9/11 anniversary: we must never forget. The Telegraph, 9/11/2008
on 09/11/2008 at 08:33 AM
Agreed, Peiper, and a few observations:
If America bungled the post-Saddam era in Iraq, it is only because the wussy factor took hold, and we started worrying too much about being Mister Nice Guy and being “loved"--whatever in hell that means .
I am convinced that in international relations of any sort, it is far wiser and far better to be respected as the devil than to be “loved.”
Those who respect you as the devil, you see, are under no illusions about the wages of impertinence, let alone incompetence or treachery.
They dare not fancy that they can use or manipulate you. They may not care to drop in for afternoon tea with you, but rest assured they won’t dare to tamper with you. They won’t take liberties with you. They won’t drag you into petty ambuscades of their own. And no stifling goddam clinging vine crap, either! Not to mention endless sponging and mooching!
But nobody wins that kind of respect unless they’re dealing from strength, and display it. The pantisocrified huggy-kissy approach isn’t worth a good goddam to practical politics, or Realpolitik, if you care to call it that.
Especially today’s Realpolitik. Nine-Eleven spelled out that lesson for us, among others, in flaming caps!
A good article apart from this bit:
“The fanatics may be small in number, but it only takes a few to get through to cause death, misery and mayhem.”
They are not small in number, there are tens of thousands of them in Britain. We need to deal with these people in a more medieval fashion. If we show weakness they will only be encouraged.
You’ll never hear a politician say this, but I stand by it. This was my response to an anti-war activist who was going on about how “thousands of soldiers have died for the sake of Bush’s lies, stupidity and greed.”
**********************************Yes, soldiers are dying for the dishonesty, greed, stupidity and arrogance of their political leaders. They have done so for thousands of years. Soldiers dying for the selfish ambitions of their leaders can be documented back to the Roman Empire quite easily. At least these soldiers *volunteered* for the job.
And you know WHY they volunteered? Because on Sep 11 2001, they were shown that if they don’t volunteer to risk everything to support their country and its leaders, KNOWING those leaders are human and fallible and sometimes stupid and greedy.... if they don’t offer to pay that price, civilians, who did NOT volunteer, WILL end up paying it in their place.
09/11/2008 at 09:58 AM
09/11/2008 at 11:59 AM
