THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VIII, Issue # 136, July 23, 2006
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
DECISIVE MILITARY ACTION IN THE MIDDLE EAST:
DO IT NOW, OR DO IT LATER?
By Alan Caruba
THE NATIONAL DEBATE OVER WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE CONTINUING CONFLICT IN THE MIDDLE EAST, & WHEN TO DO IT:
WHAT MUST BE DONE ABOUT ISLAMIST TERRORISM & STATE SPONSORS OF ISLAMIST TERRORISM? WHEN
MUST IT BE DONE? SHOULD DECISIVE & THOROUGHGOING MILITARY ACTION BE TAKEN TO DEFEAT & TOTALLY
DESTROY THE ISLAMIST ENEMIES OF ISRAEL & THE WEST? SHOULD SUCH MILITARY ACTION BE TAKEN
IMMEDIATELY, OR SHOULD ANOTHER ATTEMPT BE MADE TO APPEASE THE ISLAMISTS & THEREBY DELAY THE
INEVITABLE?
FULL STORY:
We are beginning to see the national debate about what to do in the Middle East shape up into fairly specific sides. I call
them the “Do it now” crowd and the “Do it later” crowd.
One can cite history to support either side. The “Do it now” crowd these days are called “Neoconservatives” and they are
led by people like Bill Kristol, Editor of the Weekly Standard, a respected forum that makes ordinary Republicans
look like wimps. Arguing for “Do it later” is George Wills, a respected Conservative Washington Post syndicated
columnist.
It should be noted that there is also a “Let’s not do anything” or “Let’s run away” crowd, who are called Liberals and/or
Democrats.
Maybe it’s just a trick of my imagination, but I seem to recall Americans of all descriptions just loving those images on
television after 9-11 of the U.S. bombing the hell out of Afghanistan’s Tora Bora region, where Osama bin Laden was said
to be hiding or, better still, driving our tanks into downtown Baghdad. Later we found Saddam Hussein hiding in a hole in
the ground.
Perhaps the most powerful argument for “Doing it now” is the fact that it’s been five years since 9/11 and the U.S.A. has
not experienced another comparable attack. Keeping al-Qa'ida on the run, killing its leaders, and playing havoc with its
funding was, in retrospect, probably a good idea.
Now the images on television are of war in Israel and Lebanon. Israel has been the subject of attacks since the day it
declared its independence in 1948. It took awhile for the message to sink in, but its neighbors eventually figured out that
massing armies on its borders was a very bad idea. They switched to a low-level war involving suicide bombers and rockets.
Imagine how long we would patiently deal with Canada, if it was rocketing our cities and towns across that border?
The “Do it now” crowd is now rooting for Israel to get rid of Hezbollah in Lebanon; mostly Palestinians who took up
residence there after previously losing encounters with Israel and Jordan. First thing they did, of course, was to lay waste to
Lebanon with a fifteen-year civil war pitting Muslims against Christians. Having no idea what peace is, other than the total
destruction of Israel, Palestinians and other Arabs are once again learning what a bad idea it is to provoke yeshiva boys.
In Gaza, Hamas — another group of unhappy Palestinians — is also getting shot up by the Israelis. The Israeli’s “Do it now”
crowd has concluded that waiting around for peace with Palestinians is a bad idea and a higher level of payback may prove
palliative.
All of which brings us to our “Do it later” crowd, who advise that waiting is just as good an idea, particularly as regards Iran,
who everyone knows is developing its own nuclear weapons capability. By way of a reminder, it was Iranians who, in 1979,
invaded the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, seized our diplomats, and held them hostage for 444 days. It can be argued that most
Iranians are being held hostage, but the funding and arming of Hezbollah comes from Iran.
The “Do it later” crowd always proudly points to how we patiently waited for the former Soviet Union to implode. The
problem with that argument is that we also engaged in several proxy wars with them. Owing to Red China’s intervention, the
best the U.S.A. could achieve was a stalemate in Korea and now we are stuck with a loony dictator in North Korea who has
missiles and nukes.
Then there was that nastiness in Vietnam. Despite that loss, the U.S.A. stayed busy sending troops to various places for
the purpose of peacekeeping or swatting bad guys in Grenada, Panama, and Haiti. In 1983, Hezbollah blew up several
hundred U.S. Marines who were in Beirut on a peacekeeping mission.
After the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, we funded and equipped Muslim holy warriors to drive out the Russians, thus
helping to bring about the downfall of the Soviet Union. The Muslims, however, became al-Qa'ida and showed their
gratitude by destroying the World Trade Center, flying a commercial jet into the Pentagon, and killing some 3,000 Americans.
The problem with waiting for Iran to become a nuclear power is that the leaders of Iran keep saying crazy things and
promising to do crazy things. Even Arabs, no slouches when it comes to crazy, think the Persian, albeit Muslim, Iranians are
really crazy.
So, while the warnings and recommendations of the “Do it later” crowd sound like a good idea, they rarely are. History is
filled with examples of why “Do it now” is a better idea, because failure to respond to Big Trouble almost always results in
Even Bigger Trouble.
Every generation of Americans has had to learn this lesson. The nation has always been sharply divided over questions of
war. This is what we pay Presidents to decide. After 9-11, we wanted the President to punish al-Qa'ida and, somewhat
reluctantly, we agreed to his getting rid of a murderous despot in Iraq. Then we wanted that war to be over in two weeks.
History is rarely so accommodating. Wars tend to be very messy, and this is especially true of the years after victory is
declared. Militarily, we are still in Europe, having remained there since the end of World War II in 1945. We are still in South
Korea, having been there since 1953.
War is transformative, and even the most cursory look back at the past half-century or so reveals that the U.S.A. has
benefited itself and much of the world by opposing evil. Wherever the forces of evil may be and whomever they might call
themselves, we still need to be able to “Do it now,” because power-crazed lunatics will always find an excuse to make trouble.
As we debate whether to “Do it now” or “Do it later” regarding the Iranian mullahs, perhaps we should recall British Prime
Minister Neville Chamberlain who, after negotiating with Adolf Hitler, returned home to proclaim “peace in our time.”
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
The Israeli-Arab Conflict
The Middle East -- Lebanon as a Geopolitical Problem
The Middle East & the Problem of Iran
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
© Alan Caruba 2006
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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