America's "Play Station" Generation Will Not Endure
By Christopher Adamo (11/30/06)
America is increasingly accepting the notion of a "cut and run" response to Islamic terrorism. Post-election talk on Capitol Hill, from both sides of the aisle, focuses ever more on the notion that America ought to simply accept the "futility" of the Iraq situation and sound "retreat." It has been done before, and the country survived, so why not now?
In certain respects, America did indeed back away from its frontal opposition to Communism when it pulled out of Southeast Asia in 1972. And while that action was followed by genocide in Vietnam and Cambodia, those leftists who had caterwauled incessantly over the dozens of Vietnamese who had been killed in My Lai, suddenly reverted to absolute indifference over the millions who were slaughtered in that region after America had abandoned them.
Moreover, the waving of the white flag across the Pacific was not followed by North Vietnamese tanks rolling through the streets of America, purges of anti-Communist “dissidents,” or the establishment of a Gulag on our soil. So, in the eyes of the anti-war protestors, nothing bad came from the defeat.
In truth, this nation kept up its valiant fight against Soviet Communism, though it had to do so on a different front. And within a generation of the Vietnam debacle, the USSR collapsed in the face of Ronald Reagan’s resolve, and much of the danger it posed to the United States substantially faded.
Unfortunately, those on the left took the absolute wrong message from the events, as they invariably do. Since the advances and retreats of the Cold War unfolded in a theater that was far removed from the common citizen, liberals were afforded the luxury to bask in their ignorance. Thus they naively presumed that their fawning “peacenik” philosophies had won the day.
Far from such sophomoric and simple-minded postulating, the harsh truth is as it always was. America will prevail, or it will fall, based on its strength. And as was the case in Vietnam, where a wholly capable military was betrayed by cowardice from inside the Beltway, the moral/spiritual component of the nation’s strength is ultimately the determining factor in the nation’s success or failure.
Since the dark days of Vietnam, America’s military capabilities have only increased. Yet concurrently, other events within the culture of the nation have opened a grim possibility. Although from a purely military and logistical standpoint America is far more able to fight and prevail in a war while sustaining far fewer casualties among its own forces, the public at large no longer has the “stomach” needed to do so.
The courage and resolve among the nation’s citizenry, so necessary to underwrite a military venture and remain committed to it until its completion, has apparently been leached from the souls of the American people. In vain hope that they can simply conjure up a false sense of security and thereafter live free of danger, Americans are now unwilling to consider the looming possibility of more attacks by the Islamists or other rogue regimes.
Worse yet, a significant portion of the population appears to be staunchly committed to remaining in such a state of denial at virtually any cost. September 11 should have been the only “wake up call” the nation ever needed. From that point forward, the single national response ought to have been an iron will to overcome any who had participated in the horror, and all who might aid and abet a sequel to the event.
Unfortunately, the message being trumpeted by America’s leftists has been heard, loud and clear, throughout the world. Reaction to it is as ominous as it is predictable. America’s overt enemies, such as Iranian “President” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, are increasingly emboldened to actively undermine American interests, and ever more belligerent in their antagonism towards us.
Far from presenting a united front to our enemies, and thus persuading even the marginally rational among them that they would decisively lose in a military engagement, the constant laments from liberals, who only see America’s shortcomings, has taken its toll. The result is an America with a broken morale and growing pessimism. This message has not been lost on those who seek our demise.
In response to the mid-term elections, America’s enemies throughout the world have been reinvigorated and are voicing their commitment to drive this nation into oblivion. The fronts on which we face hostility are many. Across three continents, one unavoidable simmering cauldron after another has begun to boil.
Through their meddling, self-serving liberal politicians have further constrained America to wage the terror war within the perverse framework of “political correctness.” Thus, they have shown our adversaries that, as a nation we are indeed weak, and moreover that such weakness can be exploited. Yet this is not a weakness of armament but a weakness of the soul.
Much of the world is at present, either too cowardly to admit that a clash of civilizations is going on, or has concluded that collusion with Islamists and other thug rulers is the most pragmatic approach to the danger they pose. It is certainly easier to denigrate America while it carries the torch of freedom, with no fear of reprisal, than it is to stand firm against the tides of militant Islam, which will most certainly reap a backlash of hate and violence.
Yet despite any futile hopes of clinging briefly to its past comfort and indifference, no such option exists for this country. Regardless of their recent electoral gains, those who would cower from the fray cannot be allowed to set policy. An America that increasingly bends to the wishes of an effeminized culture, and is afraid to mete out whatever is necessary upon its enemies to achieve victory, is an America that will ultimately bear the scars of battle inflicted on itself in defeat.
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