by Yoram Ettinger
Hat tip: Jenny Grigg
"Confidence-building" gestures have a dismal history of achieving the opposite of the desired result.
The
extension of US gestures and concessions to Islamic terrorists, and the
waiving of a US military option while negotiating with Iran's regime of
terror, are perceived as weakness by terrorists, adversaries and allies
of the US.
Such a policy ignores, or takes lightly, the
objective and well-documented 1,400 year old past track record of
Islamic terrorism, while emphasizing the subjective and speculative
future track record of terrorists.
Such a policy erodes the US
posture of deterrence, which is a prerequisite to the minimization of
global turbulence, undermining US interests in the international arena,
while bringing the threat of Islamic terrorism closer to the US
mainland.
Such a policy is based on the assumption that Islamic
terrorism is driven by despair, and the need to dwell on the despair
(diplomatically and economically) rather than dealing with terrorism
(militarily). However, Islamic terrorism has been driven – since the 7th
century – by the imperialistic religious vision to establish a
universal Islamic society, dominating the world and subordinating the
"infidel" to Islam, peacefully or militarily.
Such a policy is
based on the assumption that Islamic terrorism is driven by US policy.
However, Islamic terrorism has haunted the US since the late 18th
century, during Democratic and Republican Administrations (e.g., the
Obama and Trump Administrations).
For example:
*During the
1980s, it was US diplomatic, financial and military assistance which
enabled the Mujahideen to drive the USSR out of Afghanistan. But,
Mujahideen-related Islamic terrorists reacted in an anti-US terrorist
offensive, which has persisted since 1996, culminating on September 11,
2001.
*In 2015, the US engineered the nuclear accord with Iran's
Ayatollahs (the JCPOA), which generated a mega-billion dollar bonanza to
Iran's treasury, in addition to unprecedented diplomatic benefits. But,
Iran's Ayatollahs reacted by vastly bolstering their role as a regional
and global epicenter of subversion, terrorism, civil wars, the
proliferation of ballistic capabilities and drug trafficking in the
Persian Gulf, the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa, Europe, South and
Central America, emerging as a leading threat to regional and global
stability, in general, and US national and homeland security, in
particular.
*In 2011, the US engineered a US-led NATO military
offensive against Libya's Qadhafi, playing the key role in the toppling
of the Qadhafi's regime by Islamic terrorists. But, in 2012, the Islamic
terrorists took over the US Consulate General and the CIA compound in
Benghazi, lynched the US Ambassador and three more Americans, and
transformed Libya into a major platform of regional and global anti-US
Islamic terrorism.
*In 1978/79, the US played a most essential
role in the toppling of the Shah of Iran ("America's policeman in the
Gulf") by Ayatollah Khomeini. But, the Ayatollas reacted by taking over
the US Embassy, holding 63 American hostages for 444 days, and emerging
as a key threat to regional and global stability, including threatening
vital US interests abroad and on US soil.
*In 1982/83, the US
sent its soldiers to Lebanon, in order to slow down Israel's military
pursuit of Palestinian terrorists. But in 1983, Palestinian and Islamic
terrorists truck-bombed the US Embassy and Marines headquarters in
Lebanon, murdering 250 Americans.
*In 1993 and 2005, Israel made
unprecedented concessions – which no Arab country ever did - by
extending Palestinian Authority to major parts of Judea and Samaria (the
West Bank) and the Gaza Strip, importing some 100,000 Palestinian
terrorists from Tunisia, Lebanon, Yemen and the Sudan to areas which are
critical to the existence of the Jewish State. The reaction by the PLO
(Palestinian Authority) and Hamas to the unprecedented concessions has
been an unprecedented wave of anti-Israel terrorism and hate-education,
which reflect the Palestinian vision of eliminating the Jewish State.
*In
the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1990, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and
Kuwait extended Palestinian authority on their ground, triggering
Palestinian terrorism against their generous hosts, culminating in
Arafat's and Mahmoud Abbas' collaboration with Saddam Hussein's 1990
invasion of Kuwait. Hence, the Arab view of Palestinians as role model
of intra-Arab subversion, terrorism and ingratitude. Therefore, the wide
gap between the pro-Palestinian Arab talk and the anti-Palestinian Arab
walk, as demonstrated by the actual opposition of pro-US Arab regimes
to the establishment of a Palestinian state, which they assume would be
another rogue entity, fueling further turbulence in the Middle East.
Against
the backdrop of the aforementioned developments, one should not
subordinate the reality of Islamic/Arab/Palestinian terrorism to
well-intentioned oversimplification, lest it erodes the US posture of
deterrence, which would play into the hands of Iran's Ayatollahs, the
Muslim Brotherhood (the largest Sunni Muslim terror network from India
through the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and the USA), the Taliban,
Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Palestinian Authority, as well as
Pakistan, Turkey, China and Russia.
Unlike the post WW2 German
population, which was ready – historically, culturally, ideologically,
politically and educationally – to accept democracy,
peaceful-coexistence and human rights, the Islamic/Arab Middle East is
not susceptible to these Western values and institutions, persisting in
their 1,400 year old intra-Arab and intra-Muslim subversion, terrorism
and wars, irrespective of US policy.
The assumption that
Islamic/Arab/Palestinian terrorists will accord the Western/Israeli
"infidel" that which they have yet to accord to one another – peaceful
coexistence – is premature and divorced from reality.
Therefore,
it behooves Western democracies, in general, and the US, in particular,
to enhance their military posture of deterrence and pursue
peace-through-strength rather than peace-through-gestures, concessions
and retreats.
Yoram Ettinger
Source: https://bit.ly/30aDayw
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