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| World War IV - An analysis by Norman Podhoretz |
| 2004-08-17 |
| Full Title: World War IV: How It Started, What It Means, and Why We Have to Win Severely EFL. This is the article that Wretchard @ Belmont talks about. But I think it deserves it's own post. This sucker is LONG. LONGER than denbeste-Long. But it's a fascinating read. This past spring, when it seemed that everything that could go wrong in Iraq was going wrong, a plague of amnesia began sweeping through the country. Caught up in the particulars with which we were being assaulted 24 hours a day, we seemed to have lost sight of the context in which such details could be measured and understood and related to one another. Small things became large, large things became invisible, and hysteria filled the air. Since then, of course, and especially after the hand over of authority on June 30 to an interim Iraqi government, matters have become more complicated. But the relentless pressure of events, and the continuing onslaught both of details and of their often tendentious or partisan interpretation, have hardly let up at all. It is for this reason that, in what follows, I have tried to step back from the daily barrage and to piece together the story of what this nation has been fighting to accomplish since September 11, 2001. ... Telling the story properly has required more than a straight narrative leading from 9/11 to the time of writing. For one thing, I have had to interrupt the narrative repeatedly in order to confront and clear away the many misconceptions, distortions, and outright falsifications that have been perpetrated. In addition, I have had to broaden the perspective so as to make it possible to see why the great struggle into which the United States was plunged by 9/11 can only be understood if we think of it as World War IV. ... For today, no less than in those titanic conflicts, we are up against a truly malignant force in radical Islamism and in the states breeding, sheltering, or financing its terrorist armory. This new enemy has already attacked us on our own soil—a feat neither Nazi Germany nor Soviet Russia ever managed to pull off—and openly announces his intention to hit us again, only this time with weapons of infinitely greater and deadlier power than those used on 9/11. His objective is not merely to murder as many of us as possible and to conquer our land. Like the Nazis and Communists before him, he is dedicated to the destruction of everything good for which America stands. It is this, then, that (to paraphrase George W. Bush and a long string of his predecessors, Republican and Democratic alike) we in our turn, no less than the "greatest generation" of the 1940's and its spiritual progeny of the 1950's and after, have a responsibility to uphold and are privileged to defend. Apologies to all for the posting hackjob. |
| Posted by:Anonymous4021 |
| #4 #2, Dave, I think the Democratic party is in trouble, but it's not a bad thing. Well, it is, in that there needs to be a SANE adversary to help you plot the correct course of action in both war and peace. Denbeste had a great article on what's happening to the Dems. They are essentially being Hijacked by the FAR left wing. The causes are probably related to the hatred of GWB and the loss of power they sustained in 2000. They're still a few normal/sane democrats around, but I think we can only hear the loonies right now. Eventually the loonies will be marginalized and hopefully, they'll return to being... somewhat sane. |
| Posted by: Anonymous4021 2004-08-17 6:05:37 PM |
| #3 If WWIII was the Cold War in my opinion WWIV started in november of 1979 when the Iranians siezed the US embasy in Tehran |
| Posted by: cheaderhead 2004-08-17 5:56:25 PM |
| #2 I spent a goodly part of Sunday reading Norman Podhoretz's essay; it's excellent, especially in how it puts today's conflict into the perspective of the longer struggle that's been taking place since at least as far back as the PLO hijackings of the 60's, the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, and the 1979 Iranian Revolution. This war did not start on 9/11; for anyone who has been paying attention, this war-- though not our active recognition of it-- has been going on for a long, long time. 9/11 was simply the turning point where we finally woke up, at long last, and started to realize that all those fanatical Muslims chanting "DEATH TO AMERICA!!!" year after year really meant what they said: they really do want to kill us all, provided they don't succeed first in forcing us onto our knees, heads bowed in submission to their dour, hateful, joyless god. Podhoretz's capsule history of this struggle resonates perfectly with my own recollections; I can't find anything in it to criticize. The only place I part company from him is over his (apparent) assumption that the Democratic Party is sincere in it's criticisms of, and objections to, the war. I don't buy that, even for a second: I really, REALLY doubt that any of the Democrats who are running their mouths right now (with the possible exception of poor, dippy little Dennis Kucinich) actually believe so much as a single word of any of the bullshit they've been slinging. In my opinion, what the Dem politicians have been doing is trying to tap into the energy of the angry, lunatic Left and turn it to their advantage. They have deliberately awakened a ferocious monster in a cynical attempt at riding it to a political comeback. But now they can't get off. It's a good essay; a must-read, especially those who are too young to have clear memories of the earlier days of this struggle. Enjoy. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2004-08-17 5:46:20 PM |
| #1 Definitely having to print this up and read in the easy chair. 89 pages |
| Posted by: cheaderhead 2004-08-17 5:34:50 PM |