Somalia

Somalia doesn’t make the news cycle too often, but it probably should. It is currently the 3rd most important front in the Islamic War, behind Iraq and Afghanistan. Somalia has been in a state of civil war for more than 15 years and recently it was almost taken over by a group of Islamic fundamentalists known as the Islamic Courts.

The Islamic Courts is similar to the Taliban. It is a group dedicated to re-establishing the caliphate and ruling it under Sharia Law. It wants to spread Islam worldwide through force and coercion.

The Islamic Courts took control of most of Somalia over the summer, including the capital city Mogadishu. I remember Mogadishu as the place where an American helicopter (“Blackhawk Down”) was shot down in the early 1990’s and the bodies of American soldiers were dragged through the streets. This was my first introduction to al-Qaeda, but I didn’t learn the name until September 12th, 2001.

Somalia is so important to al-Qaeda, that one of Osama’s deputies (we haven’t heard from bin Laden himself in a long time…) issued a statement to the Muslim world to take jihad to Somalia. Apparently, they are tired of getting their asses kicked in Iraq and Afghanistan and want to go someplace where the enemy has a bit less firepower. It almost worked.

For a variety of reasons, the world ignored the war in Somalia. The US has its hands full, the UN is mostly on the side of the enemy, and the Europeans just want keep their heads planted firmly in the sand. With the soldiers and weapons supplied by al-Qaeda, and the money supplied by the Arabs, the Islamic Courts nearly turned Somalia into another Afghanistan (pre-October 2001).

However, they went a step too far. Encouraged by their gains in Somalia, the Islamic Courts began trash-talking Ethiopia. I personally thought at the time that they would succeed in expanding their territory into regions of Ethiopia. They were meeting little resistance and how tough of an army can the Ethiopians have? Apparently, tough enough to kick the shit out of the Islamic Courts.

The followers of Mohammad (may piss be upon him) are in full retreat, after losing over 1000 soldiers in less than a week. The Ethiopians say they will withdraw after accomplishing their objectives and we shall see how this plays out. It is likely that the Islamic Courts will regroup and fight a guerilla war, but it is unlikely that they will take control of cities as they had until just recently.

The Ethiopians have delivered a decisive blow against the enemy in the Islamic War.

A Nation of Immigrants

The politicians are missing out on the biggest issue of our times. I find it amazing. People get passionate about certain issues, but most of these issues are diverse and spread out along the political spectrum. I am obviously passionate about the war, but I’m about 1 in 20. Most people who I talk to about the war either don’t really care or say something like “nuke ‘em all and be done with it”. However, there is an issue that gets everybody’s motor running: Illegal immigration.

Every time I drop this topic in on a conversation, I get a reaction. I find this highly entertaining, because I try to distance myself from feeling strongly about it. As a Libertarian, I am mostly in favor of immigration, but I have come around to the anti side over the last couple of years. However, I refuse to get passionate about it. I want to pop some corn and see how it plays out. I have enough emotion invested in the war, that I don’t need to get riled up about this topic. I don’t need to. People are very passionate about it already.

I have yet to speak with someone who is in favor of more illegal immigration. However, that is the policy of the government. Republicans and Democrats both seem oblivious to the problem and both seem to encourage more of it. I cannot think of another issue that elected officials are more out of touch with the people who elected them than illegal immigration. Someone can make some serious hay with this issue in 2008.

There are towns scattered across the country that are taking matters into their own hands. A town in California, one in Texas and even one in Pennsylvania have enacted laws making it illegal to rent apartments to anyone who cannot prove citizenship. The Lefties have filed suits in each case, attempting to block to laws from being enforced, but this just shows how people are fed up over the issue. And it also shows how politicians still don’t care. Supposedly, there are lobbies in favor of illegals because they bring cheap labor. I don’t believe it. I know that companies do indeed hire illegals, but I do not believe that they lobby Congress to keep this practice alive. If they do, they are seriously playing with fire. McDonalds has actually lobbied Congress in favor of higher minimum wage laws, because they know they can blow away their competition if their competitors are forced to pay more for their workers. Wal-Mart is in the same boat, although I have not heard if they officially favor higher minimum wages. The point is that the big players in the corporate world don’t need cheap labor in order to be big. The money trough is coming from the small guys, which isn’t enough to fill a national political candidate’s appetite for cash.

The Democrats in general have an interest in more illegal immigrants, as people at the bottom of the wage scale will most likely vote for those who offer the most payouts from the national treasury. However, with union workers and legal minorities also key constituencies, even the Democrats will not survive a platform that favors illegal immigrants.

Newt Gingrich helped the Republicans take control of Congress for the first time in 40 years with the Contact With America. If any such contract is proposed for the 2008 elections, it must include a clause for stopping illegal immigration. It is a political gold mine.

Drinks on me

Society throws a cloak over our minds. We are human animals with certain desires. Society uses those desires against us. Society is both our best friend and worst enemy.

Human animals are the world’s greatest killers. We seldom think of ourselves that way, but that is what we are. Name another animal that can kill better. Sharks are great killers, but if we really wanted to kill sharks, they would be toast as a species in less than a decade. We can kill anything. Unfortunately, even each other. Society keeps us from killing each other.

Society also keeps us from fulfilling our lives. This is part of the bargain. Society suppresses the Killer Instinct and it also suppresses the other instincts, the ones that make us want to live.

If we desire sex, we are perverted. If we desire food, we are gluttons. If we desire leisure, we are sloths. If we desire anything, we are probably doing something wrong. At least, according to Society.

There are numerous influences of society. Religion is a huge one, but even the non-religious experience the same disdain. Women who enjoy sex are sluts, regardless if you’re talking to a Catholic, an atheist or a person who likes women who enjoy sex. Hypocrisy and illusion surround us.

This may be a Devil’s Bargain that we have to pay. Look at what uncivilized societies look like. No thanks to living anywhere in the Middle East or Africa. Also include most places in Asia and more places than that in South America. Society saps our lives, but it also makes them better than those places without it.

So I toast and I curse Society. However, Society frowns on too many drinks, because drinks make us happy and temporarily release ourselves from the veiled cloak of Society. So I toast to Society…”Thank you and Fuck you. Mostly Thank you. (But fuck-off).”

Iraqi Surrender Group

The Iraqi Study Group (ISG) came out with its recommendations this week. The results were as predictable as they are worthless. Any time a bi-partisan committee agrees on a concept, one can be certain that the result will be a watered-down series of compromises that lack originality and effectiveness.

Without plowing through all of the 70 plus recommendations, the general theme of the ISG is to do more of the same for a while, shuffle the deployment of troops to different assignments, pull out by an arbitrary date and sell Israel down the river. Oh yeah, also negotiate with our enemies. That is the key to success, according to the ISG. Get Syria and Iran to cooperate. Exactly how this is accomplished is not explained in the report.

The Cold Warriors who comprised the ISG were not the right people for the job. The war against Islamic Fascism is not the same as the Cold War. The enemy has the same goal as the Soviets, world domination, but a completely different set of motivations, tactics and abilities. The Soviets played by the same rules as the United States during the Cold War: Topple instable governments that are sympathetic to the enemy, fight local wars through proxy armies and avoid direct military confrontation with the actual enemy by using diplomacy. The Islamic Fascists have a different approach: Diplomacy is weakness. Use it to gain objectives. Confront the enemy directly, but through proxy armies (i.e. terrorist organizations) and infiltrate enemy territory by using their tolerance of different ideologies to their own disadvantage.

The enemy in the Islamic War has been far more successful than most people realize. While they still lack the ability to deliver a knock-out punch to the West, they are getting closer every day. The ISG report basically recommends giving the enemy more time, rather than defeating them now.

What Israel has to do with Iraq is beyond my level of understanding and the ISG does not connect the dots. However, the report is emphatic in its claim that Land for Peace is a crucial component of stabilizing the Middle East. I can only wonder at their true motives for including Israel in this equation. There is zero evidence that Israeli concessions will lead to peace. Rockets have fired into Israel daily since Gaza was given to Hamas. The goal of the Palestinians (i.e. 3rd generation welfare recipients from Egypt and Jordan) to push Jews into the sea, has remained unchanged. The pullback to the pre-1967 borders is unlikely to cause peace, since it was the Arabs who attacked Israel in 1967. I just don’t see how Israel can surrender enough to appease her enemies. The lengthy ISG report provides no details.

I found it interesting recently, watching a History Channel show on the Israeli attack on the nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981. While Ronald Reagan’s initial response to the attack was “Boys will be boys…” and Alexander Haig said that “some day all of us will be down on our knees thanking the Israelis for doing this”, every other member of Reagan’s cabinet, including George Bush Sr. (who recommended the ISG panel to Jr.) and James Baker (who headed the Iraqi Surrender Group), seethed venom at the Israelis for their actions. Thus, it was little surprise to me that the ISG recommended that Israel should unilaterally give up more land to help the situation in Iraq.

The ISG did not present Iraq in context within the global war against Islamic Fascism. If it did, it would have certainly pointed out that the leading state sponsor of terrorism, both before and after 9/11, is Iran. If we want to win in Iraq (which I doubt the ISG actually wants to do), then we must neutralize Iran. Negotiations may be a way to do this, but I seriously doubt it. Chamberlain negotiated with Hitler and felt quite good about the process after the Munich Agreement, until Nazi tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia.

Iran is weaker today than Germany was in 1938. Should we wait until it is stronger?

The Peace Crowd

The war in Iraq is often compared to the war in Vietnam. This is a poor comparison. There were “good guys” in Vietnam. The South Vietnamese opposed Communist rule. These people were deserted by the “peace” crowd in the United States and subsequently slaughtered by the communists in North Vietnam and Cambodia. All of the players in Iraq, and all of the Middle East (except for Israel) for that matter, are tyrants or their sympathizers. There are no good guys in the Middle East.

The peace crowd wants the United States out of Iraq. Why? Giving them every benefit of the doubt in regard to intention, here is what one can conclude: “Bring the troops home” is a popular slogan. But what do the peace activists mean by it? There isn’t a draft anymore. Everyone fighting in Iraq is a volunteer. Many have re-enlisted since the war began. The rate of violent death per capita is less in Iraq than it is in Washington DC, Miami or Detroit since the war began. Is the peace crowd suddenly concerned about the military? If one listens to John Kerry, Charles Rangel or recalls Bill Clinton’s letter where he describes those who “loathe the military”, it is difficult to believe.

Maybe the peace crowd is concerned about the spending. However, this would be the first time that left-leaning people were concerned about government spending. The war has indeed created jobs for security forces, infrastructure rebuilders and defense contractors. Maybe these are the wrong things to spend government money on? However, mis-allocation of government resources is no reason to get frantic. If it were, the whole country might actually vote conservative some day.

If it isn’t money or soldiers, why do the peace activists care so much? It is either because they do not believe in the cause or they want to experience the consequences of failure.

Many peace activists are leftovers from the Cold War and still think that communism is a viable political system. Anything the United States does to combat any enemy, is therefore wrong. The United States represents capitalism and freedom. Enemies of the United States are friends of communists, even if those enemies abhor the communists who give them support. The Islamic Fascists absolutely abhor the communists. In every country where the Islamists rule, communists die.

The only remaining reason for protesters of the war is that some people want to see the United States suffer the consequences of failure. The Islamic Fascists want to kill us. They proved that on September 11th and they say that every day. I started this essay with the intent to give the peace crowd every benefit of the doubt, so I cannot continue this line of thought. I will save it for another day.

The peace-loving “patriots” of this country only want to spare the lives of American soldiers, keep spending to a minimum and ensure that freedom and capitalism are promoted throughout the world. Yeah right.