Saturday, December 15, 2007

We're sleepwalking into War


(image by www.filibuster.com)


One of my favorite authors, Dr. Jerry Pournelle has pointedly asked people to read this. It's a warning to each and every one of us that we're losing a war by default, and that our society's opponents know they're at war with us, and are doing everything they can to keep the majority of us from realizing this.

He's referring to a recent speech. The speech's author begins by talking about a book, The Troublesome Young Men, which tells of the days leading up to World War II. There was a group of younger conservatives who were attempting to oppose the appeasement policies that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was following in his attempts to deal with the coming Nazi threat. These men recognized that Chamberlain's ilk were so deeply desiring to avoid war, that they refused to recognize the reality of Hitler's proven ambitions, or that policies of appeasement would eventually lead to a war even greater than was feared possible. For their efforts these young Tories were severely punished and isolated by Chamberlain and his Conservatives.

There are frightening parallels to today. After six years of a "War on Terror" neither the sponsors nor the funders of many of the acts of terror since have been called to account.

"We need first of all to recognize this is a real war. Our enemies are peaceful when they're weak, are ruthless when they're strong, demand mercy when they're losing, show no mercy when they're winning. They understand exactly what this is, and anybody who reads Sun Tzu will understand exactly what we're living through. This is a total war. One side is going to win. One side is going to lose. You'll be able to tell who won and who lost by who's still standing. Most of Islam is not in this war, but most of Islam isn't going to stop this war. They're just going to sit to one side and tell you how sorry they are that this happened."

Read the speech. The rest of it will bother you too, I hope.

No comments: