The Rant

John Keegan argues no, because there are no armies or battles, merely attacks against civilians. In another sense, all Islam is in permanent civil war because there is no agreement as to the legitimate successor to Mohammad. Civil war or no, it is a pain in the ass.

By David Ignatius WASHINGTON -- A disease is eating away at the Middle East. It afflicts the Syrians, the Iraqis, the Lebanese, even the Israelis. It is the idea that the only political determinant in the Arab world is raw force -- the power of physical intimidation. It is politics as assassination. This week saw another sickening instance of this law of brute force, with the murder of Pierre Gemayel, a Lebanese Cabinet minister who had been a strong critic of Syria. Given the brutal history of Syria's involvement in Lebanon, there's an instant temptation to blame Damascus. But in this land of death, there are so many killers and so few means of holding them to account, we can only guess at who pulled the trigger. I fell in love with Lebanon the first time I visited the country 26 years ago. Part of its appeal, inevitably, was the sense of living on the edge -- in a land of charming, piratical characters who cherish their freedom. Lebanon has great newspapers, outspoken intelle...

How to defeat the USA in future wars. by Michael Novak 11/22/2006 1:35:00 PM This article seems pretty accurate to me. We have not lost any battles, except for the battle of public opinion, especially in the mainstream media. America is very weak willed and has no willingness to perservere with difficult issues. One two year election cycle is about the extent of many swing voters patience. This level of patience is not enough to deal with most geopolitical problems.

this is from a letter to Mark Steyn link to blog Letter of the Week AMERICAN ATTITUDES TO WARFARE I'm a great admirer of your columns and wish you continued success. I wanted to give you a bit of an idea. I teach history at a community college in New Jersey and part of my lecture regarding US History is an explanation of what I consider to be the American reaction to warfare. It is a synergy of two principles. The first is the "1/3 Rule" as explained by John Adams during the Revolutionary War. They second is my rule on American war spirit, which I call the "Two Year Rule". How they work is thus: John Adams once said that only about 1/3 of the American people were for the Revolution, 1/3 were neutral and 1/3 were against it. This split is still the functioning system of the American electorate today. About 1/3 are hard core Democrat, 1/3 are hard core Republican and 1/3 are "swing" voters. When a war breaks out, the swing 1/3 can be expected, i...

I wonder what would happen if some cartoonists did some cartoons of Mohammad that did not assume that he was an infallible prophet of God, but just another man? This is, after all, the view of most other religions on the planet, plus the view of skeptics and atheists. Could Moslems handle this alternate point of view calmly and rationally? I mean, even Moslems must have some sense of humor, mustn't they? At the very least, I am sure that Europeans would be treated more kindly and gently than America, since Europe has beent over backwards to accomodate the Moslem's delicate sensibilities. What happens when Freedom of Speech conflicts with Moslem sensibilities? On second thought, forget that I even brought the subject up. Bob Clasen

Trojan Horse at the gate?

British Muslims volunteering to fight against coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are being sent back to Britain to become al-Qaeda "sleeper" agents U.K. Daily Telegraph And MI5 would have to be the size of the Stasi to stop them all. "Al-Qaeda's ‘best assets’ prime UK timebomb," by Sean Rayment in the Sunday Telegraph, with thanks to Andrew Bostom: ____________________________________________________ British Muslims volunteering to fight against coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are being sent back to Britain to become al-Qaeda "sleeper" agents, The Sunday Telegraph has learned. MI5 agents believe that young Asian men, who have been trained to take part in the so-called "global jihad" in al-Qaeda camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan, are now regarded as too valuable an asset to be used fighting British and American troops. MI5 and MI6 are working on the assumption that they are being ordered to return to their communities in Britai...