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October 5, 2009

Islamist Crack Houses


I'm angry today.

Today and for a long time to come, at least eight families are desolate for the losses of their sons in Afghanistan. They died at a small post "in the east", somewhere near the border with the Islamist crap hole known as Pakistan.

I know what this place was like. It was one of those small listening posts that all armies, in every age, have established to tempt or observe the savages in the brush, valleys, jungles and rock piles on the margins of the bigger potential battlefields, where the view is clear.

We had them everywhere in Vietnam. Tiny ones, and even big ones, like the Westmoreland blunder known as Khe Sanh. Many of their brave occupants, of all branches, simply disappeared. Their bodies were never found and their horrid last moments imagined like a tongue probing a painful tooth.

A strategy which includes isolated posts, is one of the tactics of a guerilla war.
We don't hear that expression anymore; we call it nation-building. It's the last attenuated principle of the old liberal internationalism that emerged after WWII. It was saturated with First World benevolence and Western confidence in our own ascendancy. The Cold War only concentrated our effort to project the beliefs that existed long before the Cold War began.

Today, we are, at home, a nation petrified in our cultural defenses by liberal multiculturalism, political correctness and doubt. We send our beautiful young to die in a struggle against Islamists (anyone who protests that word can go to hell)in a place and for a people not worth a single American life. In that place, the people have dragged their hideous metaphysics unmodified from century to century, and now our blood is soaking their soil to either defend their choices or alter their path. Which one is it?

A Western nation that won't defend its own borders and culture; a nation that martyrs itself for retrograde cultures, a nation which pursues a masochistic enterprise for the health of a new Islamic Republic, is a nation confused about its own relative value and identity - a nation asking for a defeat and reckoning so horrible that future historians, if there are any, will shake their heads in wonder and contempt.

29 comments:

I love being Right said...

Nicely put Nickie. I can feel your pain in that article. Thanks for expressing what we all feel.

T. F. Stern said...

Just makes you want to shake your head in wonder, "How could this be the America I grew up in?"

Woodsterman (Odie) said...

Thanks Rhod, I wish I could speak like you write ... very well put!

Mike said...

Well worded and well felt, Rhod. I happened to see this quote earlier today; seems to fit better the scenario you just painted than what I intended to use it for.

A spirit of national masochism prevails, encouraged by an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals. Spiro T. Agnew

LL said...

Afghanistan and Iraq are not worth a single splinter in the finger of a single GI as far as I'm concerned. So I'm with you on your assessment.

When the Congress start sending their sons and grandsons to fight in a war, maybe it will mean the war is worth fighting. Until then, I don't think so.

I remember when I first saw the Viet Nam memorial in DC -- all those names. All died for absolutely NOTHING.

Rhod said...

Thanks to everyone.

The slow, grinding strategy in Afghanistan has devolved into the meatgrinder of Search & Destroy. The central idiocy of THAT manuever is that it's a strategy of attrition - who can sacrifice the biggest number wins.

WomanHonorThyself said...

its maddening what is going on isnt it?..busy as all get out..sorry for not visiting sooner! :)

Rhod said...

PS: I am not in favor of summary withdrawl.

Anonymous said...

TF, it's not that different from the Kennedy-Johnson America of my formative years.

Anonymous said...

Nice one, Mike.

Rhod said...

Nick, I wasn't opposing your view in the previous post, just the grotesque contrast between our post-modern cultural relativism and the willingness (or indifference)to throw our youth at the Islamist monsters.

nanc said...

An email exchange I was having with a writer at big hollywood went something like this, me, "so, have you attended any TEA Parties?" him, "NO - YOU PEOPLE AREN'T MAD ENOUGH FOR ME!" He's right - we need to get mad.

McGonagall said...

A post from the gut and the soul. Well done Rhod - agree completely.

Opus #6 said...

Our men are worth more than this. The Commander in Chief should support them fully, or step out of the way.

CI-Roller Dude said...

Look up Camp Gannon, Iraq. When I was there with my team (for Mess Kit Repair) there was only a few platoons of Marines...right on the Syrian border. We where a few hours convoy from any help, but we could get air cover if there were no sand storms.
It was hot
No AC in most of the buildings/ bunkers
No running water
Canned food
Not even cold water or ice
But we had plenty of friggen ammo and nobody bothered us (like retarded officers or sergeant majors)

ahhh...the good old days.

Rhod said...

CI, there's somthing to be said for being outside the wire when you have arty and some air to help you if the flares go up.

I don't think the men in our little FOB had that advantage.

Scunny, if anyone should know what I mean, it's the Scots and Canadians. One of mine is sleeping in Holland because of Arnhem.

Opie, when you have a slobbering moron like Biden fashioning military strategy, and a doofus like Obama listening to him, the essentials have gone wrong.

Anonymous said...

Rhod, when you write, I go to school.

Anonymous said...

nanc... If folks aren't mad enough yet, let's see what happens when the healthcare bomb is set off.

Anonymous said...

I hear you, Rhod. Your credibility and investment on this subject are the highest I know.

I understand your point, LL, but I don't agree re: Viet Nam. The war was clearly mismanaged (because of politics, as we are seeing now), but we stood with an ally and against communism. We slowed it and made its march more costly. It is always worth it to stand up for what is right. Certainly, we can debate the best, or most effective way, to do that. The current admin, however, doesn't believe standing against jihadis is right or necessary. So, Obama and his inner circle are having an entirely different discussion altogether.

Elections have consequences. Prior to 11/08, recall what the prognosis in Afghanistan was.

The poseur-in-chief has had no strategy. He doesn't even claim he wants to win. He ignores his general on the ground. This is a disgrace. He would throw away the clear advantages gained in clearing out the hornet's nest that is Afghanistan. His weakness creates boldness in our enemies. Worse yet, he won't support those he has left at the outposts to watch for the enemy. He can't even articulate rationally why they are there. Why? He doesn't believe standing against jihadis is worth it or necessary. So he poses and drones on about taking over our health care system. It is working a lot better than his administration, but never mind that.

We know when some one is not with us. And this administration -- that cannot even bring itself to say that it wants us to prevail in Afghanistan -- is not with our troops. Ask them. They know.

Unknown said...

I hear and agree with your anger. Let's be men and 'grow some' so we can take a stand as a nation. If people don't like what we stand for, what we were ordained and founded to stand for, then get the hell out of our way and let us live here in liberty and all the struggle that comes with it!Get out of hte way so we can finish the fights we start and do it RIGHT!
I would rather have that anyday then wishy-washy flip floppy politics and presidents apologizing to other corrupt nations for things he doesn't approve of! These are deaths that are so unwarranted. It is simply pathetic.

Anonymous said...

DC, this administration certainly specializes in destroying morale. I t seems to be their mission. Obama's every decision seems to be aimed at proving that he can dismantle a system for which he has no respect. The Democrats' lack of respect for the military has become a tradition.

Anonymous said...

ramsam, these policy decisions are anything but wishy-washy and flip-floppy. We are watching a carefully orchestrated plan in action.

Rhod said...

DC, I agree on Vietnam.
You and I have kicked the issue around before. As you know, I've always appreciated the complexities but see the meat grinder of Search @ Destroy (Westmoreland) as the killer of our SE Asia mission...and a lot of boys. In the end, we had to go toe to toe over there, which is about all you can say.

My point on Afghanistan is that it's becoming an absurdity. The tribal warrior in that region is creatively and persistently cruel and resourceful, because his father was, and his father's father was..ad infinitum. They've devolved into brutes, and we can't change that except by killing them all. The world would be a better place, but it's impossible.

If there's a pleasure principle in Afghanistan, Islam has turned it upside down along the Durand Line. Brutality is now their evolved technique for dealing with life.
Finding those cruel bastards in their haunts; exchanging fire and mutilation is old Search & Destroy stuff - the raw proof for the "war is pointless" crowd because that kind of war IS pointless. S&D in Afghanistan is idiotic.

We have one of several types of liberals in charge of our wars now - Obama, the Hamlet of presidents who, like Kerry, can deconstruct everything, doubt everything, and confuse everything, but you never find an idea in the truckload of bullshit he spreads whenever he opens his mouth.

Meanwhile, our GI's are occasionally captured, beheaded (you don't hear about this) or worse, and killed in numbers that are higher, at times, than Iraq.
Since Hamlet Obama and his fool Biden are incapable of transcending the dull insanity of liberal defense policy, the only just answer to the dilemma of the soldiers is to bring them home.

As for the Afghans, let the libs at National Geographic find a solution. They can always find a benighted population to mourn.

Rhod said...

One more thing. Our asshole President should tell THE WORLD publically that if The Taliban or Al Qaeda gets control of Pakistani nukes, then the US will summarily blow the frigging place off the world map in pre-emption. Tough falafel.

If the princeling had a pair in his pants instead of raisins, he could forestall a lot of suffering by making our enemies afraid of US for a change instead of the other way around.

The prudent use of Fear is a great peacemaker.

Anonymous said...

You are far more informed on the subject than I, Rhod. My own view is that we should kill as many as we can and then leave. That would be my question to the commanders on the ground: How can we kill as many as them as we can as fast as we can? This admin. won't do that. At some point, in both Iraq and Afghanistan, you leave a govt. in place that we can work with and you leave.

That being said, I think tying up AQ resources in Afghanistan and continuing to kill them does keep more of the fight there, as opposed to NYC or DC. Still, what I would do would be to define clearly what our mission is (how our being there advances the nat'l interest) and then violently and quickly move toward that objective. Then bring 'em home and hold a parade.

In a strange sort of way, it's almost as if the Obama Admin is trying to redefine the market, war, America, etc., in an effort to show that none are worthy of defending. Your comments allude to this.

Anonymous said...

Raisins ... yes, indeed, Rhod. So, we can fantasize about a nuke threat, but the entire world knows he would never do that.

Given that he won't, it seems we are more likely to have to choose conventional forces to keep the Taliban out of Pakistan.

Great idea, BTW, all those folks had to put OBummer in the White House. The Chris Buckleys of the world clearly saw that he would be "tough", etc. What a load of crap.

This is an unmitigated disaster in the making that is threatening to make the Carter Admin. look like the Golden Age of American Politics.

Kid said...

LBJ Lost the Vietnam war. By the time Nixon inherited it it was already gone.
Jimmy Carter "If I'd have only sent one more helicopter" (Regarding the failure to release the Iran hostages)
Note that they were released on the day Ronald Reagan took office.

Clinton Who knows what he said to himself or what his failure point was, but sending fewer than necessary into Somalia resulted in videos of naked SEALS being dragged through the streets of Somalia.

Overwhelming Force. You use it for two reasons. 1.) TO be successful, and 2.) To save lives on both sides. The object of war tactics (outside of the Islamic suicide vermin) is to motivate your adversary to quit, not to kill them all like most people think.

Obama will have his LBJ/Carter/Clinton moment of supreme Failure accompanied by the Deaths of America's Finest, due to inaction, incompetence, and playing politics with the lives of everyone concerned.
You can bet they'll blame it on Bush. They blame the olympics on Bush. Next week, they'll add racism if they haven't already.

Anonymous said...

DC, I'm praying that mine is not the generation that has to witness the dying of the American experiment. It is a glorious system being dragged toward extinction by the ignorant and the greedy.

Kid said...

Nickie. Damn sad my friend. America is resilient but how many effeminate administrations can America survive.

Now with the greatest threat it's ever had at it's throat.