Norman Podhoretz’s new book, “World War IV- The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism” is an enlightening description of the basic Neocon approach to the war in Iraq and the Bush Doctrine.
WWIII was the Cold War that lasted from 1947 to the disintegration o fthe Soviet Union. WW IV started on 911 and Iraq is only one front in the war. This is disctictly different from the Iraq obsession in the media and in the political arena.
Before 911 our foreign policy was to maintain stability in the existing regimes. Thus Bush I ran Iraq out of Kuwait, but allowed Saddam to retain his position in Iraq. Stability was the goal. But this ‘stability’ was to retain borders set by European colonialists only one hundred years ago, largely for their own ends, ignoring the ethnic realities they threw together. This approach led the west to support oppressive and corrupt regimes in the name of maintaining stability.
George W. Bush saw fit to change this policy; “For decades free nations tolerated oppression in the Middle East for the sake of stability. In practice this approach brought little stability and much oppression, so I have changed this policy.”
Bush II also abandoned moral relativism; “Different circumstances require different methods, but not different moralities”. He was criticized by many on the left for his ‘simplistic’ axis of evil approach. He also realized terror was not a product of economic factors but was a political tool; requiring another addition to the lexicon- regime change. Due to the nature of weaponry becoming available he felt it was too dangerous to wait until the mushroom cloud was visible and thus justified a pre-emptive strike.
These were huge changes in our foreign policy and such changes are painful, thus the scathing criticism. But it is hard to deny that the previous policies brought us 911. Expect WW IV to last for decades.
The book is a must read.
Wow, WWIV will be fought against nations that lack the ability to launch any kind of credible attack against us? That ought to be a safe war, if not particularly glorious.
Of course there are things like the Trade Center, but lets face it … more people are killed on American roads in a month than died there, and in 6 years it has not been repeated. If these are the enemies which are supposed to terrify us into giving up our liberties, they really need some steroids.
CXX Guy is for some reason proposing that we only fight wars against nations that have the ability to launch credible attacks against us. I fail to see the logic or sarcasm or whatever in this proposal.
In my mind, we are fighting and struggling against a variety of different groups, but namely there are the terrorists and there are the countries that provide safe haven to the terrorists, and also all the more “moderate” countries that wouldn’t mind seeing more Americans killed but don’t care enough to actually do it themselves.
Not doing anything about these groups simply because more Americans are killed in auto accidents does not make much sense either. Everyone of those people who died in a car made an individual choice to get in that car and onto the road, knowing the risks of being involved in a crash or knowing the risks of drinking and driving. Not one of the people in the WTC knew of the risk of a terrorist strike or chose to accept such a risk.
This country has a military for one purpose and that is to protect us against acts of war. This is not a traditional war we are in. Our adversaries don’t play by our rules because that means they lose. No question. Thus, they have no uniforms, they operate in secrecy and the countries that back them, as you say, can’t launch a credible attack against us.
So, do we let them continue to kick our shins? A few 1000 American deaths every couple of years as a result of terrorists seems to be acceptable to you, or acceptable so long as it doesn’t exceed auto accident deaths, but this is not acceptable to me. If we continue to let them kick our shins, they just might eventually succeed in kicking us in our balls.
THOSE MUST FIND IT DIFFICULT; THOSE WHO TAKE AUTHORITY AS THE TRUTH VS. THE TRUTH AS THE AUTHORITY.
ANOTHER GOOD POINT TO MAKE WITH CXX IS THAT WERE ALSO OVER THERE DEFENDING THEIR BORDERS, WHEN OUR OWN ARE WIDE OPEN. HELLO? ANY ONE HOME.
REMEMBER THE 911 COMMISSION REPORTS THAT IT WAS BIN LADEN WHO WAS BEHIND 911, NOT THE REST OF THE MUSLIM WORLD.
CXX ISNT PROPOSING WAS WITH NATIONS THAT HAVE MILITARY ONLY, HE IS JUST POINTING OUT THE OBVIOUS THAT THEY DONT AND WERE ALL UP IN ARMS ABOUT “WHAT”?
AN INSIDE JOB THAT WAS CREATED TO MAKE FOREIGN POLICY. A POLICY THAT THE NWO IS ITCHING TO ACCOMPLISH.
YOU HAVE TO ASK YOURSELF THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION AND THAT IS , WHY DO THEY HATE US.
I WOULD HAT EUS TOO, WEVE DROPPED BOMBS ON IRAQ FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS. MILITARY BASES ON THEIR HOLY GROUND LARGER THAN THE VATICAN. WERE THERE AGAINST THEIR WILL TO ACCOMPLISH OUR WILL. OUR WILL THAT ISNT OUR OWN. ITS SET FORTH BY FOREIGN TYRANTS, AND WEVE LOST OUR WAY.
WE NEED TO TURN THIS COUNTRY AROUND. PULL THE TROOPS BACK HOME, DEFEND OUR OWN BORDERS.
THE FOUNDING FATHERS WOULD BE ASHAMED OF OUR IGNORANCE, THEY WARNED US TO REMAIN ETERNAL VIGILANT. NOT FROM TERROR, BUT FROM GOVERNMENT , OUR SELVES, THE TYRANNY OF EVIL MEN. AN EVIL THAT HAS BEEN AROUND FOR MANY YEARS. AND WILL ALWAYS ATTACK OUR SACRAD NATION;
SO THINK THAT WE NEED TO POLICE THE WORLD UNTILL NO ONE SHOOTS AT US ANYMORE AND IT WILL NEVER END.
WE HAVE TO CHANGE THIS NON SENSE.
RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT 2008
GOOGLE RON PAUL
PS: MY WISH FOR CHRISTMAS IS FOR OUR GENERATIONS GENERATIONS TO BE FREE AND PROSPUROUS, NOT FROM TERROR, BUT FROM THE NWO.