THE ENDLESS WAR
Lt. Col. Gordon Cucullu, a former US Army Special Forces officer, wrote an excellent column that was featured in Front Page Magazine today. This column really lays out how essential it is that we win this war:

If we blanch in Iraq, back down before the horror of a helpless American citizen having his head severed and waved menacingly into a camera, then expect that the terror will ratchet up to new levels of severity. We know that the only thing that has prevented an attack with a dirty bomb, chemical, biological or possibly nuclear weapons is the fact that we have been relentlessly on the offense against the terrorists. If they are running, they cannot mount a strong attack.

This is an excellent column that I highly recommend, written by someone with more than a passing familiarity with the subject at hand. Lt. Col. Cucullu also has his own website where his columns are posted.


ANOTHER GOOD READ
Nonie Darwish, an Arab woman who grew up in Egypt gives us a glimpse into the Arab mindset. Americans tend to go through life assuming that everyone thinks along the same lines. Multiculturalists, in particular, seem to do this a lot. According to Ms. Darwish, the big push by leftists in the United States for President Bush to apologize for the abuse at Abu Ghraib really wasn't that good an idea.

To expect Arab and Moslem leadership to apologize for the barbaric murder of Nick Berg is a reflection of the West's naïve and wrong expectations of Arab culture. In the Arab world to take responsibility and say sorry is taken as an unmanly sign of weakness that may get a person into more trouble. Those who admit guilt, even if it is accidental, are given no mercy and may end up taking all the blame and being brutally punished. It is the norm for Arabs to deny a fact (however blatant) and blame others rather than admit to the wrongdoing and apologize. Honesty is not rewarded.

This column is must reading if you want to understand who it is we are at war with. Sales of the Koran went up dramatically after 9/11 as Americans tried to gain an understanding of those who attacked us. A true understanding requires context. This column provides some context.