Pacifists In Academia Mean Well But Are Dangerous
As Hitler came to power in Germany, a group of Oxford students pledged not to fight for God or country. They had something to do with spinning Britain into an appeasement policy toward the Nazis that ultimately resulted in a war killing millions of people.
This is the price of those liberal academicians who do not realize that "freedom is not free," and that the price of liberty is not only eternal vigilance but a willingness to fight against the evil people who are always ready to assail us and take away our freedoms.
I thought of this when I read on the L.A. Times Op-Ed page Friday the excerpts from the graduation speech at U.C. Berkeley by Mark Danner, a professor of journalism and politics on that campus.
Danner is representative of all the silly people -- good Americans but severely deluded -- who blame not the terrorists, the suicide bombers, the kidnappers, the crazed militants ready to try to take over the world, but President George Bush and his administration for the wars that afflict us.
These kind of academicians surfaced more prominently in the wake of 9-11. They often blamed the attack not on the people who perpetrated it but on those charged with trying to respond to it, and, through increased security measures, trying to prevent further such attacks.
They seem to think that if there had been no response, the terrorists would quietly have disappeared, just like Hitler was going to be content with a few territorial sacrifices, like Austria and Czechoslovakia.
The fact is, however, that this would be the most dangerous course. Every American fatality in the War on Terror is a tragedy, we mourn them all. But the price paid so far has not been high when compared to what could happen should the terrorists obtain atomic weapons and use them against American and other cities.
The Bush Administration has made mistakes. Every war could be better run. But in fighting, the Bush Administration, and whoever succeeds it who is willing to protect our freedoms, is trying to avert a catastrophe.
Just today, an American warship shelled a group of terrorists who appeared suddenly at a port in northern Somalia and began killing policemen. A U.S. Defense Department spokesman explained, "We recognize the importance of working closely with allies to seek out, identify, locate, capture and, if necessary, kill terrorists and those who would provide them safe haven."
Also, today, in New York City, three would-be terrorists were arrested for planning to bomb the John F. Kennedy International Airport. Thank goodness, we have vigilant security operations.
Earlier, this week, aircraft carrying arms from the U.S., Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates carried arms to the Beirut Airport to facilitate the operations of the Lebanese Army against a group of terrorists from Fatah al-Islam that have promised operations throughout Lebanon and elsewhere in the world to spread their violence. They gave an interview to that effect in March to an L.A. Times reporter. The reason we are now assisting the Lebanese Army is that we recognize the importance of preventing Lebanon from falling completely under the sway of such terrorists. It is a highly strategic country, which we cannot afford to lose to nihilist forces.
The same, of course, is true in Iraq and Afghanistan. We cannot afford to let these countries slip into the control of people who want to install their brand of religious fanaticism all over the world and want to use those countries as safe havens.
Meanwhile, the Israelis are attacking terrorists in Gaza who have been raining rockets for months on a peaceful Israeli town. They are the same people who now threaten to go around Gaza beheading "immodest women." They are crazy, and must be resisted.
What about the argument of the Professor Danners than in confronting these evils, we are only spreading the virus of terrorism? There may be some truth in this, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't fight. The hope is that ultimately the plague will recede, when people in the Islamic world realize they are only bringing war and destruction on themselves.
Meanwhile, speeches like the Danner address at U.C. Berkeley, and the Op Ed Page piece that the weak-kneed editor Nick Goldberg so graciously afforded him in the L.A. Times aren't doing us any good. They are only subjecting us to greater danger, because they are encouraging all those who would sap our willingness to resist the evils.
This is the price of those liberal academicians who do not realize that "freedom is not free," and that the price of liberty is not only eternal vigilance but a willingness to fight against the evil people who are always ready to assail us and take away our freedoms.
I thought of this when I read on the L.A. Times Op-Ed page Friday the excerpts from the graduation speech at U.C. Berkeley by Mark Danner, a professor of journalism and politics on that campus.
Danner is representative of all the silly people -- good Americans but severely deluded -- who blame not the terrorists, the suicide bombers, the kidnappers, the crazed militants ready to try to take over the world, but President George Bush and his administration for the wars that afflict us.
These kind of academicians surfaced more prominently in the wake of 9-11. They often blamed the attack not on the people who perpetrated it but on those charged with trying to respond to it, and, through increased security measures, trying to prevent further such attacks.
They seem to think that if there had been no response, the terrorists would quietly have disappeared, just like Hitler was going to be content with a few territorial sacrifices, like Austria and Czechoslovakia.
The fact is, however, that this would be the most dangerous course. Every American fatality in the War on Terror is a tragedy, we mourn them all. But the price paid so far has not been high when compared to what could happen should the terrorists obtain atomic weapons and use them against American and other cities.
The Bush Administration has made mistakes. Every war could be better run. But in fighting, the Bush Administration, and whoever succeeds it who is willing to protect our freedoms, is trying to avert a catastrophe.
Just today, an American warship shelled a group of terrorists who appeared suddenly at a port in northern Somalia and began killing policemen. A U.S. Defense Department spokesman explained, "We recognize the importance of working closely with allies to seek out, identify, locate, capture and, if necessary, kill terrorists and those who would provide them safe haven."
Also, today, in New York City, three would-be terrorists were arrested for planning to bomb the John F. Kennedy International Airport. Thank goodness, we have vigilant security operations.
Earlier, this week, aircraft carrying arms from the U.S., Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates carried arms to the Beirut Airport to facilitate the operations of the Lebanese Army against a group of terrorists from Fatah al-Islam that have promised operations throughout Lebanon and elsewhere in the world to spread their violence. They gave an interview to that effect in March to an L.A. Times reporter. The reason we are now assisting the Lebanese Army is that we recognize the importance of preventing Lebanon from falling completely under the sway of such terrorists. It is a highly strategic country, which we cannot afford to lose to nihilist forces.
The same, of course, is true in Iraq and Afghanistan. We cannot afford to let these countries slip into the control of people who want to install their brand of religious fanaticism all over the world and want to use those countries as safe havens.
Meanwhile, the Israelis are attacking terrorists in Gaza who have been raining rockets for months on a peaceful Israeli town. They are the same people who now threaten to go around Gaza beheading "immodest women." They are crazy, and must be resisted.
What about the argument of the Professor Danners than in confronting these evils, we are only spreading the virus of terrorism? There may be some truth in this, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't fight. The hope is that ultimately the plague will recede, when people in the Islamic world realize they are only bringing war and destruction on themselves.
Meanwhile, speeches like the Danner address at U.C. Berkeley, and the Op Ed Page piece that the weak-kneed editor Nick Goldberg so graciously afforded him in the L.A. Times aren't doing us any good. They are only subjecting us to greater danger, because they are encouraging all those who would sap our willingness to resist the evils.
Labels: War Politics
posted by Ken Reich at 11:15 AM
1 Comments:
Danner is talking about the Iraq war and the lies, deception and stupidity that took us into it. There are no academics or other "liberals" that I have ever heard who have said that it was wrong to go to Afghanistan to hunt down and kill those responsible for September 11. There are no academics or liberals who think that it is wrong to maintain our vigilance worldwide to protect our interests and people. You are as deluded as those who occupy the White House hope that you will be if you believe that Iraq ever had anything to do with terrorist threats realized against the United States. Both the Iraqi people and the American people were a lot safer, as was the world, before this "worst president ever" lied us into Iraq.
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