Thursday, May 11, 2006

A reading from the first letter of Mahmoud to the Infidel

Who knew that soul of a theologian and writer resided in the Iranian president? Mahmoud Ahmedinejad becomes just the latest literary luminary to heap calumny on George W. Bush, a/k/a Bushitler Chimpmeister Warmonger. Iran's ever-so-thoughtful president helpfully suggests that Bush should take responsibility for his role in creating a Hobbesian state of affairs in the world, suggesting that allowing Israel to experience a Hobbesian end (that is, solarity, nasty, brutish and short, and likely glowing with radiation) might forestall something worse for the Great Satan. And, not surprisingly, the calls are out from our more thoughtful politicians that we should accept Ahmedinejad's missive of mass destruction as the opening of some form of "dialogue." After all, if we hadn't supported that nasty Shah all those years ago, we wouldn't be having this problem. So it's our fault, really.

We've been here before, of course. The Unabomber was famous for sending notes explaining how he might stop his reign of terror, if only society would reject its wasteful ways and we exchange our lattes and SUVS and live instead like forest gnomes. Osama bin Laden is fond of sending similar messages, suggesting that acceptance of Sharia would stop all this nasty business of airplanes slamming into buildings and whatnot. All these hirsute titans deeply regret that they might have to destroy us. They'd really rather not destroy us, but we are just too damned selfish and aren't ready to accept their will as our destiny. We all need to be more reasonable. It's a shame, really, but we must repent. And if we don't, well, they simply have no choice.

I hate to belabor the point, but it's not George Bush's fault that we are facing the world we live in today. It's not Bill Clinton's fault, either. America is at fault because America exists. That is why this War on Terror, and all of its manifestations, is an existential struggle. Our enemies do not feel we should exist as we are; they will allow us to exist as long as we comport to their views, and if that means we get burkhas for the women and summary execution for infidels, that's just how it is. We can fight, or we can surrender. We aren't going to be able to finesse our way out of this through UN resolutions or the ministrations of the EU. There is no separate peace available. So the question for America, and those who would lead America, is this: is America worth fighting for? I know where George W. Bush stands. I'm not so sure about a lot of the other politicians out there.

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