Toughen Up!

I'm getting worried. We started off so well in Afghanistan, but when it comes to Israel, which has a far worse terrorism problem than we do, we've turned into Quakers. Remember Patrick Henry's lead in to "Give me Liberty"? "Gentlemen may cry Peace! Peace! but there is no peace!"

We are dealing with people who view the world in seventh century terms, whose religion teaches them that Jews and Christians are inferior and are to be subdued. The only thing that has worked to stop this mentality is sound military defeat at the hands of the Infidels, and while our principles honor all religions, we draw the line at doctrines that establish one as conferring superior status on its adherents.

Then there's Arafat. Our senators denounce Ken Lay as the biggest con man since Charles Ponzi. Maybe they just haven't been paying attention to Palestine, where we have been party to installing a thugocracy for a government. On second thought, Arafat is more like Al Capone than Ponzi. How long does he string us along until we start wondering if we've got STUPID tattooed on our foreheads? The Karine A should have torn it, but we blame Iran and Iraq and not the recipients of these weapons. So the Israelis raid his headquarters and turn up documentation that the PA is actively supporting the suicide bombing, and what is our response? "Shame on Sharon!:

The excuse proffered is that we can't allow this issue to become a distraction from our plans in Iraq. Here's a clue, we are not going to get any coalition for going after Hussein, at least until we start doing it ourselves. Then, like the Little Red Hen, we'll find plenty of volunteers.

That should be the lesson of history in dealing with Muslims, especially fundamentalist Shi'ites and Wahabists.

This fixation with the "peace process" is positively pathological. It's an obsessive-compulsive disorder.
It reveals a failure of creativity and a timidity that is unbecoming of the George Bush who sent the military against terrorism in Afghanistan. It's an infectious groupthink inside the Beltway and in the Bicoastal Press. In the immortal words of Cher, in Moonstruck, "SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Americans need a gut check. We need to be told that the war for democracy and freedom will require courage and faith in our principles, never more than now, when abandoning Arafat may have the effect of playing pinata with a hornets nest. It is scary, but we have to do it.

Let's roll!