This is typical of you to blame terrorism on the West. It's not foreign policy that drives them to kill “infidels” and they say as much. Hassan, a former radical Islamist said: “I remember how we used to laugh in celebration whenever people on TV proclaimed that the sole cause for Islamic acts of terror like 9/11, the Madrid bombings and 7/7 was Western foreign policy. By blaming the Government for our actions… they did our propaganda work for us. More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.”
Perhaps this also explains why you are unwilling to believe that people were driven by their religion to fly planes into American buildings and instead chose some grand conspiracy that satisfies your denial of the existence of evil.
You forgot John Adams, Woodrow Wilson, Bill Clinton… What makes you think these wars had “ends”? The Civil War, much like today, was a war of civilizations – a war of conflicting ideas. WW2 was also the first war where civilians became legitimate military targets, so your comparisons aren’t exactly correct.
This is where I think that liberals are seriously mistaken. As I said above, I truly believe that liberals are more reluctant to accept the existence of evil and they’d rather fabricate their own source of problems (“neocons” in this case) then accept the real ones.
History has shown the devastating consequences for average people when their leaders fail to heed the words of evil men and no where is this more evident than in WW2. If world leaders had taken seriously the word of Stalin, Mussolini, and Hitler when they made their threats, then millions of people might still be alive. I see no reason to not take the Iranian President seriously when he says he wants to wipe Israel off the map and declares war on the West.
Just as in the years leading up to World War II, the signs are all around us. The rise of Hamas. The re-arming of Hezbollah. The Iranian dictatorship's relentless drive for nuclear weapons. Terrorists from New Jersey to London to Iraq and Pakistan who are saying repeatedly and publicly that they want nothing more than to kill us.
Getting back to my point here, the reason that Americans take the Islamic threat more serious than the Spanish is because we value liberty more than they do (remember, Spain has allowed tyranny and dictatorships to run their country) and thus, are less likely to try and appease evil. No one has given more for liberty than the American soldier, and as such, we are the least likely to give in to those who threaten it. This has nothing to do with a willingness to accept “restrictions” and has everything to do with a willingness to recognize evil and prevent it from destroying our civilization.
You were challenged to draw parallels between the Nazis and President Bush’s Administration. Military prisons and tribunals are nothing new. In fact, they date back to the Revolution.
Secondly, I have yet to see one shred of evidence of torture at Guantanamo.
That’s all the time I have right now. I’ll try to find some time to respond to your other points. Though I don’t agree, I can appreciate your thoughtfulness and thoroughness – something that the “Bush=Hitler” crowd almost never displays.
