friends the art-loving, historic statue preserving, artifact guardians the Taliban of Afghanistan?
I can’t decide if I should send my teen to college with a tinfoil hat or stick to my first instinct which is to bolt the doors shut to keep her away from their poison.
6:30 PM
President Obama has only been in office a very short time. I think it only fair to reserve final judgement until after we have been able to see what he does. I do not like the trend but do not have enough information to make any type of final decision yet.
“Europe” did not “work” with us because they said GW Bush was a “cowboy” but this was not the real reason. Now, after Obama’s visit their and the essentially non-existent results he took home it will be interesting to see what their new excuse will be.
7:08 AM
We remember the occurrence in Somalia 1993, oh so well . My husband was deployed in the region and he said it was so unreal. It was as though they had make us beleivers. As far as, the current President he definitely have a tough and long road in the days and months.
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