2004 Losers - Islamic extremists & Eleanor Cliff

Good News From the Arab World
By Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek

Egypt could be rousing from its slumber.
The stock market is up 100 percent this year

Dec. 27 / Jan. 3 issue - Since September 11, 2001, I've written a column once a year pointing out the good news, which is that Islamic extremism is losing. The movement, in all of its variations, has been unable to garner mass support in any Muslim country. While people still despise many of their governments—and that of the United States—this has not translated into support for Osama bin Laden's ideas. It doesn't mean the end of terrorism by a long shot. Small groups of people can do great harm in today's world. But it does mean that the political engine producing this religious radicalism is not gaining steam.

(snip)

This early enthusiasm could easily dissipate. Arab elites remain enormously resistant to reform and will try to scuttle plans for change. But I sense that the dinosaurs are on the defensive. For the first time other views are being aired. Consider the contrast between two conferences on reform held in the last 10 days. The first, the official Forum for the Future held in Morocco, ended with the foreign ministers of the region endorsing reform, but adding that it couldn't happen until the establishment of a Palestinian state. Some also insisted that Iraq be free of foreign troops. These are the usual, strange excuses for repression and oligarchy in the Arab world. "Until foreign-policy problems are solved," the governments seem to be saying, "we have no choice but to keep punishing our people."

It is an utter delight to see the slow change evolving in the Arab world - all triggered by economics, of course. As witnessed by elections in Indonesia, Malaysia, Afghanistan, and even the rise in the Iraqi stockmarket, freedom is contributing mightily to the economic improvement in countries formerly held down by oppressive leadership.

There are many reformers speaking out in the heart of the Persian Gulf. Dubai, leaps and bounds ahead of most Muslim nations in economic reforms, has financial visionary leadership in Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.

His opening remarks to the Arab Strategy Forms reflect a new attitude for Arab nations: "I cannot see why a crisis, no matter how severe, should delay economic reform or plans to eradicate illiteracy." "What is the relation," he asked, "between foreign affairs and corruption?"

Indeed, despite the stirrings in Egypt, what is most likely is an increasing divide in the Arab world between the small, nimble states on the periphery—the gulf states, Jordan, Morocco—and the slumbering giants.

Although many in the region would be dismayed by this division, it is a healthy development. Pan-Arabism, which was never more than hot air anyway, has been one of the ideologies that has kept Arabs from modernizing. Competition will force each state to focus on its own future. And as some succeed, others will follow, and regional trade and tourism—currently abysmally low—will expand. Perhaps this will forge a new Arab community, one created by the practical realities of contact, culture and commerce rather than war, rhetoric and politics.

I like this man's attitude. Definitely a "half-full" glass kind of guy. I hope to see more voices of his ilk from the Arab world in the future, much to the chagrin of the leftist libs, still pining for US failure in order to be proved "right".

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And speaking of leftist libs... this in from Eleanor "Chicken Lips" Cliff.

Ms. Cliff drags out her Top Ten laundry list of "issues that should have received more attention from the media in 2004".


American Casualities In Iraq
Lordy, where has this woman been? Countless stories of soldiers wounded have been written. Programs such as Wounded Warrior have popped up all over the country to address the problems of our soldiers returning, acclimating to life with debilitating injuries.

Truth is, it is less that the plight of wounded solders with which Ms. Cliff concerns herself, and more that she wishes to fill our TV and computer screens with heartbreaking individual stories so that compassionate Americans will lose sight of the greater picture in the WOT, and just throw in the towel. Puleeze... a little honesty here, lady.

Civilian Deaths in Iraq
Well now, Ms. Cliff better look to her own candidate for this complaint. It was John "I have a plan" Kerry who wished to ignore the deaths of the Iraqis in the statistics. Otherwise he couldn't have kept touting "Americans carry 90% of the casuality rate" throughout his campaign.

The rest of us? We are more than aware of the price Iraqis are paying in their quest for self-government. And indeed, they should be expected to fight for the future of their own country.

Collateral damage, a reality of any war, is always a tragedy. But there are two blatant factors to consider. First, the numbers of innocent lives lost are far less than in wars of old with newer and more accurate weaponry. Secondly, considering that many of the enemy are Islamic youths who's minds have been messed with by cockroach scum preaching hatred, it's hard to assume that all collateral damage is indeed, just "innocents".

And I say this emphatically. If it is a choice between one of our soldiers, and an unknown entity with questionable intent, I suggest they shoot first and ask questions later. I have great faith in the humanity of our troops. They do not seek to kill unnecessarily. But they are in a place where it is hard to know the enemy vs the innocent. Thus I consider my loyalities are well placed.... unlike Ms. Cliff's.

Stress and strain on National Guard and Reserves
Ms. Cliff rails against the use of "part-time" soldiers, evoking the "back door draft" phrase.

They’re not youngsters, and interrupting their lives entails enormous social cost that will take its toll in failed marriages, children left behind, stalled careers and reduced productivity., she whines.

Indeed, our reservists and guard are not youngsters. They are adults and stellar Americans who understood, when signing on the dotted line, that they could be called into action. Lo behold - these seasoned troops know that soldiers sometimes have to be involved in military action.

In a society where divorce is as common as vanilla ice cream, it's disingenuous to be citing marital difficulties as reasons for not deploying soldiers who signed up for just that - to be deployed in case the Commander in Chief asked them.

Another key to Ms. Cliff's mentality - the soldiers are now "victims".

It might blow her theories to pieces, but the reality is not every soldier considers himself the "victim". Nor are most too feeble-of-brain to realize that service in the Guard or Reserves *just* might include a tour of duty in the future.

Cost of the War
Laughable - especially since the headline isn't really her complaint.

But let's go there, since she brought it up. After the election, and with more dollars poured into the needs of the troops, the cost is now getting close to what Kerry said it was last year. Ms. Cliff, not genuinely griping about the costs of the war, instead uses this point to bash the tax cuts. The success of which is reflected in the stock market rebound this past 3 years after 9:11 and the Dem inherited depression.

Evidently math and economic history is not her forte.

The new air war in Iraq
Ms. Cliff interprets an increased air lift of cargo as a failure on the ground... not as an improved, reactive strategy to a problem.

"It’s hard to win a war if the enemy controls the roads and the countryside.", she says. What is it about these people that they insist on touting failure instead of success? Must we remind them every minute that there is no fat lady singing on stage??

Uh... let's see. It only takes one suicidal fanatic with a shoulder fired rocket. But Ms. Cliff deems that small percentage of militants in "control of the roads and countryside". Shall we discuss all the roads in Iraq that are easily traversed?

Divisions in the Republican Party
This needs "more" press? Only for Dems hoping for some cookie crumbs in their direction.

First off, the Reps have differing opinions... all of which get reflected in Congressional votes and bill amendments. However that "division" apparently is not deep enough to shatter the Republican sweep thru all three branches of power. Yes... Ms. Cliff would love more attention to a problem that isn't a problem... in hopes of creating a problem!

Health Care - Cost and Access
Ms. Cliff must have slept thru the Kerry campaign. Understandable... To say it was lacking charisma is an understatement.

The Useless Star Wars program
She sez... "Even though the more likely threats to the nation come from a suitcase bomb, the Bush administration continues to pour billions into Star Wars, a construct of the cold war."

Really? Now didn't I hear both Kerry and Bush say the biggest threat was nuclear proliferation in Debate #3? No one is ignorning the suitcase bomb potential, but both candidate priorities remain focused on nuclear missile potential as the greatest threat. Someone should slap Ms. Cliff back into the times and get her a hearing aid.

As far as "useless", some sanction a missile defense system. Others don't. We know where she stands.

The assault on the teaching of evolution
Mercy... Cliff and ilk were all for the "monkey" theory being introduced to the curriculum. Then, of course, there's the "big bang" theory as well. Heaven forbid we include any reference to a deity of intelligence possibly having anything to do with the creation of the world as even yet another alternative.

The primary purpose of education should be to open the mind to all possibilities. Yet liberals on the extreme left, as Ms. Cliff, expend more energy on curriculums which distort or rewrite history, and leave little room for students to exercise independent thinking.

The dominance of the right wing media
First of all, most major media is owned by liberal slanted corporations and CEOs. This rallying cry for displacement is an utter joke. There's plenty of left voices. That's probably why over 75% do not trust the media, per the Gallup poll.

But allow me to be the first to welcome you to capitalism and the USA, Ms. Cliff. Supply and demand. The market rules. If Rush is successful, and Air America is not, it has only to do with the support from the marketplace. It looks like you may be more alone in the world than you realize.

Winding up my thoughts, it's almost a shame the Times Magazine didn't have a "loser of the year" category as well, designating Islamic terrorists as the winning "loser" for their lack of increased support for their jihad. But I do have to say, Ms. Cliff would be a worthy runner up, representing the best of her disgruntled class of losers with aplomb.