by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
Ricochet.com<\/p>\n
I would like to know if Victor sees any merit in the president’s attempt to appeal to ordinary Muslims via his bully pulpit? Does celebrating Ramadan in the White House or wishing Persians Happy New Year accomplish anything that can aid our efforts in the Middle East and elsewhere? If not, is it a matter of degree? (Ricochet member Trace Urdan)<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It is always as a rule better to be “nice” than gratuitously rude. But that said, 2009 saw the most foiled terrorist attempts in any single year since 9\/11. The Cairo myth-making speech, the Ground Zero presidential demagoguing of opponents, the often extreme anti-Bush outbursts by John Brennan, the counter-terrorism czar, the NASA new directive to outreach to Muslims \u2014 all this and more have not persuaded bin Laden and Dr. Zawahiri, or a Maj. Hassan or Mr. Mutallab that they should go easy on the West.<\/p>\n
Why? Because their hatred of the West was never predicated on a particular president (remember that Jimmy Carter’s therapeutic foreign policy still won him the title of Great Satan in 1979), or even a particular act (the US has been unusually kind to Muslims in Kosovo, Bosnia, Somalia and helped to free them in Kuwait and Afghanistan), but is deep-seeded and long-standing, involving the primordial emotions such as perceived honor, fear, and pride. Note that bin Laden is not calling for jihad against Russia for its near-genocidal destruction of the Muslims of Grozny. The reason that there are not suicide bombers in Germany demanding back land from Poland, or in South Korea trying to force US troops to leave, is simply that both are successful societies full of successful people who make their views known in public fora where discussion and debate are aired and adjudicated.<\/p>\n
In much of the Middle East, the reverse is true: failed states full of angry citizens who daily are made aware \u2014 through cell phones, the internet, cable TV \u2014 that life is far better (freer, more prosperous, and safer) outside the Arab Islamic world. Yet rather than address the causes of this disequilibrium \u2014 tribalism, statism, autocracy, gender apartheid, religious intolerance \u2014 they unleash their frustrations against a very visible, very successful hyper-power like the US and to a lesser extent Israel. That is in part because Arabs perceive that there are few consequences or reckoning to their venom, and, in part, because so many Americans offer them cheap talking points (it is no accident that a Zawahiri in his writings praises a Jimmy Carter’s book, the work of Noam Chomsky, or references Michael Moore) and encouragement.<\/p>\n
So, yes, we should be nice and pleasant with the understanding that whether a jihadist acts out his frustrations hinges largely on whether he has bought into the propaganda that all his own personal unhappiness and angst have a global source in the US, and that there are many intellectuals, in and out of the West, that will confirm the righteousness of his paranoia.<\/p>\n
Finally, appearing weak only encourages such violence. After the three-week brilliant victory in March-April 2003, Gaddafi gave up his WMD arsenal, Syria got out of Lebanon, Dr. Khan was shut down in Pakistan, and the Gulf states curbed their subsidies to terrorists. By 2007, however, anti-Americanism in Middle Eastern nations arose again commensurate with our apparent incompetence in Iraq. And yet by 2010 and apparent victory in Iraq, the US was regaining greater influence among the Arab community, especially as it looked for our leadership to stop Iran. Proven competence and strength, especially in pursuit of a good cause, can do far more than expressions of good intentions; a weak nation that is most considerate and full of deference will nevertheless be ignored or despised if it loses wars \u2014 given the universal nature of man.<\/p>\n
\n\u00a92011 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Victor Davis Hanson Ricochet.com I would like to know if Victor sees any merit in the president’s attempt to appeal to ordinary Muslims via his bully pulpit? Does celebrating Ramadan in the White House or wishing Persians Happy New Year accomplish anything that can aid our efforts in the Middle East and elsewhere? If […]<\/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":[196],"tags":[1051,1055,162,1016,76],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-14e","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9345,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/same-old-same-old-horror\/","url_meta":{"origin":4106,"position":0},"title":"Same Old, Same Old Horror","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Orlando massacre brings up familiar lessons that we never quite learn. By Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ City Journal The aftermath of Islamist Afghan-American Omar Mateen\u2019s murderous rampage against American gays seems disturbingly familiar, an echo of past themes that never stop playing\u2014and lessons that never get learned. The post-911\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Middle East"","block_context":{"text":"The Middle East","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3135,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/bin-laden-is-dead-but-our-delusions-live-on\/","url_meta":{"origin":4106,"position":1},"title":"Bin Laden Is Dead, But Our Delusions Live On","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton Advancing a Free Society The death of Osama bin Laden has some symbolic value, particularly for the United States. A great power exercises influence not just through its military and economic assets, but through its prestige. A power that can be relied upon to punish its\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11097,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/washingtons-fantasies-are-not-peoples-reality\/","url_meta":{"origin":4106,"position":2},"title":"Washington\u2019s Fantasies Are Not People\u2019s Reality","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ American Greatness The Beltway\u2019s sober and judicious foreign-policy establishment laments Donald Trump\u2019s purported dismantling of the postwar order. They apparently take the president\u2019s words as deeds and their own innate dislike of him as disinterested analysis. But is the world really imploding after 70 years of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Vladimir Putin"","block_context":{"text":"Vladimir Putin","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/vladimir-putin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6700,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/how-historic-revisionism-justifies-islamic-terrorism\/","url_meta":{"origin":4106,"position":3},"title":"How Historic Revisionism Justifies Islamic Terrorism","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0RaymondIbrahim.com\u00a0 How important, really, is history to current affairs?\u00a0 Do events from the 7th\u00a0century\u2014or, more importantly, how we understand them\u2014have any influence on U.S. foreign policy today? By way of answer, consider some parallels between academia\u2019s portrayal of the historic Islamic jihads and the U.S. government\u2019s and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":651,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-obama-foreign-policy\/","url_meta":{"origin":4106,"position":4},"title":"The Obama Foreign Policy","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online The 2012 election will hinge on the economy, not on US foreign policy, unless there is a major overseas crisis \u2014 an Israeli attack on Iran, an Iranian detonation of a nuclear weapon, a Middle East war, a North Korean attack, or something\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election 2012"","block_context":{"text":"Election 2012","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/obama-administration\/election-2012\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5387,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/straight-talk\/","url_meta":{"origin":4106,"position":5},"title":"Straight Talk","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Podhoretz corrects the record on Islamic terrorism by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers A review of\u00a0World War IV.\u00a0The Long Struggle against Islamofascism\u00a0by Norman Podhoretz (Doubleday 2007, 240 pp.) World War IV\u00a0is an indispensable book for these times. The war in Iraq has occasioned some of the most shameful partisan behavior\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/opinion\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4106"}],"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=4106"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4108,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4106\/revisions\/4108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}