Foreign Policy

I'm having a discussion over at Zero Hedge with Crockett. We are looking at Ron Paul's idea of Foreign Policy. Needless to say - I'm not a fan.

Way ahead of you Crockett, my man. I already make my world conform to my desires. And I'm not unhappy with the results. International politics is a mugs game. Those who can play it well are thugs. Reality. You don't like it? Well the answer is to fix human nature. You up for it?

People are what they are. No amount of libertarian philosophy will change that. What do people really want? Liberty? Doubtful. The question on every man's tongue is a very old one "ubi est?" So I work for a little liberty at the margins. Ending the drug war is within reach. So I reach for that.

I used to have grand dreams for a country premised on Liberty. Now I'm willing to settle for movement at the margins. i.e. something that can actually be done.

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My ideal foreign policy establishment:

A State Department run by Warmongers who are willing to settle for peace. And a War Department run by Peacemakers who are the most vicious warriors on the planet. The Marines get it. "No better friend, no worse enemy."

Ron Paul is a Peacemonger. They are most dangerous because they usually deliver the opposite of what they claim their aim is. This is my view:

Peace through superior fire power and the willingness to use it.

To be loved is a good thing. For the rest fear should suffice.

Of course domestic policy is different and there Paul shines. What he is unable to do is to reconcile the two systems. He wants the world to be a logical place. It isn't. Proof? There are Frenchmen.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

An Epiphany On The Left?

The Belmont Club was discussing the McChrystal letter and the President's response to it.

The Wall Street Journal says Secretary Gates has passed on a request for more men for the Afghan campaign from General McChrystal. Gates had attempted to delay the formal transmission, but mounting public interest in the issue made it pointless to hold it back.

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert Gates has forwarded a request for more troops in Afghanistan to President Barack Obama, the Pentagon said Wednesday, as divisions within the administration and Congress continued despite Mr. Obama’s high-profile meeting with congressional leaders the day before … in the end, the defense chief feared that the document — already widely reported on — would leak to the press before Mr. Obama had a chance to read it, said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell. The request outlines several options ranging up to 40,000 troops added to the 68,000 now stationed or headed there.

Interestingly Fox News reports: Code Pink Supports Afghan War?

But one report says the group is now rethinking its position on the Afghanistan war. The Christian Science Monitor reports that during a recent trip to Kabul, local Afghan women told Code Pinkers the situation is a lot more complicated than they think. Afghan member of Parliament and women’s activist Shinkai Karokhail told the group's founders: "In the current situation of terrorism, we cannot say troops should be withdrawn."

Those concerns convinced the founders that setting a deadline is not in Afghanistan's best interest. Medea Benjamin, Code Pink co-founder, said: "We would leave with the same parameters of an exit strategy but we might perhaps be more flexible about a timeline... So many people are saying that, 'If the U.S. troops left — the country would collapse. We'd go into a civil war.' A palpable sense of fear, that is making us start to reconsider that."

It is amazing what even accepting a little responsibility can do.

Let us not forget that a lot of vets (Ds as well as Rs - The founder of Swift Boats was a D) caused Kerry to lose to Bush. If Obama turns his back on the troops he loses them.

And then with responsibility for the women of Afghanistan adopted by Code Pink (they actually want to live up to their highest ideals - even if it tarnishes some of their others - as long as it is they who care and not Bush)

A debacle in Afghanistan for the women of that country (more videoed stonings of women) would not just be a point for the opposition. It would ruin what is left of Obama's self image. The guy has got to be really hurting. The knife to the gut from Medea Benjamin has got to be his "Et Tu Brutus" moment.

My friend Alex sent me an e-mail with a link to this piece from another Code Pinker (or a fellow traveler) who was in Afghanistan.

I have come to Kabul because I want to experience for myself what is happening here, eight years after the U.S. ousted the Taliban. I have spent the past 40 years of my life protesting war and working for peace in conflict areas. I don’t believe that killing leads to peace.

I came here as part of a small peace delegation of mostly women who share my conviction that President Obama must not send more troops and should set a timeline for withdrawal of the 60,000 that are here.

But now - after seven intense days and nights of interviews and meetings in Kabul - I no longer have that conviction.

The best path to peace may not be the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops. And since the troops here now are not able to provide enough security for the Afghans to rebuild their country, it is possible more troops may be needed.

It shocks me to admit this. But the voices I have heard – local and international NGO workers, reconciliation activists, ex-Taliban members, warlords, women in homeless shelters and in governmental positions – clearly do not want a withdrawal of troops now. They are under attack. The great majority of the people I listened to – not all but the great majority – feel that additional troops are necessary to train a viable Afghan army and a national police force and to secure the country so that development projects can proceed. Yes, we should have accomplished those goals by now, but we have not.

Now if you go to the site you will see some drivel about Palestine to begin the post. But I have to tell you that even a little honesty and honor among the left is a big surprise and was the very best I could expect after the election of our current President. Now if only our President was listening. One can only HOPE.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

There Will Be War

A sad thought on this Memorial Day:

It makes no difference whether we have a peace candidate or a war candidate. As long as the jihadis want war there will be war.

A Sound Proposition

You start knocking over nations that support or harbor terrorists and sooner or later nations get the idea that it is not wise to support or harbor terrorists.

Seems like a sound proposition to me.

I can understand why so many Euros don't like the idea. The Euros couldn't even handle such a proposition in their own back yard.

Not to worry. Americans have a lot of experience with this sort of thing, and we are getting better at it all the time. Practice makes perfect.

Inspired by the comments to a post about Islamic Fascism Awareness Week at The Reference Frame.

I Will Not Lie

The Berkeley Daily Planet has a post up from US Marine Corps Captain Richard Lund in response to the Code Pink demonstration in front of the Marine Corps recruiting office in Bezerkeley, California.

First, a little bit about who I am: I am a Marine captain with over eight years of service as a commissioned officer. I flew transport helicopters for most of my time in the Marine Corps before requesting orders to come here. Currently, I am the officer selection officer for the northern Bay Area. My job is to recruit, interview, screen, and evaluate college students and college graduates that show an interest in becoming officers in the Marine Corps. Once they’ve committed to pursuing this program, I help them apply, and if selected, I help them prepare for the rigors of Officer Candidate School and for the challenges of life as a Marine officer. To be eligible for my programs, you have to be either a full-time college student or a college graduate. I don’t pull anyone out of school, and high school students are not eligible.

I moved my office to Berkeley in December of last year. Previously, it was located in an old federal building in Alameda. That building was due to be torn down and I had to find a new location. I choose our new site because of its proximity to UC Berkeley and to the BART station. Most of the candidates in my program either go to Cal or to one of the schools in San Francisco, the East Bay, or the North Bay. Logistically, the Shattuck Square location was the most convenient for them.

Next, you claim that I lie. I have never, and will never, lie to any individual that shows an interest in my programs. I am upfront with everything that is involved at every step of the way and I go out of my way to ensure that they know what to expect when they apply. I tell them that this is not an easy path. I tell them that leading Marines requires a great deal of self-sacrifice. I tell them that, should they succeed in their quest to become a Marine officer, they will almost certainly go to Iraq. In the future, if you plan to attack my integrity, please have the courtesy to explain to me specifically the instances in which you think that I lied.

Next he goes into why a country needs a military. Let me give you the short version. Every country will have a military, either its own or some one else's. There is more. Go and read.

Semper Fi

H/T Zombie Time from a link at LGF

BTW if some one can direct me to the author and exact form of the "Every country will have a military..." I'd appreciate it.

Which Wolf

A kind reader in the "peace at any price" camp sent me this story: Which Wolf.

A Cherokee elder sitting with his grandchildren told them, “In every life there is a terrible fight—a fight between two wolves. One is evil: he is fear, anger, envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, and deceit. The other is good: joy, serenity, humility, confidence, generosity, truth, gentleness, and compassion.” A child asked, “Grandfather, which wolf will win?” The elder looked him in the eye. “The one you feed.”

To which I responded:

I note that feeding the right wolf does not always work out as planned.

In 1936 the world began feeding an Austrian wolf. His hunger was not fully sated until 1945.

So yes. It does depend on the wolf you feed.

Passing On A Deal

Netscape blog is running with an old story: Bush could have talked to Iran and made a deal. Here is what I think:

America has been the Great Satan to Iran since 1979.

Death to America rallies are held every Friday.

And boy do they have it in for the Little Satan.

I do think we could get at least as good a deal from Iran as Neville Chamberlain got from the Austrian Corporal in 1938.

Muslim Hit Team?

The semi-reliable Pipeline News has posted a piece about the fellows Threatening The Guilford Players.

...at North Carolina's Guilford College the hue and cry over a gamed "hate crime" has reached such proportions that a hit-team composed of self-identified Muslims are actually out hunting the football players involved in the January 21 fracas.

"City of Greensboro police were called on February 4, 2007 at 11:50am in reference to three individuals that entered a suite at Bryan Hall on the Guilford College campus stating that they were looking for the football players that were involved in previously alleged assault.

The subjects were described as follows:

1. Black male, dark-skinned, 30-40 years old, 6'3"- 6'4" heavyset, bushy beard green toboggan, green bubble jacket.

2. Middle eastern male, 5'9" thin, black Carhartt jacket, red bandanna on his head,

3. Middle Eastern male, 6'0", thin, black jacket, black toboggan." - Greensboro Police Department

The three thugs aroused the suspicions of student athletes they encountered while casing Bryan Hall. In the presence of these athletes they made the statement that they were Muslims and looking for the football players involved in the assault. Unnerved by this confrontation, the three then quickly left the scene, departing at a high rate of speed while driving a dark green 1995-96 Nissan Maxima whose registration plates had been removed. Eyewitnesses stated that the vehicle ran 3 stoplights to evade pursuers.

We have been informed that Bryan Hall remains unsecured despite the now obvious threat.

Adding additional irony, the scene of this increasingly ominous affair is run by the Quakers. In some venues the college has been described as a "hippie oasis," however less flattering views of the institution refer to it as a place where spikey haired freaky young adults are ushered out of 60 thousand dollar German luxury cars, dropped off by parents who are relieved at not having to see or deal with them again until semester's end.

Some kids never get the hang of reality.

Speaking of reality, Pipeline covers the relationship between the Quaker founded Guilford College and the Friends School in Ramallah, West Bank.

1. Two of the three of the accusers in the Guilford assault case themselves are implicated as having precipitated violent confrontations with other students.

2. Guilford's Director of Multicultural Educational Education, Sekinah Hamlin personally guided the three accusers away from the Greensboro Police Department [which ended its investigation in this matter on January 31, bringing no charges], "After careful review of this case and consultation with the Guilford County District Attorney's Office, no evidence was found at this time that would allow the Greensboro Police Department to proceed any further in this investigation."] and towards Magistrate W.P. Brown, who issued arrest warrants upon the mere allegation of the accusers.

3. That Guilford maintains a feeder school relationship with the suicide bomber justifying Ramallah Friends School in Israel's West Bank.

4. That Guilford College Quaker Chaplain, Max Carter regularly meets while in the Middle East with individuals who are just a handshake removed from terror:

Pipeline has much more on the subject. What is interesting is Guilford's support for violent resolution of differences in Israel and peaceful resolution in America.

The evidence is that the violence in Israel is seeping into America. Brought to us by the peaceful folks at Guilford College. Interesting how often Peacemongers lead us to war.

Nevile Chamberlain was a man of peace.

He had the papers to prove it.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Peacemongers

In world history peacemongering has a terrible history.

What wories me is simple. The Rhineland 1938. A small war would have put the Austrian Corporal out of business. Instead the peacemongers prevailed. What we got in exchange for two years of peace was 1939-45. Not a good bargain. If we don't solve this jihad problem we may very well wind up in an atomic war. Something I'd rather avoid.

Thomas Sowell has some similar thoughts on peacemongering.

The most catastrophic result of “peace” movements was World War II. While Hitler was arming Germany to the teeth, “peace” movements in Britain were advocating that their own country disarm “as an example to others.”

British Labour Party Members of Parliament voted consistently against military spending and British college students publicly pledged never to fight for their country. If “peace” movements brought peace, there would never have been World War II.

Not only did that war lead to tens of millions of deaths, it came dangerously close to a crushing victory for the Nazis in Europe and the Japanese empire in Asia. And we now know that the United States was on Hitler's timetable after that.

For the first two years of that war, the Western democracies lost virtually every battle, all over the world, because pre-war “peace” movements had left them with inadequate military equipment and much of it obsolete. The Nazis and the Japanese knew that. That is why they launched the war.

“Peace” movements don't bring peace, but war.

My sentiments exactly.

Neville Chamberlain Was A Man of Peace

He had the papers to prove it too!

Technorati:
Israel, Iran, Iran War, Gulf States, Nuclear Weapons

Blistering Pacifists

Christopher Hitchens gets pacificism exactly correct on this third anniversary of the war's start:

Well, if everyone else is allowed to rewind the tape and replay it, so can I. We could have been living in a different world, and so could the people of Iraq, and I shall go on keeping score about this until the last phony pacifist has been strangled with the entrails of the last suicide-murderer.

Christopher Hitchens, Pacifist, Suicide Bobmer, suicide murderer

Pacifist Warmongers

I was reading a biography of Albert Einstein by Ronald Clark and came across this interesting bit on page 555.

....Alexander Sachs, a well-known economist and intimate of the President [Franklin Roosevelt - ed.], did not at the time know much of Einstein's earlier history, since he has gone on record as saying that he has "always been of the view that the real warmongering, combined with defeatism is done by the pacifists."

Further corroboration can be found in Erich Fromm's book "Escape From Freedom" published in 1941. In his chapter "Psychology of Nazism" he describes in the Nazis's own words how the submission of others gives the Nazis a feeling of power and in Goebell's own words lifts their depression.

Now there is an interesting thought. War as an anti-depressant.

A letter to Sullivan

The West is a civilization built on arms and murder. Like any other civilization.

What is different is that the people are armed and there is less murder.

Are you forgetting WW2? The West can murder with the best of them. In fact we are better at it than the rest of the world combined. What we also have is better restraint. Not perfect but better.

Perfection is not an option. Especially when murder is a necessity.

"Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

And if that doesn't work for you try Kiplings's "Tommy".

Or try this:

An essay on September 11

May I quote:

But whenever Americans have been challenged, they have risen to the task. In some awful way, these evil thugs may have done us a favor. America may have woken up for ever. The rage that will follow from this grief and shock may be deeper and greater than anyone now can imagine. Think of what the United States ultimately did to the enemy that bombed Pearl Harbor. Now recall that American power in the world is all but unchallenged by any other state. Recall that America has never been wealthier, and is at the end of one of the biggest booms in its history. And now consider the extent of this wound - the greatest civilian casualties since the Civil War, an assault not just on Americans but on the meaning of America itself. When you take a step back, it is hard not to believe that we are now in the quiet moment before the whirlwind. Americans will recover their dead, and they will mourn them, and then they will get down to business. Their sadness will be mingled with an anger that will make the hatred of these evil fanatics seem mild.

The fellow is dead now (more is the pity) but he sure could write.

Well any way. Some of us are still angry. Others of us have gotten over it. I know how it is; life as a Copperhead is never fun. I went that route in an earlier war. It didn't work out the way I thought it would.

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The Democrats have forgotten their anger. The nation has not.

And there is the Dem's problem.

Daniel Pearl vs Gitmo. Which is the bigger problem?

A discussion with the Left - War and Peace

So I'm having a discussion with some leftys about war and peace and military atrocities at the Washington Note.

It starts off with a critique of an officer who decrys the influence of politics on military affairs:

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[The officer] must not have read his Clauzwitz. That would mean that he is not properly trained as an officer and doesn't belong in the military.

"War is politics by other means."

Either [The officer] is not an officer or he is a bad one.

Any way every war needs its Copperheads and McClellans. Seems there is no shortage even today.

I have something to say on the matter here with a link to one of Wretchard's fine pieces:

Copperheads

Posted by: M. Simon at November 1, 2004 11:19 PM

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Then I respond to a guy who says war for oil is a bad thing:

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Without oil a lot of people on this earth would die in six months. We depend on oil to feed people.

Now who do you suppose will do most of the dying without oil? Soros? Buffet?

A few thousand dying for oil is not a bad thing if the alternative is the deaths of hundreds of millions.

Don't you leftys ever think this stuff through?

I was a very staunch Democrat once.

The kind of silliness I see today is a reason I am no longer of that persuasion. Don't get me wrong. I'm none to happy with chimpy in a number of ways. But he gets it.

Oil means a better life for the poor of the world. Without it they die. Until we get to a post oil economy we have to look out for the interests of the poor. There are currently not enough horses to keep the poor we have alive using 1870s agriculture.

Posted by: M. Simon at November 1, 2004 11:29 PM

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Then we have an idealistic Dutchman who says if people stopped killing there would be no more killing so just stop right now please:

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To a Dutch Guy,

Nice Europeans. Such a moral people. They refused to kill in 1937 when Hitler took the Rhineland. And in 1938 when he wanted Czechoslovakia. In 1939 when Russia and Germany took Poland the western allies avoided killing as well. Good for them.

In 1940 the killing began in ernest and didn't end until 1945. The butchers bill was rather high for all the unwillingness to kill.

Americans still remember the history Europe wishes to forget. "Peace for our time." Has such a nice ring doesn't it? If only.

I'm really sorry my father and his cohorts did any killing on your behalf. If it weren't for my relatives in the camps, knowing Europe as I do today, I'd say we should have let you guys rot.

So I tell you what Dutch Boy.

Get out there between the armies and stop the killing on your own. Or is it you are so afraid of death that you prefer sitting in your quiet room, freed by the blood of Americans, wringing your hands and begging for an end to war?

War will end when all people deal with the alpha male struggle in a semi-civilized way. Until then war is our nature. You don't like that? Hide under the covers and hope it goes away. It is the one thing despots fear. People hiding under the covers begging for peace. LOL.

Posted by: M. Simon at November 2, 2004 12:04 AM

Copperheads

Mark Steyn has a very good piece over at one of America's more conservative papers the Chicago Sun Times (for those of you from the area - quite a reversal, eh?).

If the present Democratic-media complex had been around earlier, America would never have mustered the will to win World War II or, come to that, the Revolutionary War. There would be no America. You'd be part of a Greater Canada, with Queen Elizabeth on your coins and government health care.

What Steyn leaves out is the history of the Democratic Party when it comes to slavery and the Civil War. Or the War of Southern Stupidity if you prefer.

Copperheads were Democrats who wanted to make a deal with the South and end the endless cost and dying.

Fortunately we had a few good Generals in the field (Grant, Sherman, hell even Meade) and one traitorous Democrat General - McClellan. Well he wasn't a traitor in a legal sense. But, certainly in a moral sense.

There is a reason that the South was Democrat for over one hundred years after the War. There is a reason that most of the KKK resides in the Democrat Party. There is a reason Robert Byrd is in the Senate and David Duke is out on his ear.

Well this time the Democrats couldn't find an acceptable general. So we will have to make do with a Navy Lt. Who served in the war.

Let us look at the Copperheads (Peace Democrats) they hated black equality. Funny, huh?

The Copperheads believed that:

...the Republicans had provoked the South into secession; that the Republicans were waging the war in order to establish their own domination, suppress civil and states rights, and impose "racial equality"; and that military means had failed and would never restore the Union.

Things haven't changed much have they? One point: they now adopt racial equality while still opposing religious equality. They hate Conservative Christians and all pro-Israeli Jews.

As was true of the Democratic party as a whole, the influence of Peace Democrats varied with the fortunes of war. When things were going badly for the Union on the battlefield, larger numbers of people were willing to entertain the notion of making peace with the Confederacy. When things were going well, Peace Democrats could more easily be dismissed as defeatists. But no matter how the war progressed, Peace Democrats constantly had to defend themselves against charges of disloyalty. Revelations that a few had ties with secret organizations such as the Knights of the Golden Circle helped smear the rest.

The most prominent Copperhead leader was Clement L. Valladigham of Ohio, who headed the secret antiwar organization known as the Sons of Liberty. At the Democratic convention of 1864, where the influence of Peace Democrats reached its high point, Vallandigham persuaded the party to adopt a platform branding the war a failure, and some extreme Copperheads plotted armed uprisings. However, the Democratic presidential candidate, George B. McClellan, repudiated the Vallandigham platform, victories by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman and Phillip H. Sheridan assured Lincoln's reelection, and the plots came to nothing.

With the conclusion of the war in 1865 the Peace Democrats were thoroughly discredited. Most Northerners believed, not without reason, that Peace Democrats had prolonged war by encouraging the South to continue fighting in the hope that the North would abandon the struggle. [bold by ed.]

You know you can learn a lot by studying history. And what do we learn:

The Democrats are reverting to form. Except this time overt prejudice (except for Conservative Christians and all Zionist Jews) is out. We instead see the soft bigotry of low expectations on a whole range of issues.

You know: blacks can't compete so they need affirmative action. The wogs are incapable of democracy, so let us install a strong man to our liking and have done with it. People are not smart enough to deal with their own every day medical needs; what we need is total insurance and government control, risk free. We should not be allowed to defend ourselves. The list is endless.

Well any way the Copperheads need to be soundly defeated. Because by giving our enemies hope they are prolonging the war.


Vote Bush.


And back to Steyn just to prove my point with a sledge hammer:

One thousand Americans are killed in 18 months in Iraq, and it's a quagmire. One thousand Quebecers are killed by insufficient hand-washing in their filthy, decrepit health care system, and kindly progressive Americans can't wait to bring it south of the border. If one has to die for a cause, bringing liberty to the Middle East is a nobler venture and a better bet than government health care.

Over at Winds of Change there is a nice piece dealing with whose house the bigots are living in. Especially the comments.

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03:21z 02 Nov 2004

Wretchard has done a nice piece on this theme. Have a look.