My Take: Israeli-Arab Conflict

Even though Israeli-Arab relationships merit in-depth studies and analyses, the current conflict is not too difficult to understand. The reality of the nature of contemporary Israeli and Arab relationships is war. There is always a declared war, even though there may be periods of "cease fire," which means mainly that Israel refrains from taking military action against acts of terrorist aggression within its borders. The reasons that war is continual between Israel and the Arab world is two-fold: (1) The Arab nations that have attacked Israel in the past have never been successful. (2) Israel has never been allowed complete its military operations against the Arab world which would secure victory and establish peace. This is the framework from which to understand the current conflict.

To bring about another "cease fire" in the long history of this war, one of two demands must be met. The Israeli demands are the return of their kidnapped soldiers and the immediate end of rocket attacks on Israeli territory. The Arab (re: Palestinian, Hamas, Hezbollah, et al) demands are the withdrawal of all Jews from Israel or, preferably (according to them), the eradication of all Jews. Which demand should we consider the
most reasonable and simplest to accomplish?

The force that Israel is using in retaliation to the kidnapping of their soldiers (clearly a demonstration of concern for their troops that American liberals forget to express for our kidnapped soldiers) and for the Hezbollah rocket attacks surprises some. However, remember that they have already been in a state of war and that the current conflict is merely another battle within that war.

What has been more surprising than the force Israel is now directing at their enemy has been their restraint for literally years. When Saddam directed SCUD missiles into Israel during the War to Liberate Kuwait, even though Israel was not a military participant in that conflict, Israel made no retaliation. Even though Israeli citizens have suffered devastating terrorist bombing attacks since then, they have made no significant military responses. Indeed, since then, Israel has withdrawn from settlements in the Gaza strip and other territory in order for Palestinians to occupy them and establish their own government. The principle requirement was that the Palestinian authority would actively pursue policies and actions to remove terrorist organizations from their borders. They subsequently failed to accomplish this primarily because they do not consider Arab terrorist organizations their enemy. Jewish Israel is their stated enemy! It stands to reason, then, that they would strengthen their allies and, at the same time, seek ways to disrupt the strength of their enemy.

Military response by Israel to these accumulating attacks is not an option. It is a survival necessity. They do not have the luxury to wait dozens of years for appeasement diplomacy. They do not have the luxury to sit idly by while their soldiers are kidnapped and tortured. They do not have the luxury to wring their hands over suicide Islamic jihadists while uttering platitudes that this is, after all, "something that Europeans have been enduring for years."

Israel believes in fixing the problem. Even though their solution - victory - will be condemned by those impotent world peacekeepers over at the United Nations, Israel will nevertheless do what they can to ensure their survivability among neighbor nations, some nearer than others, that make no secret of their goal to eliminate Israel as a Jewish state.

On December 4, 2001, then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated, " … A war has been forced upon us. A war of terror. A war that claims innocent victims daily. A war of terror being conducted systematically, in an organized fashion, and with methodical direction. … We will pursue those responsible, the perpetrators of terrorism and the supporters. We will pursue them until we catch them, and they will pay a price." Once again, though, this current conflict will be halted far short of what it will take to establish victory, and hence peace, in that war torn region. Unfortunately, it will only be a matter of time before battles will be once again fought regardless of how long the new phony "cease fire" may last.

Making Sure the Liberal Message is Heard

Analysis from the last couple of Presidential elections have resulted both times in the Liberal's claim that they lost because... their message did not get out to Americans! Amazingly, they blame mainstream media sources for not helping them out here.

At any rate, I decided to try to help them out. Yes, let's get the liberal message out to Americans.

In order to facilitate this mission, I maintain an e-mail list that I send the occasional liberal message out to. I protect participants' e-mail addresses to the greatest extent possible and do not use them for any commercial purpose (as if I have a commercial purpose to use them for).

Anyway, if you want to be a recipient of my occasional "get the liberal message out" alerts, send me an e-mail to calayne1@juno.com. I'll add you. You won't be sorry. The best way I have found to thwart the liberal's agendas is to let 'em talk. So, let 'em be heard, I say.

Photo note: Photographer Sean Cafferky from the Seattle Anti-War Protest of 15 Feb 2003. There were too many to choose from. See for yourself at
http://www.lovethief.com/seattleantiwarprotest-feb2003/. (I may have to include this link in a "get the liberal message out" e-mail!)

American Revolution and Quagmire

From 1780 through 1782, General Nathanael Greene commanded the American colonial forces in the southern colonies. Under General Greene’s command, the American forces were never victorious in any major engagement against the British forces. Every time the two armies faced each other on the field of battle, the British took the ground, and the American forces withdrew after the battle, which was the definition of defeat. In spite of this, General Greene maneuvered the British Cornwallis into Yorktown where General Washington subsequently forced his surrender. In December, 1781, Greene forced the British to evacuate the south from Charleston, South Carolina, ending major campaigns in that sector of the conflict.

What a shame the modern American left was not there to inform Generals Greene and Washington, the Continental Congress, and all colonists fighting Britain of the hopeless quagmire in which they were mired. The outcome of this hopeless, futile venture would have been obvious to them. No other solution save withdrawal of forces from the Revolution would have been acceptable. Lives could have been saved had the colonial patriots relegated the great principles and spirit of freedom and liberty to the back seat of human despotism. Yes, indeed, what a shame that there was no political left movement in 1780 America.

Of course, I am expressing sarcasm at the philosophy of the contemporary American left. Their constant bombardment about "quagmire," and other defeatist philosophies, in Iraq and Afghanistan are dangerous. Their attempts to undermine American and allied success in this current war are dangerous. Their use of media to expose classified programs being used to prosecute this war is dangerous. Their use of the courts, even the Supreme Court, to hamstring the Commander-in-Chief's ability to wage a successful war is dangerous. They are dangerous because of the nature of this war. In Vietnam, which seems to be the limit of their knowledge of American involvement in war, Ho Chi Minh's objective was to take Saigon and subdue South Vietnam. In the scheme of Cold War threats, larger designs could be read into that war (i.e., the prevalent "domino theory" of that period), but the reality of the Vietnam situation was that the United States of America was under no direct threat from North Vietnam.

Not so in our current global war. Al-Qaeda and other similar enemies have directly targeted, unfortunately successfully, American assetts both abroad and at home. They continue to plan to do so. Their objective, stated plainly enough by them, is to cripple the United States of America and all of Western civilization. This is a significant difference between the Vietnam conflict and the current conflict. Although it resulted in great suffering and loss of life to the people of Vietnam and Cambodia, withdrawing from Vietnam did not directly afflict America with tragedy. To withdraw from the current war being fought on the Iraqi and Afghani fronts - and anywhere else the enemy operates - would be a major catastrophe for America and Western civilization. This is why the attempts of the American left to hamper America's war efforts are so dangerous, and why it really is a good thing that they were not present in 1780.