Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven
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| Sunny Days in Heaven Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven |
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Tuesday, September 14, 2004 Things to come Paul Cella writes: . . . (to) point out, as Mark Helprin does in the current Claremont Review of Books, that it is precisely backward to attempt to defeat our enemies by transforming them; enemies must be defeated before they can be transformed. His context for this passage is different, and the thrust of his essay apart from what I wanted to comment on. I find Helprin's comment troubling, for I believe that his formulation is brutally correct. I am hoping against hope that the Iraqis will establish a government that has a future and will represent its people in a positive way. I also believe it would be better for the world and Muslims if they could transform their culture with these pressures on them rather than through abject defeat or annihilations. Yet, we see an Iraqi government under a Prime Minister who is reluctant to destroy those who kill his people. Najaf, Fallujah, and a few other places have become as one pundit described tonight on Brit Hume's Fox News show that Fallujah has become the Afghanistan of Iraq. A lawless territory under the control of a ruthless Taliban type group. The Iraq government can't even protect the men who line up to apply for jobs as police or in the army. The Fallujah Brigade lost its two commanders. One beheaded, the other kidnapped and not heard from since. All the soldiers fled or were killed or joined the jihadis. Their weapons, radios, and vehicles were commandered by the terrorists. The Baathists may win if they are not annihilated. Yet, the Iraqi Arab method of concilation, compromise, bribery, tribalism, truces, negotiation, and appeasement continues to prevail. It is essential we create a stable Iraq (or stable new nations from Iraq). Putting aside the oil supply and what that means economically, from a national security standpoint, we must do something to transform the Middle East, the Arabs, and Islam. It's impossible to know what failure would cause, but I expect it will be far worse than now. posted by Mark Butterworth | 8:04 PM | |
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