Saturday, December 09, 2023
Blog
Oct 22

Written by: Diana West
Friday, October 22, 2010 2:50 AM 

This week's syndicated column:

If, as polls show, war is "off the radar" for midterm voters, it's a non-issue for midterm candidates, too. Iraq and Afghanistan, for example, show up exactly one time apiece in the GOP Pledge to America (on one page out of 48), and merely to bolster the GOP case for sanctions against Iran. Iran "worked to harm our deployed troops in Iraq and Afghanistan," the pledge notes. That's all there is about wars that have strained the military and drained the treasury for almost a decade and counting.

Maybe for once, the political class and the people are in sync. According to a New York Times poll, only 3 percent of voters consider "Afghanistan or the war" the most important issue of the day. Given the beleaguered state of the economy, that isn't too surprising. "What is surprising," the paper points out, "is that hardly any Americans cite the war in Afghanistan at all."

Why don't they? How did we grow callous to these open wounds of war? NBC's Tom Brokaw tried to answer the question in a New York Times column by citing the fact that an all-volunteer military, only a tiny fraction of the population (less than 1 percent), is "carrying 100 percent of the battle." As U.S. military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan drag into their seventh and ninth years, respectively, military society and civilian society are more divided than ever. The relative number of troops deployed remains quite small, as does the resulting strain on the unaffected population at large. Thus, the competently managed if incompetently conceived flow of blood and treasure continues. Most people can ignore it, so they do.

Still, cold statistics don't explain everything. The question remains: What causes a nation that can mass-empathize with miners trapped underground, save the whales, turn out for tea parties, and send hundreds of millions of dollars in charity around the globe to natural-disaster victims also look away from the appalling sacrifice our government sees fit, without cogent explanation, to demand of our mainly men and (often Islamically covered) women serving in war zones under recklessly restrictive rules of engagement? Somehow, what has become the plight -- it seems odd to use that word but I think it fits -- of our fellow citizens in uniform and the hemorrhaging of our national wealth have also become matters of indifference.

One big reason is underlying mission confusion. Our leadership, beginning with the Bush administration, has failed to carry out its core strategic responsibility after 9/11: to master the study of Islamic jihad, the enemy threat doctrine that inspired the 9/11 attacks, and craft a strategy to turn back the fruit of jihad -- namely, the advance of Sharia (Islamic law) in the West. Instead, the politically correct, see-no-Islam strategy we pursue to this day ignores jihad, and simultaneously seeks, in effect, to thwart the imperatives of Sharia in the Islamic world, beginning with Iraq and Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, we, the people, have failed, too, abdicating our own need to know, to probe, to question what history is already revealing to have been a gross if not also grotesque misuse of military force to carry out a failed experiment in social engineering in the Islamic sector of the Third World -- not national security.

Since mum really is the word, I picked up on only one pro-war conservative rejoinder to Brokaw's recent comments. Writing online at Contentions, former Bush White House official Peter Wehner offered his explanation for radio silence on war in this election: "The fact that it (Iraq) has dropped off the radar screen is an indication of the very progress Brokaw himself cannot seem to acknowledge."

Really? "Progress"? In a week when Iraq's Nuri al-Maliki was in Tehran seeking Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's favor and alliance with Moqtada al-Sadr while NATO forces were simultaneously themselves ferrying senior Taliban leaders to "peace talks " in Kabul with Afghanistan's Karzai, to invoke "progress" is to dodge failure. Maybe it's no wonder Americans look the other way. Maybe it's no wonder we don't see -- or see only what we wish to see: nascent democratic bulwarks against jihad, not Sharia-supreme basket cases increasingly dominated by our openly jihadist enemies.

And that's nothing to stay silent about and ignore.

Tags:
Archive
<December 2023>
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
262728293012
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31123456
Monthly
December, 2023
November, 2023
October, 2023
September, 2023
August, 2023
July, 2023
June, 2023
May, 2023
April, 2023
March, 2023
February, 2023
January, 2023
December, 2022
November, 2022
October, 2022
September, 2022
August, 2022
July, 2022
June, 2022
May, 2022
April, 2022
March, 2022
February, 2022
January, 2022
December, 2021
November, 2021
October, 2021
September, 2021
August, 2021
July, 2021
June, 2021
May, 2021
April, 2021
March, 2021
February, 2021
January, 2021
December, 2020
November, 2020
October, 2020
September, 2020
August, 2020
July, 2020
June, 2020
May, 2020
April, 2020
March, 2020
February, 2020
January, 2020
December, 2019
November, 2019
October, 2019
September, 2019
August, 2019
July, 2019
June, 2019
May, 2019
April, 2019
March, 2019
February, 2019
January, 2019
December, 2018
November, 2018
October, 2018
September, 2018
August, 2018
July, 2018
June, 2018
May, 2018
April, 2018
March, 2018
February, 2018
January, 2018
December, 2017
November, 2017
October, 2017
September, 2017
August, 2017
July, 2017
June, 2017
May, 2017
April, 2017
March, 2017
February, 2017
January, 2017
December, 2016
November, 2016
October, 2016
September, 2016
August, 2016
July, 2016
June, 2016
May, 2016
April, 2016
March, 2016
February, 2016
January, 2016
December, 2015
November, 2015
October, 2015
September, 2015
August, 2015
July, 2015
June, 2015
May, 2015
April, 2015
March, 2015
February, 2015
January, 2015
December, 2014
November, 2014
October, 2014
September, 2014
August, 2014
July, 2014
June, 2014
May, 2014
April, 2014
March, 2014
February, 2014
January, 2014
December, 2013
November, 2013
October, 2013
September, 2013
August, 2013
July, 2013
June, 2013
May, 2013
April, 2013
March, 2013
February, 2013
January, 2013
December, 2012
November, 2012
October, 2012
September, 2012
August, 2012
July, 2012
June, 2012
May, 2012
April, 2012
March, 2012
February, 2012
January, 2012
December, 2011
November, 2011
October, 2011
September, 2011
August, 2011
July, 2011
June, 2011
May, 2011
April, 2011
March, 2011
February, 2011
January, 2011
December, 2010
November, 2010
October, 2010
September, 2010
August, 2010
July, 2010
June, 2010
May, 2010
April, 2010
March, 2010
February, 2010
January, 2010
December, 2009
November, 2009
October, 2009
September, 2009
August, 2009
July, 2009
June, 2009
May, 2009
April, 2009
March, 2009
February, 2009
January, 2009
December, 2008
November, 2008
October, 2008
September, 2008
August, 2008
July, 2008
June, 2008
May, 2008
April, 2008
March, 2008
February, 2008
January, 2008
December, 2007
November, 2007
October, 2007
September, 2007
August, 2007
Privacy Statement  |  Terms Of Use
Copyright 2012 by Diana West