There’s been a lot of talk about how the Bush 43 crew hasn’t done much in the way of selling the “why we went to war in Iraq” story lately. (Brookhiser, NRO, Jarvis) Maybe. Austin Bay returned from an Iraq look-see and said whatever problem there may be with the war, it isn’t with the people doing the war fighting. It's the will on the home front. Money quote:
This return visit to Iraq, however, spurs thoughts of America -- to be specific, thoughts about America's will to pursue victory. I don't mean the will of US forces in the field. Wander around with a bunch of Marines for a half hour, spend 15 minutes with National Guardsmen from Idaho, and you will have no doubts about American military capabilities or the troops' will to win. But our weakness is back home, in front of the TV, on the cable squawk shows, on the editorial page of The New York Times, in the political gotcha games of Washington, D.C. It seems America wants to get on with its Electra-Glide life, that Sept. 10 sense of freedom and security, without finishing the job. The military is fighting, the Iraqi people are fighting, but where is the US political class? The Bush administration has yet to ask the American people -- correction, has yet to demand of the American people -- the sustained, shared sacrifice it takes to win this long, intricate war of bullets, ballots and bricks.
Where is the US political class, indeed! You can get a heated graduate seminar discussion going about how to ramp up the people for action in the US – when the war itself is going to take years and require long-term silence and stealth as well as the occasional application of lethal action. (Biden in '08 is underway!) But the performance of this current matrix of “opposition” so far has been a historic collapse of responsibility. Quillnews question: will the Democratic Party ever find its national security balance again? Where is Jo Mo? Sen. Biden, speeding along spending is good. But "credibility gap"? Nix with Sixties Dead Ender (SDE) lingo, okay? To Turban Durbin: you & the D's ain't out of the woods yet.
Even with Sept 11 memories still searing and the threat still daunting, it’s back to business as usual on the home front, it seems, and, to be frank, even this war’s strongest supporters figure the administration lights has been a bit dim on the PR front. Sometimes the work rules used by the PR machine the administration employs to manufacture and market its story appears to be fashioned for white-shoe bankers used to 10am-3pm M-F work-days. (Editor's aside: Who can forget Andy Card’s comment in August 2002 about why the administration was silent about its Iraq war thinking in that summer because “you don’t bring out an advertising campaign before Labor Day…” Hmmm. Is that right? Would guys used to New England vacations rather be asking: "tennis anyone?") The so-called public diplomacy bureaucracy is still waiting for Karen Hughes to show up to work to knock some bureaucratic heads together! Unfortunately we’re in a 24-7 global media world and the real enemy, anti-American haters, political opponents, and honest dissenters are pulling all nighters running their echo-chamber propaganda machines for free.
What’s more their amen-corner in the MSM are used to story lines fashioned in the “All the President’s Men” scandal movies, or Saturday morning Roy Rogers cowboy yarns. This MSM performance has been a disgrace. (Editor's aside: more on the “new battlefield” later). For now, suffice it to say that the MSM side show about Gitmo, Downing Street memos, Turbin Durbin, Koran “abuse”, the legal black hole for captured jihadists… the anti-crowd shouldn’t get their hopes up. (Steyn, CE, Hitchens, QN) Quillnews is confident the American people believe the bad guys belong dead or in jail, whichever, until the danger is over. Like the wanted poster said: dead or alive. Fairness, freedom and civil rights will always have their defenders in the public square in the US. But those guys will stay locked up. Period.
As for the Manhattan snobs who want to put a “freedom” museum to explain how Americans might be somehow responsible for 9/11 – don’t hold your breath. (QN, QN2) Land developers can do all kinds of dumb stuff. The people know what is suitable to think and believe and how to behave when visiting the sacred ground of the dead. Which would no doubt include boycotting or trashing any sympathetic or inappropriate monuments to America haters. If those twits at the IFM think they can turn the WTC site over to the Ward Churchills of the world, forget it. As for any apologies or hopes that the American people will say they are sorry because a gang of elitist whiners file lawsuits, or spread lies, or because a bunch of thugs rant in the streets over a few killers who need a change of diapers? Forget it. Here’s a closer idea to what jihadists, their state enablers and yellow-back fellow-travelers can expect.
If you’re only frame of reference were the stories in the US media, sure. (Rich, WOC) The war is a mess. All wars are a mess. Read Jack Kelly’s account of Okinawa. As WSJ Miniter warns: this is no time to go wobbly. Read Boot, VDH. Focus on the facts of war. Karl Zinsmeister of AEI nailed it: the Iraq war has been won! Fred Kagan knows enough to ask: what would the world be like if the US had not taken out Saddam. (Editor's aside: This is also a long-time Quillnews theme - QN)
The packagers and narrators of MSM news about Iraq could have described war developments in the context of their purpose. Bush 43 has laid out a very clear blue print of why we are in Iraq and what we are up to in the war on jihadist terror. (QN, QN2, QN3) And, since the source of much of the energy for jihad remains in Saudi Arabia, the administration is also using a variety of persuasion techniques. (QN, QN2, QN3, QN4, QN5, QN6) Seemingly random and nasty legislative actions give the Saudis a taste of the kind of roughing-up they can get. There is the Saudi Accountability Act (1, 2, 3, 4); the Freedom House report on the Wahabbi fifth column in the US; the Advance Democracy Act; the idea that OPEC countries can be sued in court for anti-trust. It’s going to get worse for the House of Saud. Stay tuned. High gloss treatment from Saudi apologists on Frontline about how we just need to understand and be patient with the House of Saud fall flat. (VDH)
What is always understood, particularly in that region, is decisive action. What gets respect is expelling Saddam from Kuwait and patrolling the region for a dozen years – day in and day out; and when the time was right to ignore second guessers and topple Saddam once and for all. True, the post-Saddam aftermath has been a heart breaker. It’s hard and mean and grim and long. The Iraqi people have been heroic; they are doing their part. A free government is taking shape and fighting killers at the same time. American actions made this possible. And because of that fact, Americans will know that when its leaders, like Bush 43 deputy Condi, an architect of this action, says something it will be heard! (WS) And in Cairo on June 20, said something she did:
Across the Middle East today, millions of citizens are voicing their aspirations for liberty and for democracy. These men and women are expanding boundaries in ways many thought impossible just one year ago. They are demonstrating that all great moral achievements begin with individuals who do not accept that the reality of today must also be the reality of tomorrow. There was a time, not long ago, after all, when liberty was threatened by slavery. The moral worth of my ancestors, it was thought, should be valued by the demand of the market, not by the dignity of their souls. This practice was sustained through violence. But the crime of human slavery could not withstand the power of human liberty. What seemed impossible in one century became inevitable in the next. There was a time, even more recently, when liberty was threatened by colonialism. It was believed that certain peoples required foreign masters to rule their lands and run their lives. Like slavery, this ideology of injustice was enforced through oppression. But when brave people demanded their rights, the truth that freedom is the destiny of every nation rang true throughout the world. What seemed impossible in one decade became inevitable in the next. Today, liberty is threatened by undemocratic governments. Some believe this is a permanent fact of history. But there are others who know better. These impatient patriots can be found in Baghdad and Beirut, in Riyadh and in Ramallah, in Amman and in Tehran and right here in Cairo. Together, they are defining a new standard of justice for our time -- a standard that is clear, and powerful, and inspiring: Liberty is the universal longing of every soul, and democracy is the ideal path for every nation. The day is coming when the promise of a fully free and democratic world, once thought impossible, will also seem inevitable. The people of Egypt should be at the forefront of this great journey, just as you have led this region through the great journeys of the past. A hopeful future is within the reach of every Egyptian citizen -- and every man and woman in the Middle East. The choice is yours to make. But you are not alone. All free nations are your allies. So together, let us choose liberty and democracy -- for our nations, for our children, and for our shared future.
Read the whole text, the check out the State Department website for the material backing up this statement. (WSJ, WP, WP2) And look at the person of Condoleezza Rice, know her story, her history, the history of her country, its people and the political system that made it possible… To be honest, it gives me chills. What makes it all possible is the belief that it is America’s duty to make the world right and the willingness of the American people to back-up such high-up talk with low-down action.
It's more than a duty; it's a necessity. Neglect or failure would permit and cause a cascade of events and pressures that would eventually require an all-out response -- under much less favorable conditions. Let's be clear: breaking the ambitions of the Islamofascists and other pro-tyranny forces is not optional. It's survival.
Posted by: Brian H | 01 July 2005 at 07:05 PM