In Search of Peace and Flowers

Ras, hate to break this litany of peacenik responses by the Society of Mutual Admiration here on Chowk. Your article would have been somewhat more credible if you had written it as a ``private concerned citizen`` and not admittedly as a ``reporter`` or a ``journalist``.

Just as Osama had hijacked Islam, you have hijacked the noble profession of journalism!

As for these peacenik rallies around the world, they are but useful idiots doing Saddam`s work and are nothing but `Peace Marchers`` for slavery and murder.


It`s high time for some right thinking in rebuttal to those objecting to our country`s imminent assault on Iraqi as we prosecute our war against Jihadistan. Despite those who would insist we are ``about to go to war,`` we have been at war since 11 September, 2001. Our principal adversary is not Iraq, but Jihadistan, that borderless nation of Islamic extremists with global reach, inhabited by al-Qa`ida terrorists and other Islamists who are targeting the U.S.

The ``Islamic World`` of these terrorists recognizes no political borders. While mainstream Muslims do not support acts of terrorism or mass murder, very large sects within the Islamic World are indoctrinated with false Hadith which call for ``Jihad`` or ``Holy War`` against all ``the enemies of God.``

Shortly after al-Qa`ida`s 9-11 attacks, President George Bush said: ``This WAR on terrorism will be fought on a number of fronts, in different ways. The front lines will look different from the wars of the past.`` A year later, Iraq`s support for al-Qa`ida was clear, prompting Mr. Bush to declare, ``Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.`` In his most recent address to the nation, President Bush said, ``It would take just one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known.``

Indeed, this conflict won`t be resolved diplomatically, and the war al-Qa`ida launched on our soil 17 months ago won`t be won defensively: this enemy can only be defeated in offensive, preemptive strikes. As Prussian general and military philosopher Karl von Clausewitz wrote in the early 19th century: ``War is the continuation of policy by other means. ... The best form of defense is attack.`` The most effective policy to defend our homeland front against al-Qa`ida, is taking offensive action against al-Qa`ida`s state-sponsors, and that means in this phase of the campaign, ``regime change`` in Iraq.

But some Sociocrats and their cadre of Leftmedia talkingheads are doing what they do best -- attempting to convert this perilous campaign into political capital. Their arguments are so ludicrous that even Demo Sen. Evan Bayh complained: ``I don`t understand those who want to wait until the threat [from Iraq] is imminent. Do we wait until the missiles are launched, until the smallpox is in the country? The consequences of error could be catastrophic.``

The following is a compilation of a list of the Left`s complaints and objections to the prosecution of the warfront with Iraq. Let us disabuse them of their self-serving and courage-deficient delusions:

1. Look who we were supporting in the 80s... It was 24 years ago this week, February 11, 1979, that a stated enemy of the U.S., the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, seized power in Iran, and seized the American embassy, thereby inaugurating the modern Islamic revolutionary movement. The Carter administration decided that one way to contain that revolution was to keep supporting Iraq`s war with Iran. Protecting legitimate U.S. national interests sometimes makes for strange bedfellows around the globe. However, two wrongs -- supporting murderous regimes then and now -- don`t make a right.

2. Bush is a cowboy ------ we can`t go to Iraq without a unified ``international community`` front... Perhaps the most widespread mantra of the Left is to accuse President Bush of having a ``cowboy mentality`` -- a foreign policy propensity to go-it-alone, not to mention imperialistic ambitions. The President is sworn to ``preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.`` This includes imminent threats to national security, with or without international consensus. Fortunately, an international consensus has emerged, ``old Europe`` notwithstanding.

3. Iraq is not an imminent threat... The information presented to the UN Security Council by Sec. of State Colin Powell last week is just the tip of the iceberg. For 16 months, the exposure of numerous connections between Saddam Hussein`s Iraqi regime and Osama bin Laden`s al-Qa`ida network provides more than adequate justification for a preemptive strike against Iraq. And the WMD threat from Iraq is not symmetric; rather, it is asymmetric in that there is imminent danger that Saddam has already provided, or certainly will provide WMD to surrogates like al-Qa`ida, who will then deploy or detonate those weapons in a major U.S. urban center -- or that of an ally.

4. There is no evidence of WMD in Iraq -- the UN has found nothing... ``No evidence``? Once again, the Left subscribes to the notion that if you repeat a lie often enough, it will become the truth. As for ``finding nothing,`` UN inspectors will find little without Iraq`s mandated cooperation -- and Iraq has NOT cooperated. Propagating the lie, the French unveiled a plan to triple the number of UN inspectors in Iraq. UN Chief Weapons Inspector Hans Blix panned the suggestion: ``The principal problem is not the number of inspectors but rather the active co-operation of the Iraqi side, as we have said many times.`` The U.S. has now presented ample evidence that Iraq is in possession of WMD --
most recently in the very public forum of Secretary Colin Powell`s briefing of the UN Security Council.

As for Saddam`s humorous recent decree banning the production of WMD in Iraq, and ordering his ministers to ``take whatever measures are necessary and punish people who do not adhere to it,`` that order has already been issued, and Saddam is at the front of the line for castigation.

5. We talk with North Korea, so why not Iraq?... Many pundits have expressed concern that the Bush administration is devoting too much time to the issue of Iraq, while the more pressing issue of the North Korean nuclear program looms large, but is only given lip service. (recall that President Bush included North Korea prominently among the three nations forming the ``Axis of Evil.``) What, exactly, has ``talk`` achieved in either case?

Of course, there is a substantial difference in motivations of Baghdad and Pyongyang. While Saddam Hussein maintains ties with terrorist organizations bent on the destruction of the West, posing a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States, Kim Jong Il is -- not for the first time -- applying pressure to his neighbors and the U.S. in order to obtain economic concessions.

However, no one is ignoring the North Korean threat. The U.S. representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Kenneth Brill, noted that ``the time is right for the Security Council to begin considering this issue, [because Pyongyang`s] nuclear weapons program poses a direct threat to international peace and security. ... [The threat that North Korea] will sell fissile material to rogue states and terrorists is too great to ignore.`` Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has already raised the specter of this scenario; look for significant attention to be paid to the Korean Peninsula in the aftermath of a second Gulf War.

6. This war is just about oil... While some detractors suggest prosecuting the Iraqi front is solely about oil, in the Middle East, oil is intrinsic to regional stability, and regional stability is intrinsic to the national security interests of the United States -- including U.S. demand for Middle East oil.

7. Prosecuting Iraq will invite escalated terrorist attacks... Indeed, the front with Iraq in our war with Jihadistan is the most perilous yet. At best, successfully disarming Iraq will cut off one major WMD resource for al-Qa`ida and other terrorist organizations. At worst, al-Qa`ida has already been supplied some WMD by Iraq. For sure, al-Qa`ida IS planning new attacks against the U.S. using various conventional and WMD assaults, with the objective of reducing our economy to ruins. Some analysts at the highest levels of the intelligence and military communities believe that al-Qa`ida will, eventually, detonate a nuclear weapon (not just a radiological dispersion device but a fission weapon) in a major U.S. urban center -- and that this attack IS inevitable. Will the prosecution of the Iraqi front ``invite`` these attacks -- make the inevitable happen sooner rather than later? Perhaps it will accelerate some conventional, biological or chemical attacks.

Disarming Iraq will, in effect, disarm a great number of al-Qa`ida operatives -- but it will NOT disarm all of them. However, failing to put Saddam out of business will ensure that al-Qa`ida operatives are fully armed.

8. The good news -- for the 17 months since 9-11, al-Qa`ida ``sleeper cells`` now positioned in the U.S. have been quiet. US intelligence sources estimate that there may not be enough of those cells to expend them on conventional attacks (car bombs, homicide bombers, et al.). They conclude this means that those cells have not yet acquired nuclear-strike capability.

The Iraqi front with Jihadistan is replete with pitfalls. There are going to be many casualties -- both military and civilian. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared: ``There are moments in history when the judgment and the resolve of free nations are put to the test. This is such a moment. The security environment we are entering is the most dangerous the world has seen. The lives of our children and grandchildren could well hang in the balance.``

President Bush understands the enormous risks and implications of this conflict. No one has suggested that prosecuting the front with Iraq is a panacea; the war with Jihadistan does not end there.

re # 6
There were protests in Cairo, Dhaka and Jakarta.
regards

ana_dobarah

I said the conduct of ``Arab and Muslim countries.`` I know about marches in London and Tel Aviv.

There have been protests in Indonesia, Egypt, and Jordan. How many other Arab and Muslim countries?

{while the whole world demonstrated, Muslims sat at home}

oh really? And what about the Egyptian Muslims, and the Palestinian Muslims who marched side by side with Israelis in Tel Aviv? And what about the countless Muslims who marched in London? Oh yeah...while the whole world demonstrated, Muslims sat at home.

Ras, good sentiments here, and good reporting...thank you!

salute to your sentiments Ras. and nasah. the great idea of america (self-destructive or not) cannot be copied anywhere else. that`s what makes this place so unique. i would like to think that the current right wing assault is merely a phase. hopefully it will awaken more people like the anti war protestors to see the negative baggage of prejudice this country still trips over in the steps forward.

Loony Bush met his match in his own country. What was shameful was the conduct of Arab and Muslim countries. While the whole world demonstrated, Muslims sat at home.


re - ahmadzai # 4

While decrying the far right in America, Muslims should stop behaving like them. Total distrust and hatred is not going to help Muslims. The tape was broadcast not by America but by Al-Jazeera. If America controls Al-Jazeera what hope is there for Muslims?

Dear Ras -- your sentiments are my sentiments --

the United States of America is a beautiful country -- its is your country --it`s my country -- it`s our children`s country -- and it`s our children`s children`s country --

it`s a decent caring country --

besides those 100,00 in San Francisco -- 250,000 in New York -- and 100,000 in Washington DC -- there are millions of peace loving, mainstream, progressive, compassionate Americans -- defenders of human rights and protectors of freedom of speech -- who have made this country the pride and joy of a civilized world -- Ruled by LAW --

I came to this country in 1960 -- contributed to the advancement of Science and Health -- raised five great mainstream kids here --

felt at home THEN -- and feel at home NOW –

What I have seen thru the past 43 years – in cycles is that --

the war mongering buggers -- geopolitical illiterates -- with limited intellect and limited education -- occupy the White House -- from time to time --

bring devastation and hardships at home and abroad temporarily -- stay for a while -- and then are thrown out of office -- on to the dustbin of history -- and forgotten –

by the very same 100,000 in San Francisco and 250,000 in New York --

whether it was Vietnam or -- or it is Iraq -- those 100,000 in San Francisco and the 250,000 in New York -- will always see to it -- that this great country -- as always -- SELF-CORRECTS itself -- NOT self-destructs itself.

as far as we are concerned -- we the subcontinentals must not be the SILENT bystanders --

we must see to it that we -- and our children -- and our children`s children -- must plunge ourselves/themselves -- in the mainstream of American social, intellectual, ethical, and political lives --

on the side of justice, fairplay, liberty, human rights and pursuit of happiness -- at home -- as well as -- abroad.

Indeed this is a one of the MOST beautiful countries in the world -- my USA is MY beloved country -- a GREAT country --

I will fight for it -- and DIE for it -- to protect MY LAND -- if it is AGGRESSED upon --

but -- I WILL RESIST -- my own country`s little Hitlers -- to the last breath of my life -- if they commit AGGRESSION against another country -- that has done nothing to us.

Viva la USA -- MY country RIGHT -- NOT wrong.

Ras sahib -- enjoyed ur column emotionally as well -- please write more often.

hasan

Ras:

A very thoughful article. Hats off to you.

The current wave of demonstrations for peace held all over the `Christian` lands should take some steam off our extremist religious parties, including MMA, who were gaining ground on liberals by leaps and bounds purely on the basis of emotionalism.

But do not one thing: At the specific point in time when far right saw the beginning of an untimely death of their designs by the massive demonstrations, comes another recording from OBL (this time found authentic within a record time) urging the Muslims to commence suicide attacks on US-UK as part of defending Iraq. How convenient?

Dear Ras:
Your search for peace and flowers is worthwhile and admirable. Wish there were many, many more like you. The terrorists and narrow-minded fundamentalists have crept out of the woodwork all over the world and put the humankind at risk of self-extinction.

I pray for peace in the world. Saddam is old and suffering from cancer. Soon, he may be no more. President Bush`s call for war doesn`t make much sense even to his friends. Peace is better than war.

ras,

thank you for this. peace to you, your family and the world

shandana

Ras- a very timely article

Just as Osama had hijacked Islam from the Muslims,

France, Germany and Belgium have hijacked `Anti-Americanism` from Osama (and Muslim fanatics).

The worldwide war protests have also killed that dangerous bogey of Islam vs West propounded by the Islamic militants.

I salute a common Westerner for his courage and for his sense of fairness & justice.

The two extremes stand exposed - Osama`s message of hate and Bush`s arrogance and greed.

It is good for every citizen of the world.