Writing in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, columnist Amir Taheri outlined
the popular strategic thought currently circulating in the Middle East. It comes from the speeches of Hassan Abbasi
who is billed as the "Professor of Strategy" at Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps University in
Tehran. The theory is called The Last Helicopter. The theme is familiar.
Americans always cut and run. From Saigon to Mogadishu the Americans finally flee in their helicopters when they
are faced with pictures at home of charred corpses on television.
The Abbasi theme is simple: 'The U.S. does not have the stomach for a long conflict and will soon revert to its
traditional policy of 'running away.' It will leave Afghanistan and Iraq; indeed it will leave the whole of the
Middle East to be reshaped by Iran and its regional allies."
According to this theory, Taheri writes, President George Bush is an "aberration", a leader out of sync
with his nation's character and no more than a brief nightmare for his opponents. Whoever succeeds President Bush
will soon revive the retreating helicopter image to extricate Americans from a Middle East that Americans do not
understand.
The prevailing hope in Middle East capitals is that the past will be restored if "we can just wait Bush out."
Wait awhile and we can again march backwards.
This attitude can be seen throughout the Middle East as initiatives are stalled and proposals withdrawn while local
politicians ponder the question "What do we do if the Americans run away? "
What if the next American President is elected on a policy of admit defeat and order a retreat?
It is in the context of the doctrine of the last helicopter that the American public can see the damage done by
the left. Who encourages the thought that America will cut and run? The prime candidates are the undermining activities
of the MSM and the unprincipled politicians who are willing to ruin in order to rule. Their attempts to undermine
unity promote fear. The price of their appeasement is more war.
Is America about to retreat?
This week the Democratic plan called Real Security, was released. (Individuals may obtain a PDF copy at
democrats.org.) It purports to be the Democrat Party plan
on security issues.
With this publication, the Democrats join the tyrants of the Middle East in building their hopes on waiting out
the Bush tenure. Undermine and endure seems to be the prevailing themes for both groups.
What is being billed as the centerpiece of the Democrat congressional campaign strategy is not a plan at all but
rather a wish list solidly anchored in fantasy. Some examples from the publication.
- Achieve energy independence for America by 2020 by eliminating reliance on oil from the Middle East and other
unstable regions of the world.
Eliminate terrorist breeding grounds by combating the economic, social, and political conditions that allow extremism
to thrive.
Eliminate Osama bin Laden, destroy terrorist networks like al Qaeda, finish the job in Afghanistan, and end the
threat posed by the Taliban.
The PR problem of that last one alone would be hilarious if it weren't so painful -
Let fear strike your heart, Osama, Harry Reid is coming after you.
On a more serious level. The objective is not necessarily to capture Osama. It is to neutralize Osama while preserving
the Mushariff regime. Osama is not worth a nuclear and missile-equipped Pakistan in the hands of a radical government.
Pakistan is an issue not even mentioned in the Dems plan. They do call for a re-instatement of the draft, however.
Few things would present a danger to our professional volunteer military than sprinkling in some ill-trained, discontented
and ill-motivated draftees.
The entire document is only a couple of pages in length. It consists of a list of rhetorical goals to be recited
by candidates during the fall campaign. No substance is presented. On the 21st Century military, the plan states:
- Rebuild a state-of-the-art military by making the needed investments in equipment and manpower so that we can
project power to protect America wherever and whenever necessary.
The Arab Islamic enemies of America view the United States as an ofuli power and themselves as a toll'ee
power. That is to say, America is a sunset power and Islam is a sunrise power. They believe that the left's storm
after storm of partisan attack has blunted the momentum of the Bush movement to a free and democratic Middle East.
They believe that America's next president of either party will return to the "benign dictator" policies
of the past and that then the pre 9/11 governing status quo will return. The radicals believe that the tyrants
will be easy to overthrow. The Taliban has proven, they believe, that given enough violence and chaos the people
will yield to any force that seems to provide civil order.
There is a strange parallel between the global left and radical Islam. They both fear the future. They both ardently
defend the past and many want to return to it. Both suppress their opponents so a fair debate cannot be heard.
Both are defeatists There is no doubt that whether by design or not, the efforts of the Left support the goals
of the radicals.
Is George Bush's willpower the anomaly or does he genuinely represent the American people against a failed and
fading elite?
Come November we shall see.
03/31/06
