[lit-ideas] Re: Hezbollah is here in U.S.
- From: "Andy Amago" <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 00:34:41 -0400
Lawrence, Iraq is in civil war. We have 56,000 troops in Baghdad and they
can't keep the peace. The whole strategy is completely wrong. We're
approaching it as if the problem were an insurgency, when the problem is a
civil war. An insurgency strategy is exactly the way to fan the flames of a
civil war (an insurgency is united; a civil war is factionalized). Something
like 19,000 Iraqis have been killed in sectarian violence in the last six
months, and adding insult to injury, Iraq had nothing whatsoever to do with al
Qaeda before the invasion. Invading Iraq has been a boon for Iran and it's
also loosened the restraints against anything goes over there, meaning war as a
first resort, which of course you favor. By diplomacy, I meant that the U.S.
has stopped with the saber rattling with Iran, the reason most likely being
that the U.S. might be using Israel to attack Iran for them. Hezbollah may be
just an excuse. Nobody goes to war over two captured soldiers. Bush has
never spoken to Iran. Whether Iran will allow itself to be drawn into a
regional conflict is unknown. Most likely they're too crafty for that. How
it shakes out for Israel has yet to be seen.
Lawrence, in the beginning I learned from your writings about the Wahhabis, but
it's increasingly clear that there's a skewed quality to your thinking that
makes your writings almost inapplicable to understanding what's going on. The
world is amazingly complex, yet you see only one thing, the Wahhabis. It's the
same type of skewing that goes into claiming American credit for the
dissolution of the Soviet Union. I know for a fact that the SU caved from
within, yet you give Reagan and the neocons the credit. That's downright
misinformed, it's hubris, yet you stand by it as fact because your fellow
Conservatives believe it.
The U.S. broadened the ME mess exponentially. The Wahhabis didn't do that. We
invaded a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 and turned it into a
cauldron of breathtaking instability, then we stay the course as if more of the
same will make it better as it slides deeper and deeper into hell. We
abandoned Afghanistan and now they're heading to the Iraq model. We proved
ourselves militarily incompetent. We put big business ahead of securing our
borders resulting in literally anybody being able walk into the country and
disappear. What are the chances they haven't taken advantage of our largesse
in favor of both big business and terrorists? There's almost a philosophical
issue there, i.e., both big business and terrorists are unconcerned with
creating victims. Yet you see none of this. Everyone has their own way of
dealing with reality. I guess that's the way you deal with it, take an
orchestra and reduce it to one instrument, even one note. I think I'm going to
stop with the reality and go read some nutrition.
----- Original Message -----
From: Lawrence Helm
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 7/19/2006 11:26:46 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Hezbollah is here in U.S.
Irene,
I talked about the Hezbollah before the Hezbollah began firing missiles at
Israel causing Israel to defend its people by invading Lebanon to destroy
Hezbollah. I talked about Hezbollah in relation to several books I read about
Iran. I described how Iran had armed the Hezbollah. I probably described how
Hezbollah has attacked the U.S. on several occasions, but this is so well
known, I might have skipped that. This is old news to anyone who has studied
the history of Iran or American Foreign Policy.
Diplomacy? You have asked me this several times recently, and I have
restrained from saying anything, but I said several times when you were saying
that Eric and I were favoring bombing Iran that the Bush administration was
going to be using diplomacy (my prediction). I said this several months ago
over a period of time in several messages. Now you are presenting me with his
diplomacy as though that were some how proving me wrong about something.
You didn?t listen to me about Hezbollah, and you didn?t listen to me about
Diplomacy. And you haven?t listened to me about Iraq. Militant Islam is what
we are fighting. It goes by several names and has several forms but two very
potent elements of Militant Islam have been neutralized: Afghanistan and Iraq.
They were militant and they were hostile against us and our allies. They
aren?t any more. Breeding ground for terrorists? Nonsense, Irene. Outsiders
are going to Iraq to join the insurgency and getting killed. You should like
them getting killed over there rather than coming over here and blowing
themselves up in your mall.
Do you live on the border, Irene? Every terrorist killed in Iraq means one
that isn?t going to cross our borders and come after you. Don?t knock the
efforts in Iraq. The main war in Afghanistan and Iraq is over but the war
against Militant Islam is far from being over. Militant Islam has its
representatives just about everywhere. Two French experts on this matter (Roy
& Kepel) say Europe is the breeding ground for terrorists. ?Breeding ground
for terrorists? strikes me as a nonsensical term. At the very least it is used
inappropriately. Militant Islam is an ideology. It derives from Wahhab,
Salafist, Maududi, Al Banna, Qutb, and Khomeini primarily. It is taught and
has been accepted throughout the Middle East. The place where the term would
be valid if used is The Middle East, not some particular region where you can
bash Bush with it. The whole Middle East has been indoctrinated by Militant
Islam and a huge percentage loves it. That is the breeding ground for
terrorism, and it has been exported to various places throughout the world.
I don?t know why I tell you this stuff Irene, in a few months you?ll write me
and say, ?Okay, Lawrence, How about Militant Islam being taught throughout the
Middle East. You didn?t think about that, did you??
Lawrence
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Andy Amago
Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 7:12 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Hezbollah is here in U.S.
I guess you seen one leftist, you seen them all, all those peaceniks look the
same. It's funny how nobody was talking about Hezbollah attacking the U.S.
before Israel invaded Lebanon, so effective is war in creating peace. If they
are here, what are the chances they and other terror groups just walked in
across the border alongside the Mexicans? Not a chance, right? Think if we
had put our efforts into closing the borders instead of creating a terror haven
in Iraq, think things might be different? Lawrence, just wondering, what do
you think is responsible for Bush's sudden shift to using diplomacy with Iran
and North Korea?
----- Original Message -----
From: Lawrence Helm
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 7/19/2006 1:07:26 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Hezbollah is here in U.S.
Some of your comments, Irene, are on the surface so absurd that I shake my
head. Do you really think that Islamists terrorists arent interested in
causing us harm. You say war, war, war, and I think dumb, dumb, dumb. We
are at war with international terrorism. Al Quaeda is one terrorist group.
Hezbollah is another. Al Queada began in Afghanistan. Hezbollah began in
Iran.
Your statements are so inept I cant believe you read the article.
Lawrence
-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Andreas Ramos
Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 8:06 AM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Hezbollah is here in U.S.
From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MichelleMalkin/2006/07/19/hezbollah_is_here
>
>
> This would only be a surprise to those who think that Hezbollah is a native
> Lebanese guerilla force solely concerned with attacking Israel.
Oh, great. Another "terriers are hiding under our beds" hysteria.
War, war, war. That's really the only thing you want. You don't really care
why. Just war.
yrs,
andreas
www.andreas.com
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