Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Hiding behind the wall...


Looking at New York Time's columnist Thomas Friedman's new column, `The Energy Wall' is valuable, because it articulates what's become a very common, if mistaken mindset among the American public...especially since it's become all too evident how the Bush Administration squandered a brilliant military victory in Iraq and how poorly our national interest has been served.

Friedman starts out by saying that the way out of the mess in Iraq and the Middle East is to examine the Israeli-Arab conflict and emulate the tactics used by the Israelis, namely the Gaza withdrawal and the constuction of Israel's security wall.

Friedman's simple proposition, boiled down to one sentence is this: let's get out of Iraq and the Middle East as soon as possible, become energy independent and build a `virtual wall' between the region and ourselves. In Friedman's words, `a wall of energy independence that will enable us to continue to engage honestly with the most progressive Arabs and Muslims on a reform agenda, but without being hostage to the most malevolent.'

Friedman and people that think like him are deluding themselves, just as the Israelis were.

The idea of a withdrawal and a virtual `wall' against the Islamic fascists won't work any more than Israel's withdrawal and physical wall has. I'm amazed that Friedman, presumably an intelligent and informed man, can advocate for the US the very tactics that have failed in Israel. Perhaps this self-styled `expert' ought to spend some time in Sderot.

Here's why a `wall' won't work : the beast is no longer merely confined to the Middle East, but here among us, and will be even if we never import another drop of Arab oil. The toothpaste is already out of that particular tube.

Here in America, we have allowed the virtual takeover by the Saudis of almost every mosque and madrassah in America through the Saudi funded front, the Islamic Society of North America. They appoint the imams, fund the mosques, pick the texts and teachers for the madrassahs and above all push the wahabi hardline agenda, thus doing whatever they possibly can to create a generation of Muslims in America and the West with large groups of what Daniel Pipes has aptly called `cultural jihadists', people who symphathize with and support jihad even if they're not actually strapping bombs to themselves or plotting terrorist attacks against their supposedly `native' country.

The Saudis and UAE also fund CAIR, the MSA and the MPAC, perhaps the only instance in America of political lobbying groups being openly funded by foreign governments since the bad old days of the `China Lobby'. Aside from open lobbying of congress and lawsuit intimidation through these groups, the Saudis and the UAE also have a practice of buying well connected government figures as their personal lobbyists...like ex-president Clinton, ex-senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole, Brent Scowcroft, James Baker (his lawfirm, Baker-Botts is the Saudis' legal representative in the US), Jimmy Carter,(who receives $10M per year for the Carter `Peace ' Center), and soon, if not already, this fella..

On the other side of the equation, Iran's proxy Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas have a number of cells and symphathizers already existing here in America..anyone who doesn't realize that should read what Steve Emerson or Robert Spencer have had to say about it.

In order to truly `build a virtual wall', we would have to expel a whole bunch of people from the US, control access to the country and make a few laws reminiscent of the ones FDR put in place during WWII to deal with enemy aliens, sabotage, sedition and domestic surveillance. I have a feeling that Friedman and his fellow isolationists would be screaming bloody murder at any attempts to actually secure the home front. And even while such steps might be necessary and desireable, they would hardly eliminate the problem in an age of nuclear armed jihadis.

It's not about oil or even Israel. We are dealing with people who feel they have nothing to lose and Paradise to gain. The OG Mohammed told them so, when he commanded them to fight the unbelievers until they either died, converted to Islam or paid the tribute willingly and `feel themselves subdued'.

They aren't going away just because we ignore them.Not while a single part of dar harb remains to be conquered.

Energy independence is fine, and I'm all for it...but it will have zero impact on funding jihad. Oil is fungiable and the Arabs will simply sell their oil elsewhere. And continue to use the profits to wage jihad against the West.

Islamic fascism is exactly like the 1930's variety. It will have to be militarily defeated AND humiliated at its source nations before the slate is clean and there is any chance of reform or peace.

As much as it would be comforting to simply wash our hands of the matter and take a vacation from history, we simply don't have that option. A smoking crater with the charred remains of 3,000 of our countrymen was the price we paid the last time we tried it. The price will be much higher if we avoid our responsibilities to our posterity and our country.

The sooner we realize that and take on the task at hand, the better and less costlier it will be.





Hat tip to the old general, Giv Cornfield for sending me Friedman's original piece.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

IKhwanweb is the Muslim Brotherhood's only official English web site. The Main office is located in London, although Ikhwanweb has correspondents in most countries. Our staff is exclusively made of volunteers and stretched over the five continents.

The Muslim Brotherhood opinions and views can be found under the sections of MB statements and MB opinions, in addition to the Editorial Message.

Items posted under "other views" are usually different from these of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Ikhwanweb does not censor any articles or comments but has the right only to remove any inappropriate words that defy public taste

Ikhwanweb is not a news website, although we report news that matter to the Muslim Brotherhood's cause. Our main misson is to present the Muslim Brotherhood vision right from the source and rebut misonceptions about the movement in western societies. We value debate on the issues and we welcome constructive criticism.

Anonymous said...

ff,
you just keep using that picture don't you?
you get a kick out of using it i bet?

Freedom Fighter said...

Huh? I've never used it before!

How do you lioke the way the MB spammed the board? I'm honored..almost.

Anonymous said...

Thanks ff, for bringing into light Friedman's piece.

I'm genuinely shocked to hear that from him. A wall? In the Middle East, fences don't just not make good neighbours; fences don't work, period.

You would think that Israel's diengagement plan would have provided some bellwether as to how pointless and self-defeating such a strategy would be.

The fundamentalists don't hate us because we buy oil from them; they hate us because of what we stand for. We can no longer blame our dependence on oil for our intransigence in foreign policy towards these tyrants and their minions.

Freedom Fighter said...

Hi Harrison,
I'm not shocked to hear this from the likes of T. Friedman in the least.

Remember, this is the guy who not only shilled for the Gaza retreat but the Saudi `peace' plan as well.

Gaza and hiding behind the wall rather than decisively defeating Israel's enemies worked out well, didn't it?

Along with the WAPO's David Ignatius, he is CONSISTENTLY proven to be one of the most wrongheaded columnists around when it comes to his opinions the Middle East, the War on Jihad and foreign policy in general.

This nonsense is just more of the same.

I chose to highlight this because it epitomizes the isolationist, escapist mindset that keeps repeating that if it wasn't fo rIsrael and our importing oil, we could just hide fromhistory and let those nasty jihadis stew in their own juices.

Denial ain't a river in Egypt..and people with Mr. Friedman's mindset can get a lot of us killed.

Anonymous said...

I haven't read many pieces from Friedman, but judging from this one alone, he's pretty delusional.

It is pure folly to conceptualise this war as a localised battleground where Iran, Syria and the like only fight on their turf. They have proven just as, if not more, adept at infiltrating our territory. Isolationism definitely doesn't work well when your enemies refuse to disengage, and the frontiers of the war have been drawn ever closer to home.

Note to Friedman: they can dig under the wall. Or launch suicide bombers across with their improvised giant catapults. Bottom line: walls only serve to prevent you from looking over and imagining that what you can't see won't hurt you.

Rosey said...

I like the Wall. And energy independence. Alternate fuels or more domestic supply will lower the price of oil, reduce income to arab states, and reduce funding for terroism. They'll still hate us, but have less disposable terror funds...