War, what is it good for?

The title of this post was the refrain of a popular song (done by Edwin Starr) in the early 70s when Vietnam was eroding into chaos and the streets were filling with young protesters.

We may be on the verge of a re-awakening as news of the Haditha story trickles out, ramping up the pressure to call the choppers and grab the last man. But is history repeating itself? Is this the same ole song, different day?

In his speech Thursday Tony Blair asked (then answered) the question, "is what we're doing worth it?". Perhaps his answer was partially affected by this repugnantly God-awful event, which occurred while he was in Baghdad:

An Iraqi tennis coach and two of his players were killed because they were wearing shorts, apparently in violation of a warning by Islamic extremists.

Gunmen stopped the car in which the athletes were riding and asked them to step out before shooting them Wednesday, Manham Kubba, secretary general of the Iraqi Tennis Union, said Saturday. The coach, Hussein Ahmed Rashid, was Sunni, and the two players were Shiite, Kubba said.

Think it can't come to a neighborhood near you? Be careful. Western civilization is currently suffering from a very poor self-image, largely due to the guilt associated with our own successes compared to the rest of the planet. Add in liberal does of moral relativism and breakdown of the traditional family along with a loss of faith in a greater good, and we've put ourselves into a weak position.

Our soldiers are fighting, but will western civilization in general back the fight to protect our way of life? It's not apparent whether folks realize that unfettered Islamofascism represents a trip back to the seventh century for all--no women's rights, no gay rights, forced religion. The things they accuse Bush of doing.

Iraq might not have had WMDs, but Saddam was a terrorist. Leaving his terrorist and pan-Arabic sympathizers to run the country would be a setback for the entire region. The consequences of leaving seem to range from in the worst another larger regional war involving Israel to in the least a world where a majority of the oil was controlled by the likes of Chavez, Osama, and Ahmadinejad. Our fighting men and women are working to stop those outcomes in favor of peaceful democracies. God be with them all.



corrected to give proper song credit..

BLUE MONDAY 5/29/06

Memorial Day 2006 featured many coordinated attacks in Iraq, including one that killed two members of a CBS News crew.

Judging by the targets, mostly Sunni, the attacks had a distinct Hezbollah/Iranian flavor. Southern Iraq is also becoming more unruly due to the influence of Iranian-backed militias. Crunch time is fast approaching. What are we going to do?

MORE 5/29

Many are circulating this column. It would be nice to get some Islamic feedback on it's premise. Wonder what CAIR thinks of it, for example?