At War with Ourselves

[hokie4redskins]

From the WSJ. Every American (conservative and liberal) needs to read this.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008030

At War With Ourselves

We're winning in Iraq. Let's not lose at home.

BY VICTOR DAVIS HANSON

Wednesday, March 1, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST

Last week the golden dome of the Askariya shrine in Samarra was blown apart. Sectarian riots followed, and reprisals and deaths ensued. Thugs and criminals came out of the woodwork to foment further violence. But instead of the apocalypse of an ensuing civil war, a curfew was enforced. Iraqi security forces stepped in with some success. Shaken Sunni and Shiite leaders appeared on television to urge restraint, and there appeared at least the semblance of reconciliation that may soon presage a viable coalition government.

But here at home you would have thought that our own capitol dome had exploded. Indeed, Americans more than the Iraqis needed such advice for calm to quiet our own frenzy. Almost before the golden shards of the mosque hit the pavement, pundits wrote off the war as lost--as we heard the tired metaphors of "final straw" and "camel's back" mindlessly repeated. The long-anticipated civil strife among Shiites and Sunnis, we were assured, was not merely imminent, but already well upon us. Then the great civil war sort of fizzled out; our own frenzy subsided; and now exhausted we await next week's new prescription of doom--apparently the hyped-up story of Arabs at our ports. That the Iraqi security forces are becoming bigger and better, that we have witnessed three successful elections, and that hundreds of brave American soldiers have died to get us to the brink of seeing an Iraqi government emerge was forgotten in a 24-hour news cycle............

Click link for rest of article.

[hokie4redskins]

Hmm, shouldn't the resident libs here being going ballistic on this article? Something is wrong.

Shameless bump. Ideology aside, this is important.

[PleaseBlitz]

From the WSJ. Every American (conservative and liberal) needs to read this.

Not every American is conservative or liberal.

Do i still need to read it?

[Midnight Judges]

We're winning in Iraq? If you say so.

1400 people died in those riots and the author talks about it as if it was some sort of victory. Civil war may or may not have been averted. Way too early to tell. I hope it was.

[AlexRS]

From the WSJ. Every American (conservative and liberal) needs to read this.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008030

At War With Ourselves

We're winning in Iraq. Let's not lose at home.

BY VICTOR DAVIS HANSON

Wednesday, March 1, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST

Last week the golden dome of the Askariya shrine in Samarra was blown apart. Sectarian riots followed, and reprisals and deaths ensued. Thugs and criminals came out of the woodwork to foment further violence. But instead of the apocalypse of an ensuing civil war, a curfew was enforced. Iraqi security forces stepped in with some success. Shaken Sunni and Shiite leaders appeared on television to urge restraint, and there appeared at least the semblance of reconciliation that may soon presage a viable coalition government.

But here at home you would have thought that our own capitol dome had exploded. Indeed, Americans more than the Iraqis needed such advice for calm to quiet our own frenzy. Almost before the golden shards of the mosque hit the pavement, pundits wrote off the war as lost--as we heard the tired metaphors of "final straw" and "camel's back" mindlessly repeated. The long-anticipated civil strife among Shiites and Sunnis, we were assured, was not merely imminent, but already well upon us. Then the great civil war sort of fizzled out; our own frenzy subsided; and now exhausted we await next week's new prescription of doom--apparently the hyped-up story of Arabs at our ports. That the Iraqi security forces are becoming bigger and better, that we have witnessed three successful elections, and that hundreds of brave American soldiers have died to get us to the brink of seeing an Iraqi government emerge was forgotten in a 24-hour news cycle............

Click link for rest of article.

Good point. Everybody needs to stop freaking out.

People got freaked out about terrorism and re-elected Bush... now they are freaking out about the DP deal... Everybody needs to stop freaking out :laugh:

[Kilmer17]

We're well past the point of civil debate.

Our opposition (for both sides) has become the enemy. And our enemies have become the purpose for our hatred of the opposition.

It will be sooner, rather than later, when shots are fired on Americans by other Americans.

[Chopper Dave]

We're well past the point of civil debate.

Our opposition (for both sides) has become the enemy. And our enemies have become the purpose for our hatred of the opposition.

It will be sooner, rather than later, when shots are fired on Americans by other Americans.

Glad to see you're optimistic.

As heated as debate gets sometimes, you're making it sound like it's a bad thing. It's not. If everyone agreed with everyone else we'd have much bigger problems than anything we're dealing with right now.

Besides, I argue with pretty much everyone on this board, and there are only a few who I'd shoot in cold blood.

[PleaseBlitz]

Good point. Everybody needs to stop freaking out.

People got freaked out about terrorism and re-elected Bush... now they are freaking out about the DP deal... Everybody needs to stop freaking out :laugh:

Except about the NFL CBA. The more freaking out the better about that, as far as im concered. :excited:

[AlexRS]

We're well past the point of civil debate.

Our opposition (for both sides) has become the enemy. And our enemies have become the purpose for our hatred of the opposition.

It will be sooner, rather than later, when shots are fired on Americans by other Americans.

Maybe, considering the way things are going...

I personaly prefer to think that this will wake up many people. I think this will help them understand what's important and get them thinking instead of reacting. And that should be a good thing since we all ultimately agree on what's important (even if we don't know it).

[Ignatius J.]

Yeah, I think this guy is dead wrong to compare the civil discourse going on in america with the violent bloodshed that is actually killing over a thousand people. We are not at war with ourselves. When deaths do occur the outrage is almost unaminous. Most of the staunchest conservatives belive that abortion clinic bombers and murderers are out of line. Anti death penalty protests do not turn into armed insurrrections against penitentiaries. When these things stop being true, then we'll talk.

[Predicto]

Victor Davis Hanson is not really concerned with a lack of civil unity in this country, so much as with the stedy erosion of national support for a foreign policy approach in Iraq that he favored from the beginning. Much of his underlying argument is correct, but it is heavily overstated.

Consider the source, whether you agree or disagree (or somewhere in between, like me).

"Hanson believes that the Iraq War is a good and worthwhile undertaking and that it has been, with some reservations, a laudable success. Hanson is often considered to be a neoconservative, although he is ambivalent about the label. Like neoconservatives, Hanson has strongly hawkish, pro-Israel views on the Middle East, and believes that the root cause of radical Islamic terrorism is the lack of individual, religious, and political freedom in Islamic countries."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Davis_Hanson

[Prosperity]

We're well past the point of civil debate.

Our opposition (for both sides) has become the enemy. And our enemies have become the purpose for our hatred of the opposition.

It will be sooner, rather than later, when shots are fired on Americans by other Americans.

There won't be any shots, remember Libs are all pansies that don't like guns.

----

over 1300 people died in a week and this guy is comparing the sectarian violence in Iraq to political bickering in the US. The guy needs a reality check. When we start having political assasinations then maybe he will have a point, even though those were common in Iraq BEFORE the mass sectarian bloodshed started.

[Ancalagon the Black]

It will be sooner, rather than later, when shots are fired on Americans by other Americans.

Uhh...yeah, that happens in Southeast DC all the time.

[du7st]

What is with people's deluded sense of significance? What makes you think that you, an American sitting at home reading a message board on a computer, has any effect on what goes on in Iraq? Like your opinion on the situation makes a lick of difference on how things turn out over there. Get over yourselves. Stop pretending that your mere opinion is somehow relevant. For the few who actually have gone over there, none of this is in reference to you.