Saturday, September 24, 2005

Blankley: It's Time To Name The Enemy

Click on the title for the complete article by Tony Blankley at the Huffington Post. Arianna is a bit of a leftist hack these days, but to her credit she does allow posts from both sides of the spectrum on her blog. And Mr Blankley is one, from conservative side. Tony Blankley once served as press secretary to then Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich. He also occasionally appears on several TV news shows such as, CNN’s Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, as well as CNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews.

When President Bush declared war on terrorism, he did not, legally, put the country on a war footing.

Up until now, we have never accurately named the enemy or the danger. If the government can't speak the real name and nature of the enemy, it becomes impossible to explain, or even design, a policy for victory.


He makes a valid point in this short article. The War On Terror, as nomenclature goes, is a very broad term. To target all terror groups in the world, is not necessary at this particular point in time, and certainly not feasible.

This is why Mr. Bush -- who has tried to talk around the problem of radical Islam -- has seemed (to his critics) foolish or deceitful, neither of which he is.

What we need is a clear congressional declaration of war, as prescribed by the Constitution. Congress should declare war on the Islamist jihadists.


Although many so-called scholars and experts (I have another name for them) have called the Palestinian-Israeli conflict a regional one, it has become a rallying cry for worldwide Islamic jihad. So, to name and target those groups that actually are a threat to the U.S. and the rest of the world, one must include Hamas, Hezbollah, et al.

Anyway, read the article. He makes some good points in a short piece.

2 comments:

Always On Watch said...

Our leaders need to quit equivocating as to the identity of the enemy. GWB gets close to the truth when he mentions "ideology," but that term is nebulous and too inclusive. "Islamist jihadists" is a good term and defines both the ideology and the people who are motivated by it.

Military forces defeat other military forces. Military forces do not defeat ideas.

Good post!

LA Sunset said...

"Military forces defeat other military forces. Military forces do not defeat ideas."

Good point.

"A little bit?"

I was trying not to be cynical, which my wife accuses me of semi-daily. ;)