With the new flurry of criticisms against "warbloggers", I thought it
would be good to opine a bit on why I feel that the war on terror needs to be
widened.
First of all, I’m no war profiteer. I have no Amazon or PayPal tipjar (although
I might try it in the future). I’m not selling T-Shirts. The only gain I really expect
from all this is to meet some interesting people, get some interesting ideas, and
flex my writing muscles on a regular basis. In short, I’m doing this because I enjoy
this, not for any external reward. Yes, the hits are nice, and I do check the web
statistics every so often just to see who reads this humble site, but I’ve been
blogging for quite some time knowing that only a few friends ever even looked at
the site.
I fervently believe that the war on terror is a just war. I believe that the
short-term loss of life that it will cause is regrettable. I would love to have a
solution that would let all parties sit down and talk this out. It just isn’t going to
happen, no matter how hard one tries to make it happen. If a piece of paper
were going to solve all of this, there would already be peace. If talking were
the solution, we would not be in this mess.
There comes a time when those of us who live in the civilized world where
things like the rule of law and free speech are common must take arms to
defend those principals. Hamas and the other Islamofascist groups aren’t
"freedom fighters". They’re not fighing for freedom; they’re fighting
to end the freedoms of millions. The Israelis are freedom fighters because
they’re fighting on a side that respects basic human rights. There is a big
difference between the two. Freedom fighters avoid civilan targets unless
absolutely necessary; terrorists kill indescriminately. This is an important
moral distinction, and one that the Left seems unable to grasp.
The war on terror will be messy. A lot of people will die. Some of them will
be innocent. There will be actions that were based on the best possible
intelligence at the time that was 100% wrong. That’s a fact of war. However,
if we don’t tackle these issues, the next attack on America could easily be
one that would kill millions. We can’t afford to wait for that happen to respond.
If we do, loss of life from inaction will be far greater than those lost in the
battle.
The upshot to all of this is that the war on terror can leave a better world
in its wake. The Islamofascists’s hold on their people is tyrannical. The
Iranians, the Iraqis, the Palestinians – all of them deserve a chance at living
a better life. It may take decades to develop civil society in these countries,
but it’s a worthwhile endeavour. Those nations like Jordan and Turkey that
have turned to the West have far better standards of living than their
neighbors. We should not allow concens about "imperialism" to cloud
our judgement. The time for magnanimity is in victory, and not before.
What is "simplisme" for some is moral clarity to others. It’s
the simple convictions that change the world for the better.
So that’s my two cents worth on that subject. I’m sure that many in the
blogging community have similar beliefs – some may not. We do disagree
on things from time to time. In this case, however, the moral path is
exceedingly clear to those who see it.
