A New Phenomenon

“The 9/11 attack was a new phenomenon, and not just because it hit Americans on American soil.  It was not an act of political theater; rather, it was the first successful case of terrorism of mass destruction.  Though the al Qaida hijackers killed only–only!–around three thousand people, one had to assume that the terrorists would have been glad to kill all thirty thousand people who worked at the World Trade Center, and even multiples of that number. 

This was why keeping weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists became, suddenly and inevitably, a far more pressing and higher-order concern than it had before.  It concentrated the minds of U.S. officials on the threat from states that both coveted WMD and supported terrorists.

Iraq was such a state.  Its singular history of aggression, and its defiance of the world’s many efforts to constrain it, made Iraq stand out even among such other WMD-coveting, terrorist-supporting states as Iran and North Korea.” — Douglas Feith, War and Decision, p.214.

“America Does Not Do Its Share!”

“America…is consistently chastised within the economic development community of experts for not providing foreign aid to poor countries at a level commensurate with its wealth.  We are told, ‘The whole developed world is more generous than the United States.  America does not do its share!’  Somehow, the fact that America performs virtually all the Core’s combat interventions in the Gap counts far less than other countries simply sending money, or–better yet–peacekeepers after the fact.” — Thomas Barnett, The Pentagon’s New Map, p.359.

Twelve Reasons to Love the U.S.A., IV

“4.  This is the place where dreams can come true.  U.S. newspapers are full of stories that read almost like fairy tales: the son of a laborer who grows up to be a doctor, the stay-at-home mom who turns a hobby into a flourishing business, the immigrant who becomes a movie star and governor.  The United States has long been the country people flock to for the chance to make better lives.  No other country has built a sturdier ladder for people to climb to success.” — William J. Bennett, The American Patriot’s Almanac, p.34.

What Is the Greatest Harm Government Can Do?

“The government’s greatest harm may come less in the form of its annual cost to taxpayers and more in its destructive influence on civil society and its institutions, such as the family, church, neighborhoods, and other mediating structures that provide humankind meaningful and life-sustaining support.  A society that wishes to remain free and strong will protect these institutions from governmental overextension and politicization.” — Don Eberly, Restoring the Good Society, p.69

What to Do about Iraq, II

“Second: Calculate the costs and benefits of pursuing the war in Iraq by looking forward, not backward.  Critics of the war continually attack the Administration for past acts and omissions–for how the war was ‘sold’ or planned or run.  Those are important issues, but the current policy question is whether continuing to fight is worth the effort–whether securing the benefits of success, and avoiding the consequences of failure, will be worth the costs yet unpaid.” — Douglas Feith, War and Decision, p.523.

What to Do about Iraq Now, I

Prof. Douglas Feith, one of the planners of the Iraq war, deals with this issue in four points.  Here is the first.  
“First: Formulate a realistic goal–that is, a reasonable definition of success.  The achievement of stable democracy is not a sensible goal, because it is not likely to be accomplished in the near term.  It may be possible fairly soon, however, for Iraq to reach the point where, despite the inevitable ongoing problems of building a new society, its government can manage its own affairs with only a limited amount of outside help.  That is a realistic goal.” — Douglas Feith, War and Decision, p.522.

Twelve Reasons to Love the U.S.A., III

“3.  No other country has done a better job of establishing equal rights for all citizens.  Certainly there have been times when the United States has fallen tragically short of its founding principles.  But especially in recent decades, no country has worked harder to eliminate discrimination and protect the rights of minorities.   There are plenty of nations where people’s ethnicity, religion, or gender define them as second-class citizens.  In contrast, America has been a pioneer in striving toward the ideal that all are created equal.” — William J. Bennett, The American Patriot’s Almanac, p.34

Five Strategic Thoughts of the Bush Administration

“The Bush Administration’s response to 9/11 was different from that of any previous U.S. administration to a terrorist attack.  It was based on five major thoughts:

First, the foremost purpose of the U.S. response to the attack was not punishment or retaliation but preventing the next attack–a point that argued for quick action to disrupt ongoing terrorist plans.

Second, we were at war with a global terrorist network of Islamist extremist groups, including state and nonstate sponsors–and the next attack might come not from al Qaida but from some other part of the movement.  Our strategy has to target both those groups themselves and their key sources of actual and potential support–operational, logistic, financial, and ideological.

Third, our attackers were bent not on political theater but on mass destruction.  This highlighted the possibility that terrorists might obtain chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons to maximize the death toll.

Fourth, a series of 9/11-type terrorist attacks on the United States could change the nature of our country.  Our national security policy extends beyond simply protecting people or territory.  It includes securing our consitutional system, our civil liberties, and the open nature of our society–‘our way of life,’ as President Bush expressed it.

This war aim brought us to the fifth strategic thought: In order to counter this threat successfully, we could not rely on a defensive strategy alone.  The United States has so many rich targets that it would demand extraordinary measures to secure them individually–and the effort to do so would endanger our free and open society.  These considerations necessitated a strategy of initiative and offense–of disrupting the terrorist network abroad.

Taken as a wole, these five thoughts drove the Bush Administration to a strategy that gave weight not just to al Qaida but to terrorists of various stripes–such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was merely an al Qaida ‘associate’ at the time, and to groups such as Ansar al-Islam and Jemaah Islamiyah, which had trained with al Qaida in Afghanistan, and Hezbollah.” — Douglas Feith, War and Decision, p.507.

Twelve Reasons to Love the U.S.A., II

“2.  America really is the land of the free.  There are large parts of the world where people can’t say what they think, learn what they’d like, or even dress the way they want.  There are places where people spend years in jail or disappear if they question their rulers.  Less than half of the world’s population lives in countries where people are truly free.  In this nation, as George Washington put it, the love of liberty is interwoven with every ligament of American hearts.” — William J. Bennett, The American Patriot’s Almanac, p.33.

An Inauguration Prayer

Evangelical leader Al Mohler has written a prayer for Pres. Obama.  You may find it here.