The American Spectator

Setbacks in war are not arguments against war. The fact that Turkey has different interests than the United States is not an argument for our government not protecting us. The fact that many in the world are willing to fight to the last American doesn’t impress me at all.

Mr. Corry’s argument seems to be to bide our time and hope that something really bad will not happen (something bad already happened!). Unlike him I won’t put my faith in the rationality of Saddam Hussein. In fact the premise seems so flawed by his past behavior that any reasoning that goes forward from this premise is delusional. We have spent over twenty years ignoring the alarming rhetoric coming out of the Middle East. We have seen an escalating attack on Americans and American interests which led to the massacre of nearly 3,000 innocent Americans on American soil. These attacks were facilitated by Nations like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Pakistan, and of course France.

The fantasy that nation states don’t play the pivotal role in terror needs to be abandoned. These states must change or be wiped out. Inaction will only encourage bolder and more ruthless attacks. I believe Mr. Corry has pointed out legitimate dangers ahead. These dangers however came about through our past appeasement and “head in the sand” foreign policy. If we fail to act we will face far greater threats in the not to distant future.

p>I have noticed among dissenters of both the left and right an interesting case of projection. In their view we are not considering the consequences of our actions. This of course is not true. There has been at minimum a very public discussion of many risks and attempts to mitigate them. This process is useful. What I don’t hear from the dissenters is what are the consequences of inaction. Mr. Corry offered nothing to replace the government’s policy other than the implied Clinton approach to radical Islam and North Korea. br> — Clif Briner /p>

Your theme, that the “bully boys” are bound to have their way, was repeated far too many times. You want to be taken seriously, as an “intelligent conservative,” and then you besmirch the freedom-bringers by repeatedly referring to them as “”bullies.” As for your contention that the poor backward people in the Middle East can’t embrace democracy, which you say is, what, a day dream — just before reading your con article, I read the WSJ online’s “On the Ground,” in northern Iraq, up-to-date which sure tells me you are out to lunch, and if truth be told, an elitist.

Maybe there will be some horrendous events, over the next decades, as some of the more radical Islamofascists do get more radical, using conventional weapons. Guess what? It’s going to happen, no matter what. You are going to have big-time egg on your face, IMHO, when the aftermath of freeing Iraq turns up the gory details you try to sweep under the rug. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, even in the best of situations, and the dictators in the Middle East, led by Saddam, are quite adept at hiding the truth. So, watch out! Chirac is going to be toast.

I suppose there will always be a “respectable” point of view, intellectually honest, that believes in isolationism for America. We all love the story of an ostrich putting its head in the sand, which could be applied to this position. But, did you know that is not a true habit for that bird? Expanding on this, it’s far past the time for Americans to, not just grudgingly, but happily, with full power and engagement, realize that the Earth is now one. True isolationism means to spend a while not venturing too far out in space! While we get our human race in order, and courageously face down the death bringers, who now have WMD at hand.

You are right about one thing. When Iraq goes democratic, Saudi Arabia must be soon to go, so all that free money the rulers now buy their regal lifestyle with, by funding Wahhabism and terrorists all over the globe, will be cut off, and spread out to the masses there. This is a sine qua non, if we are to avoid further wretched calamities.

p>To end on a semi-humorous note — as that noted Surgeon General under Bill Clinton, Joycelyn Elders, once said—-“We all die of something ,” so, be not faint of heart, in the coming hours of humanities life-or-death struggle. The brave humans who are to die protecting and spreading freedom