{"id":6569,"date":"2013-09-30T11:02:42","date_gmt":"2013-09-30T18:02:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=6569"},"modified":"2013-09-30T11:24:12","modified_gmt":"2013-09-30T18:24:12","slug":"overseas-contingency-operations-and-such","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/overseas-contingency-operations-and-such\/","title":{"rendered":"Overseas Contingency Operations and Such"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0PJ Media<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On the occasion of the outreach from Iran, and the embarrassment in Syria, it is wise to remember why and how our leaders became so inept at dealing with Islamists.<\/p>\n

The Tsarnaev brothers killed and maimed in service to their version of Islam. So did Major Hassan, screaming\u00a0Allahu Akbar<\/i>as he shot his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood. The Middle East is undergoing the greatest religious cleansing of Christians of the modern age. This month, eighty Christians were blown up in a church in Peshawar, Pakistan \u2014 charged, tried, and executed in a nanno-second by Muslim suicide bombers. \u00a0At about the very same time, gunmen of the Islamist terrorist group Al Shabaab from Somalia, murdered nearly 70 shoppers \u2014 after torturing and mutilating many of their victims \u2014 in a Nairobi shopping mall during a children\u2019s event. None of these massacres had anything to do with the West Bank, Americans in Iraq, maltreatment of Muslims in the U.S., unkind immigration policies, undue attention shown Muslim travelers, or much of anything other than the usual grievances such as fighting back against terrorists.<\/p>\n

Note that the West, Europe and the U.S., are largely silent on the religious dimensions of this now almost daily violence. Apparently the EU and America believe that their own domestic security protocols have made it difficult for Islamists like the Tsarnaevs or Hassan, or bombers from Peshawar to harvest civilians with regularity in the West \u2014 or at least that they can be kept out of Chevy Chase, the Upper West Side, Martha\u2019s Vineyard and Santa Monica.<\/p>\n

Here follow some random observations from Obama administration officials about Islam and its role in energizing terrorists. John Brennan, the present CIA chief and at one time the president\u2019s chief counter-terrorism advisor,\u00a0once advised us<\/a>, \u201cNor do we describe our enemy as \u2018jihadists\u2019 or \u2018Islamists\u2019 because jihad is a holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam, meaning to purify oneself or one\u2019s community.\u201d If Major Hasan or the Tsarnaevs do not believe in jihad or in an Islamist worldview, what, then, drove them to murder? Losing a boxing match, or perhaps a slow-moving pathway to lieutenant-colonel?<\/p>\n

Here was the former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, \u201cThe term Muslim Brotherhood is an umbrella term for a variety of movements. In the case of Egypt, a very heterogeneous group,\u00a0largely secular.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Is \u201clargely secular\u201d different from \u201csecular?\u201d If Clapper is right, why would they not their change their name to the \u201cSecular Brotherhood?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I became the NASA administrator,\u201d NASA Director Charles Bolden told Al Jazeera in 2010, President Obama \u201ccharged me with three things.\u201d Bolden added that \u201cPerhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations\u00a0to help them feel good<\/a>\u00a0about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering.\u201d Apparently, if they can \u201cfeel good,\u201d they won\u2019t feel bad about us, at least to the point of blowing us up?<\/p>\n

Here was Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey on the aftermath of the Fort Hood shootings, \u201cOur diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength. And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty,\u00a0I think that\u2019s worse.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0What a tragedy that would be \u2014 no more incompetent, but deadly Major Hasans fast-tracked to Major.<\/p>\n

Here was Director of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, \u201cIn my speech, although I did not use the word \u201cterrorism,\u00a0I referred to \u2018man-caused\u2019 disasters<\/a>. That is perhaps only a nuance, but it demonstrates that we want to move away from the politics of fear toward a policy of being prepared for all risks that can occur.\u201d Actually, Ms. Napolitano, your invention is not a \u201cnuance\u201d but an embarrassment. Worrying about the Tsarnaevs or Major Hasan or the bombers in Peshawar is not \u201cthe politics of fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here was a memo from the Office of the Management and the Budget to the Pentagon, \u201cThis administration prefers to avoid using the term \u2018Long War\u2019 or \u2018Global War on Terror\u2019 [GWOT.]\u00a0Please use \u2018Overseas Contingency Operation.\u2019\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Do overseas contingency operations respond to man-caused disasters or to workplace violence?<\/p>\n

Here was President Barack Obama\u00a0on various occasions<\/a>, \u201cAmerica and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles of justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.\u201d And, \u201cIslam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism \u2013\u00a0it is an important part of promoting peace.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Where do Islam and the West actually compete \u2014 Cal Tech versus what Islamic university? iPhones versus what? Brain surgery at Cairo University compared to the Stanford neurology department?<\/p>\n

The point is not that these therapeutic musings are necessarily always completely false, but rather why are they voiced at all, given their banality and half-truths.<\/p>\n

There are many more examples of such politically-correct naivet\u00e9. For some reason, Obama\u2019s rare platitudinous quotes about Christianity are not nearly so complimentary. He speaks more harshly about his conservative critics than he does the Muslim Brotherhood or the Iranian theocracy. His interview with al Arabiya and various UN addresses explain why so many of his obsequious subordinates want to outdo their president in reconfiguring contemporary Islam. In his Cairo speech, Obama fabricated all sorts of stories about the glorious tolerance and brilliance of Islam, with invited Muslim Brotherhood attendees nodding in agreement.<\/p>\n

What drives such nonsense? I call it nonsense, since U.S. popularity is no higher in the Middle East than under George Bush. Violence is greater. Christian cleansing is far more prevalent. Iran is closer to the bomb. Bashar Assad never before had so embarrassed a U.S. president. Israel is never more isolated. The Arab Spring is a disaster. Coups, revolutions, mass killings, chaos, and upheaval are the veneer of greater poverty and misery on the Arab Street. There is no such thing anymore as Middle East tourism. U.S. prestige is at all time low. The idea that Assad might surrender his WMD in the manner that a terrified Kaddafi did is absurd. Putin, not an American president, exercises the most influence in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

a) Obama and his subordinates see most of the tension between the Middle East and United State not as existential, but of recent origin and attributable mostly to one-dimensional American leadership that under Bush heretofore had lacked his own sophistication on matters Islamic. To paraphrase\u00a0the\u00a0al Arabiya<\/i>\u00a0interview<\/a>, Obama\u2019s own name, his racial heritage, his father\u2019s Muslim lineage, and his own prior residence in Muslim Indonesia would all ensure that he could communicate and coax Muslims on our collective behalf, at least in a way that evangelical Christians like George W. Bush could hardly imagine.<\/p>\n

In other words, most of the past violence was preventable had we listened to the advice listed above, and adjusted our ideas about jihad, the Muslim Brotherhood, and terrorism \u2014 or used NASA for its proper larger purpose.\u00a0 I suppose the Iranians believe likewise in the power of an iconic president, and so they are now trying to send us a smiling imam, who is said to know the West and speak English, and writes us a letter with every T-ball platitude imaginable. Presto, we will change our opinion of the Iranians because of Rouhani in the way they must like us because of Barack Hussein Obama?<\/p>\n

b) Obama also looks to particular pretexts for Muslim outrage and in that sense considers them somewhat legitimate. \u201cTerrorism\u201d can be a hurtful word, and to such an extent that it might force otherwise moderate Muslims to resort to it. Would-be terrorists might listen to the Cairo speech or the NASA director and suddenly drop their violent tendencies, snap out of their jihadist personal journeys, and appreciate commonalities with the West and Christians heretofore forgotten or unknown. Just as Barack Obama once wowed his Harvard Law Dean, so too imams and ayatollahs will react to his mellifluous outreach, in the way we too are charmed by the smoother, smiling president Rouhani.<\/p>\n

Self-reflection to the point of self-condemnation is a common trait among American liberal leadership. If the Israelis would just vacate Sinai, peace might follow. If they withdrew from Lebanon, moderates might respond. If they gave back Gaza, a settlement would be insured. If we could just solve the \u201cPalestinian Question,\u201d then Arabs would like us, and violence from Cairo to Damascus would subside. Few Americans grasp that there will be no peace with Israel unless either Israel is destroyed or its Arab neighbors accept consensual government and simply no longer tolerate tribalism, religious fundamentalism, gender apartheid, or anti-Semitism \u2014 a hope that may well be a century away.<\/p>\n

The failure of Islamic culture to cope with the modern world also ensures that it will be an elixir in the Middle East for perceived global unfairness. For hundreds of millions who are quite reluctant to change their views about women, other religions, tribal affinities, free expression, and consensual government, it is far easier to blame the logical consequences of their material backwardness on others \u2014 most likely Jews, Westerners, and less observant Muslims. The mystery is not that they believe such things, but that we do not believe that they do. When Dr. Zawahiri cites \u201cclimate change\u201d as one of the sparks that set him off, I think we have entered the realm of lunacy.<\/p>\n

c) Obama believes that something the Bush administration concretely did might have provoked Muslims and explains the present tensions. If a transgression sparked violence, then a non-transgression will prevent it. If we could only close Guantanamo, get out of Iraq, promise to withdraw from Afghanistan, lead meekly from behind in Libya, or stop renditions, then again peace would follow and terrorism would wane. Obama has little concept that terrorists strike when they feel they can, but are more likely not to when they feel they can\u2019t \u2014 or that they can hate us for reasons that transcend what Americans do on any given day. \u00a0While their hatred, fed by envy, feelings of inadequacy, and appeasement, cannot be moderated by euphemism, the expression of it certainly can be by hard pressure on their sponsors \u2014 the very tactic that Obama has derided, as he had sought normalization with Iran, Syria, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Hamas.<\/p>\n

d) In the multicultural world of our elites, religious expression and the landscape in which it occurs, like everything else, is a sort of buffet. People take what they want, each according to his taste, no one selection any better or worse than any other. Islam is no different from Buddhism or Christianity, which have had its own zealots and mass-murderers. Islamists grasp the ramifications of this relativism far better than we do, and expect latitude from the West that they would never grant to non-Westerners. Apparently killing a cartoonist can shut down a Western society\u2019s free expression quite quickly. And blowing up a church in an Islamic country is not at odds with demanding subsidies to build a mosque in Europe.<\/p>\n

These multicultural doctrines are not subject to empirical data. An epidemic of Muslim terrorism can be ignored when we find isolated examples of Christian intolerance. We can call such relativism moral equivalence and cultural relativism, with a strong dose of utopian pacifism. But the end result is that Western elites have no concept that their culture, religious heritage, or contemporary values have made them in any way exceptional. Apple is in Silicon Valley and not Islamabad: no doubt the legacy of colonialism. Millions seek to reach the U.S.; none wait in line to go to Egypt or Algeria: no doubt imperialism still at work. There is no Princeton or MIT in Syria: again racism or class oppression.<\/p>\n

If our elites quoted above are unsure about themselves, why would they not be unsure about their enemies as well?<\/p>\n

In terms of their amoral cost-benefit analysis, a few may die, hopefully abroad, on the altar of multicultural piety, so that millions more might live in ecumenical harmony.<\/p>\n

The tragic truth is just the opposite: thousands will die on the altar of multicultural piety, so that millions more will not live in any sort of harmony.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0PJ Media\u00a0 On the occasion of the outreach from Iran, and the embarrassment in Syria, it is wise to remember why and how our leaders became so inept at dealing with Islamists.<\/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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[59],"tags":[12,192,1017,186,1043,1060,162,1016,855],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-1HX","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5939,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/terrorism-as-therapy\/","url_meta":{"origin":6569,"position":0},"title":"Terrorism as Therapy","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Obama administration is intent on downplaying the Islamic roots of contemporary terrorism. by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online One common theme emerges from the hearings over the Benghazi disaster: The Obama administration is intent on downplaying the Islamic roots of terrorists who harbor an existential hatred of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Terrorism"","block_context":{"text":"Terrorism","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/war-on-terror\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8154,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/untrue-truisms-in-the-war-on-terror\/","url_meta":{"origin":6569,"position":1},"title":"Untrue Truisms in the War on Terror","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ PJ Media In the current tensions with the Islamic World, pundits bandy about received wisdom that in fact is often ignorance. Here are a few examples. 1)\u00a0 The solution of radical Islam must come from within Islam. Perhaps it could. It would be nice to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/religion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"mia_farrow_charlie_hebdo_1-13-15-1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/mia_farrow_charlie_hebdo_1-13-15-1-406x500.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9369,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-highways-to-orlando\/","url_meta":{"origin":6569,"position":2},"title":"The Highways To Orlando","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ Defining Ideas We know what the recent terrorist attack in Orlando was not. Forty-nine people were killed and fifty-three wounded not due to the violent outburst of a right-wing zealot. The shooter, Omar Mateen, was a second-generation Afghan-American, a registered Democrat, and a fierce critic of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election 2016"","block_context":{"text":"Election 2016","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/election-2016\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5867,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-paradoxes-of-the-boston-bombings\/","url_meta":{"origin":6569,"position":3},"title":"The Paradoxes of the Boston Bombings","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media Al-Qaedism A certain American (or for that matter Westernized) resident or citizen \u2014 usually male, almost always young, born a Muslim, prone to guilt over temporary secularization or Westernization, as often (or more so) from Pakistan, a Russian Islamic province, the Balkans, Iran, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Immigration"","block_context":{"text":"Immigration","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/immigration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5894,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-islamist-pull\/","url_meta":{"origin":6569,"position":4},"title":"The Islamist Pull","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson NRO's\u00a0The Corner Although information is still too sketchy to draw any comprehensive conclusions (other than that the Boston killings are not, as recently suggested, fall out from sequestration, the NRA, lack of gun control, climate change, right-wing tea-party zealots, etc.), there emerges a familiar profile to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Terrorism"","block_context":{"text":"Terrorism","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/war-on-terror\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9396,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-dream-of-muslim-outreach-has-become-a-nightmare\/","url_meta":{"origin":6569,"position":5},"title":"The Dream of Muslim Outreach Has Become a Nightmare","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Affirming Muslim grievances has only increased the Arab world\u2019s sense that Obama is weak. \u00a0 By Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online When President Obama entered office, he dreamed that his hope-and-change messaging and his references to his familial Islamic roots would win over the Muslim world. The soon-to-be\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6569"}],"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=6569"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6570,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6569\/revisions\/6570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}