Why we fight

I’m reminded of the collective ignorance of the media today by reading this stupid AP article; U.S. Deaths in Iraq Exceed 9-11 Count. I’ve seen others blog about it, like Little Green Footballs who calls it a “grim milestone watch”, but I think it’s a total misrepresentation of the entire war against terror.

The Left claims that they understand why we went to war in Afghanistan, the Taliban supported those who attacked us, supposedly. So we were right to unseat the Taliban – we could’ve stopped there, they say. Yup, we could, if the war was about revenge.

Since the war in Iraq has cost more American lives than were lost in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, the war is a failure; if the war was about revenge. We could focus our military assets in Iraq on finding bin Laden in Afghanistan instead; if the war is about revenge.

This war is about our national security, not revenge. Petty, small-minded people plan out acts of revenge – petty, small minded people like the people we’re battling in the Middle East. Petty, small-minded people who’ve been attacking us for more than a decade.

When we were attacked countless times in the 90s, we did nothing. That brought about the attack on September 11th. September 11th isn’t an event that survives all by itself in history. It doesn’t mark a single unprovoked strike against the United States, rather it’s the highwater mark of a series of unanswered attacks.

Only empty-headed journalistists and equally-empty-headed populist political candidates try to turn this into a war of empty platitudes, into 30-second sound bites about eye-for-an-eye, useless acts of revenge. It’s about the survival of Western Civilization. If this war against terror is indeed about revenge, we’ve already lost it – we’ll have become Stone Age warriors like our enemy.

Category: Terror War