If We Don’t Get The War Right, The Rest Won’t Matter

As we finally move toward the only thing that counts – the vote – we take as our priority that of former New York City Mayor Ed Koch who said in 2004, “Islamic terrorists want to destroy us.”

So they did, and so they do.

As we finally move toward the only thing that counts – the vote – we take as our priority that of former New York City Mayor Ed Koch who said in 2004, “Islamic terrorists want to destroy us.”

So they did, and so they do.

“They” are loosely defined as people and organizations who believe the United States and Israel are the primary enemy, with other Westerners close behind. They believe in the expansion of violent, radical Islam to subjugate their own people and destroy infidels and expand the realm of Sharia law. They are anti-Western, anti-Semitic, misogynistic and homophobic. They are McCarthy-ite in their demonization of “the other” and Hitler-ite in their propaganda. They undermine weak governments and then thrive in the chaos with money and arms provided by Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria and others. They react not to what we do, but to their own view of the Islamic future. They occasionally claim to want “dialogue” with and “respect” from the United States, but it is a ruse. Not all Muslims are “them,” but “they” are Muslims who want to destroy us.

It is neither luck nor Providence – nor a lack of trying by “them” – that has kept the United States free from a second large-scale terrorist attack on our soil. It is neither luck nor Providence that has given the Arab world a model for consensual government in Iraq, despite efforts by al Qaeda and Moktada Sadr to foment a civil war by carrying out atrocities against civilians. It is neither luck nor Providence that preserves Israel in the face of the increasing military capabilities of Hamas and Hezbollah, and Syria’s attempts to acquire nuclear capabilities in cooperation with North Korea.

Whatever gains we have in the war against terrorists and the states that harbor and support them are the result of hard work, new laws, and the determination of American government (in both political parties), law enforcement and intelligence officials in cooperation with a determined public. They are the result of the sacrifice of soldiers – brave young men and women who serve their country knowing they may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice for the safety, security and future peace of their families, fellow citizens and people they don’t even know.

JINSA has only one priority: a strong and capable United States security establishment working in cooperation with like-minded, democratic allies to ensure the safety and security of ourselves and other freedom-loving people. U.S.-Israel security cooperation is the center of our universe.

It is a hard priority. It would be so much easier and nicer to spend our time thinking about education, health care, welfare, roads and bridges, even the shaky economy. But if we don’t get the war right, the rest won’t matter.

Please vote tomorrow with your priorities in order.