Israel, Islamofascism and Decadence

We have the luxury in this country of taking positions on world affairs that sound politically correct and even-handed and, most importantly of all, non-judgmental and anti-racist (read "anti-West") because, generally, we don't have much skin in the game. Yes, 9/11 happened, and yes, 3000 Americans died. But too many of us view that as an historical event, suitable for analysis, but not as something that truly touched us (other than the way lost of tragic events that happen to other people touch us... we dine out on stories of "I knew somebody in the WTC" or "I remember when I saw the WTC come down on television"). Thus, we can expend our energy, not on working to defeat the enemy or even intellectually thinking through exactly who the enemy is, but instead on criticizing ourselves and our leaders. Islamofascists attack America... blame Bush and the Republicans! This is decadence in a nutshell.

Now, with attacks on Israel from Gaza and south Lebanon by the proxies of Syria and Iran, and Israel's justified counterattacks, the Middle East threatens to become the site of a wider war pitting democracies (Israel and, amazingly enough, Iraq) against the forces of Islamofascism. Israel doesn't have the luxury we have of sitting back and blithely mouthing niceties about understanding the "Other" or the plight of Palestinian refugees or the frustration of the "Arab street." Israel is in a fight for its life.

Me, I'm on Israel's side. I think the Bush Doctrine was right all along -- you are either with us against the terrorists or your against us. Israel is with us. Syria and Iran and al Qaeda and Hamas and Hezbollah are all against us, not a little bit, but a lot. They would have us dead if they could make us dead. Israel says it "means business." I think we should too.

It is a truly decadent country that won't take its own side in a fight.