I was out of town for the last 10 days and just before I left I’d exchanged emails with the Editor about a possible article on the Middle East. Yesterday while reading the News Leader on-line, I came across Sian Perry’s article. Once again, I’m amazed at how differently we can look at things. And I thought that some of her comments might lead to a good segue into an article about the critical times we face in the Middle East.

Sian believes we’re becoming xenophobic (unfounded fear of foreigners) and described the grilling her Canadian niece experienced while trying to cross the border. She goes on to lament about how we’re becoming too patriotic, wanting to build fences and such, etc. Good liberal talking points.

Somehow, I doubt that the obvious ever crossed Sian’s mind. Her niece is a victim of “political correctness” run amok. I’m sure that even the agent who was giving her a hard time, knew that she was not a threat, but he is under orders to threat all persons the same. The Left’s all out war on “profiling” is costing this government and us taxpayers, millions of dollars daily and millions of man hours yearly. The “Great Lie” is that profiling doesn’t work… reality disproves it (ask anybody in law enforcement)… but because of political correctness, our agents have to spend a mountain of time going through the motions with folks like her niece and a lot of little old ladies to make it look good. By the way, I’ve heard this same complaint from friends in the Middle East as to how they’re treated when they come here. “We have been coming to America for decades; your government knows who we are and that we’re friends. Surely as smart as you are, you could figure out a way to separate those of us who are friends from those who are possible enemies”?

The fact of the matter is we could… and should! But we and law enforcement… are saddled with this insanity that we have to treat all the same (political correctness), even to the point where we might be forced to ignore the obvious. Sian doesn’t see this; instead she complains that we are becoming xenophobic, etc. It is the liberal mindset that causes her niece and our friends this inconvenience and puts us at peril, while protecting our enemies through laws and procedures that is simply pure insanity. Not to mention the very real cost in dollars and wasted assets it uses up.

Now that the Democrats are the power in Congress, with Pelosi, Read and company calling the shots, I fear it won’t be long before we’re saddled with similarly idiotic laws and directives. But more importantly, the two greatest threats to our country’s survival, the global war on terrorism and the unbridled immigration problem we face, will be lost because of this foggy mindset that resides in academia, is nurtured by the media and lives under the auspices of the Democrat Party.

No one likes war! I can also state beyond a doubt there have been major mistakes made in Iraq, which is obvious. Like trying to fight a war where no one dies. The truth of the matter is that our ‘war fighters’ are quite capable of winning the war and they are willing… but it is our politicians and the media which prevent it. On the heals of an incredible victory, by toppling the Saddam regime in just a few weeks… we get Bremer and the eggheads from the State Department who come on the scene… to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Bremer’s unilateral decision to disband the existing Iraqi Army was the single most, insane, ill conceived and stupid mistake anyone could make! It may end up costing us the entire Middle East. It was borne out of the academic attitude that all military leaders (including our own) can never be trusted. What our military knew and the intellectual elites ignored, is that we never really fought the professional Iraqi military during the war. Our opposition was mostly Jihadists, foreign fighters and loosely knit groups of various terror organizations. Had the Iraqi military truly thrown their weight into the fight, the losses would have been far greater on all sides. But they didn’t, because they knew that total war would result in the same conclusion, but the human costs and national destruction would have been far greater. At the beginning of the war, we had the office, home and cell numbers of every Iraqi General. They were forewarned not to fight and given an indication of the dire consequences that would result if they chose to not comply. But they were also given to believe that they would remain intact and continue to serve their nation under a new government. In fact, many in our military campaigned for just such a scenario. They knew we didn’t have the man power to cover a country the size and population of Iraq and that a military man’s first allegiance would be to his country… not a befallen dictator. Bremer’s ignorance of this mind set and innate bias led to his decision to totally disband the Iraqi military, against our own military’s advice. This put hundreds of thousands of former Iraqi soldiers on the street; with no future, no income, feeling betrayed and armed… the insurgency started almost immediately.

Once that Rubicon was crossed, there was no turning back and the mistakes continued to mount; Like stopping the Marines in Fallujah because of mounting casualties on both sides even though we were winning handily. This was a watershed event that led the enemy to believe we don’t have the will to win and became a psychological victory for them. Then we did not disband the various armed militias, which is sure to cause a new Iraqi government to fail. The Mini-Mullah Al Sadar should have been wiped out immediately when our folks were hung from the bridge, no matter what mosque he was hiding in. Letting the enemy use the mosques as a safe haven indicates to me some foggy bottom idiot has been watching too many movies where such nonsense is countenanced. Then our rotten intellectuals cave in to the Mullahs, allowing the installation of Shira Law (need to respect their heritage you know)… instead of imposing a U.S. style justice system. This concession to the radical religious leaders was insane. We were supposed to be bringing Democracy to region of the world that had never known it. Instead we saddle them with a feudal justice system that cuts off heads, hands and arms as punishment. Only an academic or a politically correct thinker could rationalize that one. These decisions are being made by politicians and bureaucrats, not the war fighters. They do this because of convoluted logic and because they’re afraid of how the like minded media will report it if they don’t. (You’re not respecting their culture!) If their heritage encourages the subjugation of peoples through religious zealotry, then I say screw it! A new sheriff is in town. The PC movement has got us so screwed up; we can’t even think straight or address the obvious anymore.

And the media, if you don’t think the media influences what goes on in Iraq, I’d like to make you aware of a subtle little thing that is done on a daily basis by the Associated Press.

During the Vietnam War… the media and our military became infatuated with the term “body count”. It was false indicia of how the war was supposedly going. That lesson was learned by our military and was never used in Desert Strom or the Iraqi War. But today we have a different type of “body count” being used as indicia of the war effort. Every single day, the Associated Press issues a press release that states: “U.S. Military death toll in Iraq reaches”… what ever the number each day. A subtle, but intentional implication, that our troops are being massacred. Nothing could be farther from the truth! At times during the Vietnam War, we suffered as many losses in a month as we have during the years we have been in Iraq, during WW II, that many in a day! In fact, after years, we have just barely exceeded the threshold of those killed in one day on 9/11. How soon we forget.

But this simple example pales in comparison to the outrageous reporting of the media on such issues as Abu Grab, religious insensitivity, the rogue actions of a few trying to make it seem like official policy and by fiat condemning all who serve. The pompous media then tries to equate these acts to beheadings and worse. This is not a case of moral relativism! It’s absurd logic run amok!

The core of the Democrat Party today demands that we pull out of Iraq immediately or as they say euphemistically, redeploy… What ever, it is surrender! I cannot for the life of me understand what they are thinking! Have they not given even a second of thought about what evil we will face as a result? Let me try to paint a picture.

If we leave, within weeks, Iraq will slide into the morass of all out civil war, resulting in a radical regime more sinister and threatening than Saddam’s ever was; aligned, if not actually controlled, by the radical Mullahs in Iran. There will follow a massacre approaching the excesses by the regime of Pol Pot in Cambodia and/or Hitler’s in Germany.

Almost overnight, stable governments like those in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States will be in peril. These radicals will then control 80% of the worlds oil reserves or greater! Like $2.30 a gallon for gas? Try $20.00 a gallon or greater if this happens! The U.S. and most of the Western World’s economies will collapse almost overnight. For years because of benign neglect for the region, we have been only one bullet away from a Radical Islamic Government in Pakistan. Musharreff won’t last a week if we fail in Iraq, he’ll either be assassinated or flee to the US for asylum, like our puppets in Vietnam did. Malaysia and Indonesia, along with the Southern Philippines will follow suit within a few years. Europe will find itself overwhelmed and eventually will surrender as well. Perhaps only China, because of their sheer numbers will have a chance to survive. Our days will be numbered.

If that were not enough, they will also (if they already don’t) have nuclear weapons. For almost fifty years we engaged in a Cold War with the Soviet Union. We applied the principal of “mutually assured destruction” (MAD). You fire at us and we’ll send enough missiles your way to destroy you. The liberals hated this policy, but it worked. It worked because we were confronted by a secular government, which in the end was rational. Their desire for survival, out weighed their hatred of us (I wish our media was as rational). But we will now be facing a society whose leaders claim they talk directly to God and it is God’s will they attempt to destroy us! Like my old Pappy used to say, “Any man, who says he has conversations with God, is a liar, a nutcase or a charlatan… no matter what religion he professes”. Not bad logic for a humble man from Georgia. Try this; ever try to reason with someone who says “God” told them to do something? Now most likely if you or I run into someone like this, they’re pushing a grocery cart down a street or you’re visiting an institution of some sort… But over there, these nutcases are running a country and may end up in control of half the world’s population if not stopped.

One of the current popular myths championed by the left these days is “conflict resolution”. If we just “reason” with people, they’ll understand we mean them no harm. I’ve got news for them; they’ll have about as much a chance of “reasoning” with the cart pusher or the institutionalized, as they will the Mullahs in Iran or Iraq. Our Founding Fathers recognized the inherent danger of mixing religion and politics, the example of their wisdom resides with the Mullahs and radical Islamists of the Middle East. When a country’s leaders say God tells them to “destroy the infidels”, they’re gonna try to do it. MAD won’t work with them, because they already are.

I cannot understand for one second why our liberal media isn’t harping about this on a daily basis instead of spending all their time attacking our own government? Evidently their hatred for America exceeds their fear of the greatest threat to face the world in our time.

Do they believe in a free press? Or is it a canard? There is no free press in an Islamic Society. Do they believe in equal rights for women and minorities? There are no such rights in an Islamic Society. Do they believe in religious freedom? There is no such freedom in an Islamic Society! Do they believe in Democracy? Once again, there are no such rights afforded in such a world. Is the media and the Democrat Party so consumed with a lust for power themselves, that they are willing to put the nation or even the world at risk to attain it? I’m really beginning to wonder?

Folks, unless they wake up, they’re gonna sell us down the road in a hay basket… As an example of the mindset, my lawyer is a good Democrat (go figure). When I tried to explain to him what a threat to the world Radical Islam is; he immediately countered that he was more afraid of Fundamentalist Christians… because they wanted to get into his bedroom! Dammit, there is no moral equivalence between fringe group Christians and folks who’ll cut off your head off if you don’t kneel down to Allah. We have just got to get over this nonsense of trying to compare our own value system and beliefs to others. It is part of the reason I get on my soap box and rail at political correctness at every opportunity. In the name of multi-culturalism and political correctness; this dynamic, successful experiment, that we call America… is at risk. Great risk!

Unless we man up and confront these realities head on… we are doomed to the ash heap of history, justifiably I might add. Honestly, if it were up to me at this point, I’d pony up to the bar and say, “Sorry folks, we made some huge mistakes. Iraq is not ready for self governance… We’re gonna disband this government and start from scratch… When Iraq is ready, we’ll hold elections without religious alignments allowed. You’ll live under a U.S. style constitution and legal system. Any religious leader doesn’t like it; it’s off to jail or worse”. Folks, after 20 plus years of Saddam, the Iraqi’s understand tough love… and they’ll love us for it in the end. To leave them high and dry at this point is tantamount to liberating them from one despot and then allowing a worse despot to take his place. It ain’t rocket science.