Like a heavy military cargo plane loaded with condoms and moving so slowly its about to reach stall speed, we have the statement of palehorse who says, " Trust me, nobody here has done anything to debunk the fact that Clinton was completely impotent in the battle against Islamic extremism. "
Implicit is that palehorse statement are at least three big assumptions.
1. That palehorse has a special ability to see facts few of us agree with. Or deserves any trust when he trumpets a record of flop, flop, and flop again failure.
2. That there is a special and RECENT rising tide of Islamic extremists that can only be fought militarily. Especially when the quite justified Islamic complaint over the past 500 years has historically been a rising tide of Christian extremists using military force to conquer their homeland. And while the tide of Christian extremists has been on the slow ebb for the past 100 years with the break up of colonialism, its left the Islamic countries with the job taking back the reins of self government. If we politically oppose the moderates in that task, we guess what, empower the extremists. A reality palehorse does not address
because he is totally unaware of any alternate viewpoints other than his own tiny paranoid reality. In short, the world is a two way street, and our actions can and do promote an equal and opposite reaction.
3. That there is in fact a battle against only Islamic extremists that can only be fought with a military. And that somehow the world's 1.4 billion Muslims sit on the sidelines waiting for the US military to save them from their own extremists, the enemy within, and the Muslims themselves are powerless and defenseless. Somewhat a Cowboys and Indians scenario, will the Calvary, bugles blaring, arrive in time to save the helpless and out numbered pioneers, or will the vicious savages scalp the lot? Stay tuned to the palehorse network or you will miss next weeks episode of the glorious exploits of George Armstrong Custer,
wild west frontier hero. If we want to define the question with the cowboys and Indians analogy, then Bill Clinton is about average for recent US Presidents, Ronald Reagan is well above average, and GWB&co is a superstar, finally engaging the enemy of world peace in a meaningful way.
4. Or we can grow up and realize that palehorse has dangerous distovision glasses on, and while we may be engaged in a battle against all kinds of extremism, that battle is waged in the minds of all of us. And that the way to defeat Islamic extremism is to deal with and empower Islamic moderates, and by that measure, Bill Clinton is still about average, Ronald Reagan and GHB were much more clueless than average, and GWB has been a total disaster from the US point of view. And GWB has taken the USA from a position of basic neutrality, to target number one. Before 911, Islamic terrorists had been mainly targeting their former European colonial oppressors, who were still engaged in the process of substituting economic control for actual military control. While the USA was regarded as not part of the problem by these Islamic extremists. Then Ronald Reagan did something for Islamic extremists, he aided and training them, helping them expel the Russians from Afghanistan. Had Ronald Reagan followed up with the aid and help to rebuild Afghanistan after the Soviets left, our current reality likely would be far better, but instead Reagan abandoned Afghanistan like a no longer needed tool, and sent the unmistakable message to all of Islam
that we did not care about them. Then GHB cynically tricked Saudi Arabia into letting the US base our troops there, something maybe innocuous to us, but a deadly insult to Islamic extremists, especially those
of the Wahabist creed. And a transformational event in the life of Ossama Bin Laden, who openly broke with the Saudi Royal family and the motivating event for 911. And even then, 911 was not the direct attack on the USA, the main target was the trade policies established by the world trade center, basically a joint US European entity that helped perpetuate economic dominance over an entire slew of countries, many of which were Islamic. And the visible symbol to attack were the twin towers, that only happened to be located in New York City. Had the world trade center headquarters been located in London or Paris, the attack would likely have occurred elsewhere. But once the elaborate plan hatched by Al-Quida succeeded, the built in redundancy left two extra and unneeded planes, that could be directed at the Pentagon and white house to slake the revenge of the Wababist anger at GHB. Had GWB not over reacted, and later ineffectually flailed out at Iraq while being more realistic in Afghanistan, the US would be in far better shape, but now the USA has managed to become the main target on the Islamic terrorists radar screen. Pair that with the fact that GWB's war on terrorism has been incompetently fought, and the moderate Muslims sitting on the sidelines are increasingly siding with the terrorists. Exactly the worst case scenario outcome for the USA and something we only have ourselves to blame for. But still the outcome we get when we follow the palehorse stinking thinking plan also practiced by GWB and his merry band of neocons.
The only way to beat Islamic extremism is to reduce its popular appeal, which cuts off its oxygen supply of recruitment.
And yes palehorse, all that collateral damage and anarchy created in Iraq and Afghanistan does not seem to matter to you, but when GWB starts pegging missiles into the tribal areas of Pakistan, or creates an Abu Ghrab, or the USA bombs Azizabad killing 90 totally innocent civilians, it matters and matters greatly to them. As thousands of formerly moderate Muslims flip and join the terrorists and Muslims extremists
yell cha ching, praise Allah for delivering.
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