by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
National Review Online<\/em><\/p>\n I<\/span>n the short-term, the ongoing war with Islamic fascists from\u00a0Afghanistan\u00a0toIraq\u00a0, and in peripheral areas from\u00a0Canada\u00a0and\u00a0Manhattan\u00a0to\u00a0Madrid\u00a0, Bali, andLondon\u00a0, seems surreal.<\/p>\n Not to mention frustrating: almost every day the press highlights another furious outburst from some entertainers or intellectuals who are just enough on the fringes of American popular culture to warrant momentary coverage of their lunacy. Neil Young is worried about the reception of his new album? He hypes George Bush\u2019s malignancies. The Dixie Chicks and Madonna are bothered about being pegged abroad as part of George Bush\u2019s empire? Presto, they call\u00a0Iraq\u00a0the real problem. The dropout Sean Penn can\u2019t quite shake his off-screen image of Jeff Spicoli? He seeks acceptance from the Western Left as a serious critic of U.S Middle-Eastern policy.<\/p>\n The largest American aid program since the Marshall Plan has become the receptacle for all the conflicting personal frustrations, unhappiness, and thwarted idealism of Western elites, a sort of scapegoat or totem through which the ennui and angst of contemporary sensitive man can be momentarily excised.<\/p>\n The terrorists in\u00a0Iraq\u00a0know this and thus trust that our press corps will harp on the last minutes, rather than the last four years, of the wretched life of the mass-murdering al Zarqawi \u2014 did he receive proper medical attention? Was he roughed up by us? Did he die immediately or suffer?<\/p>\n Indeed, the more our own troops are tortured and exploded, the more our own media will rush to judgment on Haditha to assure the world, before an inquiry has even finished, that the U.S. Marine Corps murdered innocents. The more non-uniformed Islamists behead civilians and torture innocents, the more international \u201crights\u201d organizations will accuse the\u00a0United States\u00a0of humanitarian violations in\u00a0Guantanamo\u00a0Bay\u00a0\u2014 at least up until the point of calling for the return of such killers to their native countries.<\/p>\n I<\/span>n such an asymmetrical war of perceptions, the gruesome death of a single American does more harm to our cause than does the image of a martyred Zarqawi in sensual\u00a0Paradise\u00a0with his virgins. For Westerners, death ruins the precious good life; for the topsy-turvy Islamists, death salvages the bad life.<\/p>\n Our rules of engagement are aimed at winning \u201chearts and minds.\u201d That precludes the age-old formula for such postwar rebuilding: reconstruct only after the enemy has been humiliated and defeated. A Curtis LeMay would have advised leveling Fallujah in April to save the war; we shrug that doing so would surely lose it. Somewhere the ghost of a Thucydides or Hobbes or Churchill might adjudicate our debate in ways that we might not like.<\/p>\n All this the enemy knows and manipulates to its advantage.<\/p>\n The terrorists also understand that their overtly fascistic ideology \u2014 intolerance for other religions, execution of the apostate, subjugation of women, killing of gays, and theocracy \u2014 will never earn the proper Western revulsion once reserved for a similar reactionary Nazism, since it butts up against the pillar of multicultural tolerance; no non-Western people can be any worse than the present-day West.<\/p>\n Al Qaeda and its followers can\u2019t manufacture a machine gun or design an RPG. No problem \u2014 they realize there are enough petroleum-generated dollars floating around in the region, and enough eager arms merchants, to get what they need.<\/p>\n Politically, the Islamists accept that the world detests them \u2014 perhaps even the Chinese and Russians. But they also have discovered that much of the world finds them useful. For the\u00a0Arab Street\u00a0, macabre resistance to the West offers a vicarious sense of pride, especially if it is cost-free and does not completely forfeit access to Europe or the\u00a0United States\u00a0. Aspiring hegemons like the Chinese, or those in decline like the Europeans and Russians, enjoy it when America bloodies its nose, if for no other reason than envy and spite \u2014 and the hope that in the future they are given more consultation, befitting their prior status.<\/p>\n Oil is their best ally, or so the Islamists trust. The Iranians, even if shackled, boast that, Samson-like, they can pull down our entire petroleum temple upon all of us anytime they wish. The terrorists know that billions will always filter down from autocracies as bribe money into their coffers. And no gas-hungry American wants his Labor Day Winnebago parked dry on his pad because some nut let off a bomb in the\u00a0Middle East\u00a0.<\/p>\n B<\/span>ut in the longer-term war, the Islamists have real problems. Their acquisition of weapons is always parasitical and can\u2019t quite keep up with constant Western innovation, whether in the form of drones that take out terrorists sitting in front of their TVs, or anti-ballistic missile systems that might nullify Ahmadinejad\u2019s nuclear blackmail.<\/p>\n The Islamists are also in a dilemma about escalation. They have a deep-seated suspicion that another 9\/11 might unleash an unpredictable Western response that would pollute the favorable\u00a0Middle East\u00a0waters in which they swim. Behead a Canadian prime minister; blow up the Eiffel Tower or the Vatican; take out the Empire State Building \u2014 and Western bombs may be dropped first, beyond Iraq and Afghanistan, and questions asked later. So for now, jihadists accept that their best strategy is not to upset too much the multifarious forces that conspire to restrain Western power.<\/p>\n Even more depressing for the Islamists is that their enemy is not the American or European West per se, but a far more insidious Westernism, something that has infected diverse peoples from\u00a0South Korea\u00a0and\u00a0China\u00a0to Central America and enclaves in the Middle East like\u00a0Beirut\u00a0and\u00a0Dubai\u00a0. Westernization \u2014 whether we define that as a C-SPAN televised gripe session on Palestinian rights at a Western university or navigating through 7,000 tunes on an iPod or flipping on the CD, air conditioning, and power seats in a Honda Accord or watching assorted bare navels on MTV \u2014 is insidiously seductive and ultimately subversive to the patriarchal world of the\u00a0eighth century.<\/p>\n How do you arrange a marriage, insist on a beheading for adultery, conduct a proper honor killing of your daughter, or calmly call Jews \u201cpigs and apes\u201d when the wider Westernizing world broadcast into your living room, car, and workplace thinks you are some groveling zombie? Can an Airbus or Compaq be constructed according to the principles of Sharia? How can you demand amoxicillin as your birthright, but hate the system of free thinking and rationalism that created it? Does the Islamist despise equally Chinese internet pornography; does he issue fatwas against South Korean video games; does he ostracize Latin American evangelical Protestants, or burn down Bollywood? In the short-term maybe; in the long-term it is not so easy.<\/p>\n The Middle Easterner is also starting to realize that his once romantic jihadist has turned even approving bystanders into international pariahs. You doubt that? Try getting on an international flight with a Saudi or Egyptian and watch the passengers\u2019 reaction; or wear a veil in\u00a0Paris\u00a0or\u00a0Rome\u00a0, and see how many smiles you receive. That radical change in attitudes toward radical Islam and its appeasers, the jihadist \u2014 and those in the\u00a0Middle East\u00a0who tolerated him \u2014 begot. How they finally wore down the Western therapeutic mind fromAmsterdam\u00a0to\u00a0Copenhagen\u00a0, I don\u2019t know, but somehow they have nearly accomplished that once impossible feat.<\/p>\n S<\/span>o there is no guarantee that the multiculturalism, utopianism, cultural relativism, and moral equivalence that infect Western capitals today will necessarily always predominate, being as they are a fashionable relish in times of calm and plenty. The more the Islamist insults his benefactors, the more he gradually tries their patience.<\/p>\n A Cindy Sheehan or Noam Chomsky still resonates with a minority of the public because he can; thanks to Western capitalism and freedom, both jet at will around the globe, live comfortably, and count on the tolerance of the Western bourgeoisie society that they so roundly condemn. But should the Islamist endanger that comfortable embryo \u2014 as they almost did on 9\/11 \u2014 then folks like these would be as quickly forgotten as were Neville Chamberlain and Charles Lindbergh by 1941.<\/p>\n As for\u00a0Iraq\u00a0, while the post-Saddam reconstruction may not have started out as the new ground zero in the war against Islamist terrorism, it has surely devolved into that, as the Islamists themselves concede. In the short term, because they understand that the juggernaut of Western capitalism, freedom, and choice will spell their death knell, the jihadists have imported and adopted as their own every conventional Western munition, repackaged every Western self-critique, manipulated every Western media outlet, and tried to boomerang every Western liberal virtue and humanitarian protocol back at its creators. And, if the polls on\u00a0Iraq\u00a0are any indication, such a strategy has worked, for a time, brilliantly.<\/p>\n But these are ultimately not acts of confidence, but of desperation. As an al Zarqawi knew, the world is evolving; if for the present we can keep our heads, then for eternity the Islamists will eventually lose theirs.<\/p>\n \u00a92006 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The short and long wars against radical Islam by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online In the short-term, the ongoing war with Islamic fascists from\u00a0Afghanistan\u00a0toIraq\u00a0, and in peripheral areas from\u00a0Canada\u00a0and\u00a0Manhattan\u00a0to\u00a0Madrid\u00a0, Bali, andLondon\u00a0, seems surreal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[773],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-11S","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11939,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/will-2020-be-a-repeat-of-2004-for-democrats\/","url_meta":{"origin":3960,"position":0},"title":"Will 2020 Be a Repeat of 2004 for Democrats?","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Democrats by 2004 had become obsessed with defeating incumbent President George W. Bush. Four years earlier, in the 2000 election, Bush had won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote. Democrats were still furious that Bush supposedly had been \u201cselected\u201d by the Supreme\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1990,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/a-fairer-verdict-on-bush\/","url_meta":{"origin":3960,"position":1},"title":"A Fairer Verdict On Bush","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"A reassessment of the 43rd president has already begun. by Victor Davis Hanson Forbes Magazine Critics are tallying the Bush administration's pluses and minuses, and some consensus is emerging that in time George W. Bush, like Harry Truman, will be seen in a far more favorable light than his low\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "December 2009"","block_context":{"text":"December 2009","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2009\/december-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1115,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-george-w-bush-fixation\/","url_meta":{"origin":3960,"position":2},"title":"The George W. Bush Fixation","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services Barack Obama remains fixated by George W. Bush. For nearly two years, President Obama and his team have prefaced their explanations for the tough economy, tough finances and tough situation abroad with a \"Bush did it\" chorus. Apparently, they believed that most of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "November 2010"","block_context":{"text":"November 2010","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2010\/november-2010\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5907,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/bushs-warranted-rehabilitation-will-come\/","url_meta":{"origin":3960,"position":3},"title":"Bush’s Warranted Rehabilitation Will Come","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson NRO's\u00a0The Corner George W. Bush\u2019s September 14, 2001, so-called \u201cbullhorn\u201d speech, that he gave with his arm around fireman Bob Beckwith at Ground Zero (\u201cI can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people \u2014 and the people who knocked these buildings\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Retrospective"","block_context":{"text":"Retrospective","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/opinion\/retrospective\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3507,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-legacy-of-the-bush-administration\/","url_meta":{"origin":3960,"position":4},"title":"The Legacy of the Bush Administration?","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson The American This article appears in the \"Geopolitics\" section of the recent issue of\u00a0The American. By October, 15 months before his presidency would end, George Bush\u2019s approval ratings still hovered around 30 percent. His administration will go down, say historians such as Columbia\u2019s Eric Foner and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "October 2007"","block_context":{"text":"October 2007","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2007\/october-2007\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3544,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-many-enemies-of-george-bush\/","url_meta":{"origin":3960,"position":5},"title":"The Many Enemies of George Bush","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services George Bush is not a very popular fellow. Witness the enraged reaction last week from critics to his suggestion that leaving Iraq now could have the same dire consequences as our withdrawal from Vietnam did. \"It just boggles my mind, the distortions I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "September 2007"","block_context":{"text":"September 2007","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2007\/september-2007\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3960"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3960"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3961,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3960\/revisions\/3961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}