American Defeatists And Democracy - Not A Good Mix
By Michael Nevin (02/09/05)
On the 29th anniversary of the fall of Saigon General Vo Nguyen Giap, the legendary commander-in-chief of North Vietnam’s military, praised America’s Vietnam anti-war protestors for their contribution to the communist victory, “I would like to thank them,” the general told Reuters.[1] Former North Vietnamese Colonel Bui Tin explained, “Through dissent and protest [America] lost the ability to mobilize a will to win.”[2] With the help of certain journalists who couldn’t tell the difference between victory and defeat on the battlefield, the communists prevailed. While anti-war activists were spitting in the face of our returning troops, the people of South Vietnam were being slaughtered by the thousands.
Militant Islamists understand recent American history, and they understand that the only way to defeat America is to turn her against herself. Although President Bush handily won reelection, the defeatists have decided to continue their apoplectic campaign. Formerly known as liberals or progressives, the defeatists apparently prefer the status quo of despotic power over the prospect of liberty.
On the eve of Iraq’s first democratic election since the fall of Saddam Hussein, Senator Edward Kennedy stated, “We must recognize what a large and growing number of Iraqis now believe. The war in Iraq has become a war against the American occupation.… The U.S. military presence has become part of the problem, not part of the solution.”[3]
Not to be outdone by the senator, Rep. Lynn Woosley (D-CA) sponsored a resolution in the House of Representatives calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Although this pathetic piece of legislation will never see the light of day, the timing was remarkable as millions of Iraqis risked life and limb to participate in voting, a watershed moment in history. It’s a right that Woosley and other liberal lemmings have taken for granted since birth. The ever-prescient Woosley explained to those of us less familiar with warfare tactics that, “The insurgency will slow down as soon as they don’t have the U.S. military as their target.”[4] But leaving Iraq now would assuredly create a power vacuum, and some dangerous people would be willing to fill it. Iraq’s interim President Ghazi al-Yawar, who doesn’t seem to agree with the American defeatists, inveighed that it would be “complete nonsense for them to leave in this chaos.”[5] Premature military withdrawal would embolden terrorists around the world because America would be seen as weak. Somewhere, General Giap is smiling.
Michael Moore, Hollywood’s favorite malcontent and V.I.P. at the Democratic National Convention, once compared the terrorists who attack our troops and innocent Iraqis to the Minutemen of the American Revolution, and he predicted victory for our enemy. But the election in Iraq may prove to be the death blow to both Moore’s crystal ball and the head-loppers pouring into Iraq.
American defeatists must be feeling the pain. After elections in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Bush Doctrine has received early vindication. Democracy can be seen spreading throughout other regions in the world as witnessed by the vote of the Palestinian people and in the former Soviet Bloc country of Ukraine. Slowing the spread of freedom is tantamount to putting toothpaste back in the tube—it ain’t gonna happen. The belief that some people “aren’t ready for democracy” is simply cultural condensation.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the self-proclaimed “enemy of democracy” and most wanted terrorist in Iraq, sounded like a college professor seeking tenure when he explained his theory. Zarqawi opined, “Now they are completely preoccupied with making the big American lie called ‘democracy’ successful.… (T)hey have deluded them that their happiness and prosperity is conditional upon this inadequate human system, and subsequently the infidel American administration declared war on Iraq and Afghanistan because it is the primary protector and guardian of democracy in the world.”[6] Zarqawi, like the erstwhile Viet Cong, can expect continued support from fellow travelers here in the States.
When America was attacked on 9/11 and suffered the worst single day loss of life on her soil since the Battle of Antietam, we needed to start thinking outside the box. The barbarians got inside the gate, and they are deadly serious about their intentions. Notwithstanding the drivel sputtering from the defeatists, it remains clear that militant Islamists hate us for who we are—not what we do. By promoting freedom and the spread of democracy, America strengthens herself. The fact that the American Left seems all too willing to sit on the sidelines and wring their hands at the very sight of progress by the reelected Bush Administration speaks volumes about their political desperation.
The cut-and-run defeatists remember the anti-war protests of the Vietnam era with fondness. I’m not so sure that history agrees. But I am confident that history will be kind to the grunt who is snuffing out insurgents in the Sunni Triangle. The defeatists will not be so lucky in retrospect; but then again, they don’t seem to mind being on the wrong side of the fight.
[1] Toh-Pantin, Christina “Vietnam’s hero still grateful to anti-war Americans,” Reuters (swissinfo.org), 4/30/04
[2] Limbacher, Carl et al. “Gen. Giap Thanks Kerry and Co for Anti-War Protests,” NewsMax.com, 5/1/04
[3] Senator Edward Kennedy’s speech at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, 1/27/05
[4] “Poor Timing,” Editorial: The Press Democrat, 1/28/05
[5] “Iraq’s Al-Yawar Says U.S., Other Forces May Be Cut By Year End,” Bloomberg.com, 2/2/05
[6] “Zarqawi and other Islamists to the Iraqi People: Elections and Democracy are Heresy,” The Middle East Media Research Institute, 2/1/05 No. 856
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