Inching Towards War

War seems inevitable at this point. I expect in the next three months we will be at war with Iraq. It also seems clear that many on the right would like to see an ongoing war against Islam, despite the two articles mentioned yesterday. Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. published an article today condemning the Bush administration from backing away from their policy of regime change. He states, “If, on the other hand, Mr. Bush goes along with a redefinition of the meaning of "regime change," he will not avoid war between Iraq and the United States. If he allows the UN once again to trump sovereign American decisions about our security, he will simply be condemning this nation to a conflict with Saddam at some other time and under circumstances of the latter's choosing . . .” We must invade Iraq to protect ourselves, despite the fact that Iraq has taken no aggressive actions against us.

Cal Thomas, who, despite his wearing a sweater in his bio picture, is very conservative, suggests that Moderate Muslims must bring an end to Islamic Terrorism, or else. This proposition is about as practical as asking the Christian world to end organized crime. In truth, it is just a pretext for Ann Coulter’s famous policy; “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.”

Arguments on the Left aren’t a lot better. Ramzy Baroud repeats the same tired argument in the Washington Post, reprinted at Commondreams.org, that the reason terrorists exist is that the West has not yet been generous enough in that region (or in any region). His article is a terrible mishmash of half thought ideas and vague questions.

This situation is driving me crazy. So I’ll leave a few questions for the reader.

1. Why is it important that we condemn Islam, given that Saddam Hussein is a secular dictator?

2. Are the values of Islamic Terrorists and the values of Western Secular Liberalism compatible?

3. Is the enemy of my enemy really my friend?