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Whiplash
Imagine, if you can, an inept circus bullwhip artist who, instead of cracking the whip
nine feet from his body, watches as the whip doubles back and wraps around his neck.That has to be how the deep
thinkers o the Left must feel after this week.
The problem for the Left, as columnist Stanley Kurtz explains, is that September 11th may have changed everything
- a near constant mobilization against terror may permanently cripple the politics of multiculturalism at home
and anti-globalization abroad. For the sake of their own political survival, the Left is desperate to define the
conditions that would bring the conflict over terrorism to an end. Because of the reality of the threat of war,
our political and cultural center of gravity may already have shifted several degrees to the right. Those who carp
have every right to do so but no one takes them seriously.
The New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times have all made runs at the administration
this week without effect. What the administration does know, and the Left does not, is that we have no choice but
to fight and win. According to pundit Michael Kelly, in the end, the United States must prevail. It cannot settle
for declaring victory and going home. Home is where they attacked us.
One thing that the Euro elite and the Islamic elite share is the notion that they were ordained from on high to
lead the world. The fact that they are not global dictators somehow must be the fault of America. It certainly
is a vast cosmic mistake. They not only can't lead, they are largely irrelevant to modern life.
Great stretches of the Muslim world is populated with the young who are not educated to make a living in the modern
world but are thoroughly indoctrinated with hate. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Victor Hanson summed
it up this way. The Arab states are poor because their populations are nearly half illiterate, their governments
are not free, their economies are not open and their radical fundamentalists who mask imperial politics as religion
impede scientific inquiry, unpopular speech and cultural exchange. They live in a sea of totalitarianism and government-induced
poverty that breeds envy. They will not progress until they topple their self-created pillars of ignorance.
The Euro managerial elite have committed similar but not identical folly. They ate the seed corn. Europeans chose
to lead the good life, take long vacations, provide generous social services to garner votes and let the U.S. pay
for the burden of preserving world peace. As a result, their neglected armies are only capable of police work and
are irrelevant to warmaking. In a 21st century high-tech, smart bomb world, they are largely obsolete, except for
some special forces. Without the ability to project power, the non-elected bureaucrats are left with appeasement.
"Let's leave the enemies who do business with us alone," they say, "until they have developed the
ability to deliver weapons of mass destruction. When that time comes, let us surrender." It's hardly a policy
worthy of consideration. The Europeans, Charles Moore says, do not so much want the U.S. to fail as to not try
in the first place.
All that being said, there are grounds for critical comment for the administration. Whether the situation was inherited
or not, no where near enough is being done to explain America to non-American audiences. For decades, the U.S.
has failed to provide a robust and vigorous public diplomacy on behalf of presidential aims.
There simply has to be qualified individuals ready to speak out on capital punishment, Mideast Policy, our prisoners
in Guantanamo Bay, the Kyoto Treaty and missile defense. If not, the vacuum, Moore continues, is filled by the
critics. Clearly the current example is Palestine. The PA fights with three weapons - suicide bombers willing to
kill the elderly, women and children; a militant cadre based in residential neighborhoods and ready access to state-controlled
Arab television. Because they have unchallenged control of regional television, they think that they can still
drive the Israelis into the sea.
The Bush administration must not let their interests in oil and Iraq dim their support for a loyal nation to defend
itself in the same manner the United States reserves for itself. A part of the answer is to fund public diplomacy
efforts on a world-wide basis. We hear that it is coming but, frankly, we haven't seen much yet. And the vacuum
is still being filled by the critics.
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