Demosophia

It strikes me at just this moment that the deeper value of this linked set of web pages written by different people at different times is the balm of synchronicity.

The above says, much better than I could hope to say it, many of the things that have been weighing me down for the past few weeks.

It is even more important to me since, through a clicking error on a link, I had just gone to a site other than this one. And there, of course, I saw what I have struggled to avoid these last few days -- still pictures of the killers holding up Berg's head.

I did not struggle to avoid them out of queasiness or a lack of wanting to know the truth, but because I knew that seeing them would harden and deepen my hate.

But see them I did though it was not my intention to do so. And they did harden and deepen my hate. But, i thought, to what purpose, to what end? What, indeed, should we do.

And then I came here and read what you have to say and although I know that what you write is not what we will do, I know that it is what we should do.

Here is what I said on Gerard's site, about this topic:

I am afraid that Demosophia fails to understand that there is no pulling out. Were we to do so the country would be torn apart by civil war. Blood would run in the streets as like the Euphrates, and every nation with a border with Iraq will try and turn the situation to its advantage. Syria and Saudi Arabia would back the sunni Arabs. Iran would back the Shia. Turkey would squash the Kurds before they could declare independence. Refugees beyond count, and terrorism at every step. Lebannon and Algeria and Afghanistan rolled into one package, and then multiplied by ten. It would spill over into neighboring countries, and oil prices would go through the roof.

This was going to happen without our involvement, and thus we decided to take matters into our own hands. We can still prevent this, and prevent this we must, if we want to avoid great tragedy.

As for Bush standing aloof, what would you have him do? He is Hercules, and faces the Augean Stables. And alas, no rivers are conveniently close by to wash away the filth.

I am afraid that Demosophia fails to understand that there is no pulling out. Were we to do so the country would be torn apart by civil war. Blood would run in the streets as like the Euphrates, and every nation with a border with Iraq will try and turn the situation to its advantage.

Yes, I know. But my point, which is probably hidden within a lot of very angry language, because I am angry, is that it no longer serves anyone's purpose to allow the Arab world to believe we are in the tank until the bitter end. Or rather, it serves no one that they continue to think our dilemma is not theirs. Not mostly theirs.

I'm not really attached to this particular way of getting that message across, but I am attached to getting it across somehow... because they have to know what the abyss looks like, and it is compassionate to compel the me see, so that they can find the motivation to turn aside. And I fear that in our misguided "niceness" we'll let them seal their fate without ever having had the chance to really know, to really really know, where they're aimed.

A comet is heading toward their civilization. We're here to stop it, but they must know beyond a shadow of a doubt that its on its way.

It is cruel beyond imagining to hide this from them, and from ourselves, any longer.

Gerard:

Thanks for the very kind words. I'm getting terribly frazzled, mostly from loss of sleep, but had a nice dinner with some very nice friends and we stayed talking to close the restaurant.

I'm sort of afraid to see the image, because I'm not sure I want it etched in my brain cells when the aliens come to examine my brain next time they pass this way. I'd just prefer those last few cells remain a blank, waiting for a better, more worthy, image to embrace.

Have you read Protein Wisdom's latest interview. He's obsessed with heads, for some reason. Or rather he's obsessed with one particular head: the head of the head of the Kennedy Clan.

Scott,

I confess to having many of the same thoughts as you. Nevertheless, I cling to the hope that this is not correct -- that it is a false picture painted by a hyper-leftist media addicted to self-loathing (of America) and sensationalism.

I continue to believe that the stakes are so high in Iraq that victory there is an absolute necessity. If we pull out, civilization will pay dearly. The radical Muslims show no signs of a willingness to compromise; they will not stop until they are killed. Disturbingly (for them), they also exhibit no understanding whatsoever of us. If we leave, they will continue to attack, until they hit us with "the big one" (probably a WMD of some sort). We will then fight a war of extermination with them; I certainly do not want to see that happen.

Moreover, our only hope of winning is a Bush victory. I believe that it must be a convincing victory (with significant gains in Congress) in order to stop the Left from sabotaging the war effort. I believe in democracy, and I believe that democracy is most effective with a vigorous loyal opposition. The Democrats are not a loyal opposition, however -- they are opposition for the sake of opposition, who show no understanding of the damage they are doing to the war effort, their country, and civilization. For better or for worse, GO BUSH!

In the latest Newsweek poll of registered voters conducted Thursday and Friday Kerry leads Bush by 1%, with 10% or 9% undecided, depending on whether it's a three-way or two-way race, respectively. This is after what has to be considered three to four weeks of absolutely abyssmal news for the President, during which almost no good news has been reported and mainstream media outlets have been, well, "twisted" in their presentation of the condidates and issues.

I suspect that at least a few conservatives are indicating no preference because they're waiting to see how Bush deals with some of the more damaging news. And true to form, mum's the word with this guy. He gave his weekly radio address saying he intends to stay the course, and that's it. I know he's not a polished speaker, but in my experience if you have deep convictions you find a way to eloquence.

We're still so far from the election that it's really hard to say the way things will break, but Kerry usually has a strong finish so one hopes that Bush doesn't plan to hide under the covers the whole time. I have to say I'm just not very impressed with the fellow. Were this Churchill he'd be down on all fours getting into the mud and muck to fight for the his principles and policies. Maybe Bush is waiting until it really counts. Or maybe Bush really does have that mythical hole card up his sleeve and he's just not worried at all. But if it were me I'd at least be giving my supporters a pep talk now and then, just to keep their spirits up under this barrage.

All's probably not lost, but except for Iraq itself things just don't look very good. I don't know what to say. The best news? The election is still six months away.

This is an interesting post, as it's something that I've had several discussions about recently, and posted about some time ago.

Without rehashing an entire set of grim, oft-repeated truisms, let me get to the point. When Yamamoto spoke of awakening a giant, I suspect that he didn't mean that we are a nation of great strength when roused, so much as I think he may have had a deeper understanding of the American psyche. Many folks in other countries don't understand what a seminal event the Civil War was for America, and arguably the most siginificant campaign during that war was Sherman's march to the sea. It was that moment when we went from attrition of military targets to the absolute gutting of our fellow Americans, and fed upon the blood of our siblings.

Although it is seldom covered (at least not in a Chomsky-ite lather of self-hatred), Americans can be spectacularly bloodthirsty after a certain point in war. Ask any of the residents of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, or Nagasaki. Or, for those who don't want to travel that far, you could always go to the Oklahoma Indian Territory and see the results of a thirty-year-long campaign of genocide, a hundred years down the pike. Or you could ask any one of a number of Soviet planners about whether or not they thought we were willing to run the risk of extingusihing civilization altogether. I think that this is particular strain of resonant thought that Yamamoto picked up on.

I don't think that the death of Nick Berg is necessarily going to be a big formative moment in the American mind. But I do fear the outcome of a nuclear detonation in an American city. The only reason I don't have nightmares about the American response, is that I am not cursed with a suficiently vivid imagination.

I don't think that the death of Nick Berg is necessarily going to be a big formative moment in the American mind. But I do fear the outcome of a nuclear detonation in an American city. The only reason I don't have nightmares about the American response, is that I am not cursed with a suficiently vivid imagination.

Well at least need to make this as clear as possible to them, so that their calculations are a little more accurate than Yamamoto's vague fear.