WarSclerotic

France’s nightmare ends; the West’s delusions do not – The Washington Post.

( “Facts are irrelevant to the excuse-mongers and jihad-deniers, and the very real possibility their actions heighten the threat to innocents is ignored.” – JW )

By Jennifer Rubin January 9 at 1:00 PM

The Associated Press and other outlets are reporting that a total of three hostage-takers at two locations — a kosher market and a printing plant — were killed and some of their hostages freed, ending a multi-day nightmare for France that began with the slaughter of 12 at the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. The gunmen at the two locations were believed to be connected in some fashion, one police official told the AP.

Police officers leave after storming the building in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris, where two brothers suspected in a deadly terror attack were cornered on Friday.  (Christophe Ena/Associated Press)

The hostage situation at the kosher market was the latest in a series of stunning attacks on Jewish institutions and individuals unprecedented since the end of World War II. The administration has been underwhelming it is reaction to the repeated assaults on French Jews, and the president has failed to address the pattern of Jew-hating and violence that has swept the continent. But then there is a lot he ignores.

The conclusion of the three days of terror and murder are a reminder, as the Israeli journalist Ruthie Blum puts it, that “the key point about the brutal slaying of the French satirists . .. [is that] their pens were no match for Islamist swords. This is because their slaying were not a metaphor for the curtailing of free speech. They were part of the campaign to kill and subjugate all free people, which is what global jihad is all about.”

Will the events of the past few days be sufficient to end the perverse refusal to comprehend this and to persistently dismiss conservatives’ warning that we are engaged in a battle for civilization itself? 

If Israel didn’t build homes in its Jewish neighborhoods . . . if the United States closed Guantanamo Bay . . .  if we had not waterboarded terrorist leaders  . . . if we had not become involved in Middle East wars . . . if Europeans did not insult Islam . . . what, what would be different? The jihadists would still seek to slaughter Jews, Christians and Muslims who don’t subscribe to their brand of jihadism. Iran would still sponsor terrorists and seek a bomb. Boko Haram will still kill and murder innocents. There is no action on our part that provokes the sort of barbarism we have seen. There is no way we can cease giving “offense.” Our existence is sufficient to spur the Islamist terrorists. And the only solution is to defeat and destroy the jihadists, their networks and their ability to gain access to more and more deadly weapons. (What if, for example, the French suspects had chemical weapons and not simply guns?)

And yet I doubt we will see President Obama (or critics of U.S. antiterrorism efforts) agree on an enhanced national security budget, adopt a new approach to ending Iran’s hegemonic ambitions, throw away the timetable for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, deploy without limitations on their scope and duration a contingent of U.S. troops sufficient to eradicate the Islamic State swiftly or cease releasing jihadists from Guantanamo Bay.

It is not simply the Obama administration, as inept and wrongheaded as it may be, that is the problem. Foolish lawmakers who want to dismantle the National Security Agency or in essence grant immunity to terrorists from drones until they are on the cusp of action; the “international community” that spends time attempting to delegitimize Israel and entertains claims that it is guilty of war crimes; and the left in the media and on college campuses who believe at bottom that the West is responsible for bringing these horrors on itself — none of these will, I predict, change one iota.

Facts are irrelevant to the excuse-mongers and jihad-deniers, and the very real possibility their actions heighten the threat to innocents is ignored.

So be it…

We should replace misguided leaders who will not defend us, defund international bodies that excuse or ignore the problem and rally behind clear-sighted figures who understand we are in a fight not simply for freedom of expression, although we certainly are, but for our existence.

This entry was posted on January 10, 2015 at 4:53 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.