Veterans’ Day is November 11 because on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 11AM (Paris time, when this is being posted) on November 11, 1918, the Armistice between the Allies and the Central Powers took effect. World War I had been more peculiar, unnecessary and pointless than most wars, but from it comes many lingering features of the American and international political landscape: the messianic idea of “making the world safe for democracy,” even for people who don’t value democracy or want it; the powder keg of a web of global alliances that can be touched off into a worldwide conflagration by a minor incident; the repeated recourse to failed analyses and refusal to reexamine them, no matter how often and spectacularly they fail; the stigmatizing of all opposition and even outright restrictions on the freedom of speech to crush dissent; and more.
Yet in other ways the military landscape of World War I was profoundly different from that of conflicts today. During the Christmas truce of 1914, the British, French and German soldiers came out of their trenches and exchanged Christmas greetings. In some places they even exchanged gifts and played games together. They respected each other as human beings. They recognized that they shared the same values. Yet this was infrequently repeated in subsequent Christmases; the bitterness of war overwhelmed any impulse to see the opponent as a person worthy of respect. And now the Left doesn’t accord that respect to anyone with whom it disagrees.
In today’s conflict with Islamic jihad, the jihadis likewise do not respect their non-Muslim foes. The Infidels are “the most vile of created beings” (Qur’an 98:6) while the Muslims are “the best of peoples” (Qur’an 3:110). There is no sense of shared values. Yet many of the leaders and opinion makers among the non-Muslims do not understand or accept this. They continue to believe that gestures of good will will be appreciated and reciprocated. They continue to think that their own careful displays of respect for the values and principles of the jihadis will be received with something other than amused contempt. They continue to send their young soldiers into the Afghanistan meat grinder, imagining that they’re winning hearts and minds by forcing our soldiers to train their “allies” who, in appallingly increasing numbers, turn on them and murder them as soon as they have the opportunity.
Meanwhile, the same leaders and opinion makers insist that groups holding the same goal held by those who have declared their hatred for, and indeed their state of war against, the United States, but who pursue this goal by non-military means, are not our enemies at all, but our friends and allies, who should be encouraged in every way and afforded access to the corridors of power. Some, but not all, of them may dimly realize that in doing so they’re endangering Americans and America itself, but by the time they see this clearly, it may well be too late. For those groups seeking the same goal as that of the jihadis — the submission of Infidel states to the rule of Islamic law — have, with willing help from the establishment media, stigmatized all resistance to this agenda as “racism,” “bigotry” and “Islamophobia.” Few are willing to brave the stigma, and those who do are widely derided by people of both parties, and disregarded: while the jihadis and Islamic supremacists advance ever more aggressively and confidently, those who sound the alarm are increasingly unheeded.
As a result, numerous Constitutional and societal principles, including that of equality of rights for all, with no special privileges for individual groups, and the freedom of speech, are being assailed by forces that are increasingly assertive and confident. The establishment media, government, and law enforcement do not resist those forces, but aid and abet them.
The record of the resistance to jihad since 2001 is a record of failures caused by false analyses enacted as policy, and that is worse than ever. Still, the last chapter hasn’t yet been written. As long as free people still draw air, there is hope. But only if we don’t give up now, but work all the harder, and solidify our determination to resist tyranny.
Today, then, we should remember and be grateful to those who gave their lives to secure and protect these freedoms for us, and resolve not to throw away without a fight those freedoms for which they died. We should remember that if we are not willing to give our own lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor to protect the unalienable rights enumerated at the founding of this Republic, we will most assuredly lose both them and the Republic itself — lose them for ourselves and for our children.
And we are far closer to that than most people realize.
Let us never shrink from the task before us: the great struggle to defend human rights, human dignity, and freedom from oppression and injustice — particularly the oppression and injustice, and assaults to human dignity that are enshrined in the Islamic law (Sharia) that is coming, step-by-step, steadily and apparently inexorably, to an ever more ignorant and indifferent West.
Happy Veterans Day.
senseofgodsgrace says
Very well stated and thought provoking article. Thank you. So many thoughts- Peace, Peace, they say, but man does not know the way of peace, and so there are wars, conflicts and destruction. It would be wonderful if the message of Christmas was the guiding light in the World; there would be peace and love and respect for one another. Freedom is being suppressed and thus, troubles are bubbling all around us.
Lotus says
There are three foolish things:
1. Not to know you are in a war.
2. Not to know who your enemy is.
3. To underestimate or try to appease that enemy.
At this time, Western political leaders are ticking/checking all three of those boxes, and their populations are largely sleeping the sleep of ignorance and complacency.
And things are not getting better. We have to face the fact that those who oppose Islam are being pushed more and more onto the back foot, in spite of nearly two decades of terrorist attacks in Western countries. Year by year, the Muslim populations grow and they make more inroads into our Western societies.
The historian Arnold Toynbee memorably remarked, ‘Civilisations die from suicide, not by murder.’
He also said, ‘I do not believe civilisations have to die, because civilisation is not an organism. It is a product of wills.’
These days, Westerners seem to have lost the will to resist Islam. It is truly a lamentable situation.
Terry Gain says
Well said. We have lost the knowledge and will to resist a totalitarian ideology which is opposed to our fundamental freedoms and values: freedom of speech, freedom of and from religion, gender equality and equality of citizenship.
Islam is a conquest ideology which has not produced one functioning democracy. Given that Muslim doctrine requires Islam to be spread until it rules the world we are headed for civil war or submission unless we restrict further Muslim immigration. We need to oppose this totalitarian ideology.
We have forgotten why we fought WW II.
Ray Jarman says
I totally agree with you Terry Gain and I wonder where we are in Hegel’s model of repeating history of thesis, antithesis and synthesis. It seems that the ideas enshrined in the US Constitution are being ripped apart by both the left and their Islamic cohorts which puts the US and most of the West in the antithesis state and at some point, a full declaration of war must ensue.
gravenimage says
Good posts, Lotus and Terry.
Halal Bacon says
I am starting to think, these great wars were started to rid the world of real men so this clown circus we see everyday could take a foot hold
Walter Sieruk says
Since today is Veterans Day it’s therefore very appropriate to site the wisdom of the first Constitutional President of the United States of America, George Washington, who had, so well explained “To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.” Moreover President Washington stated that “However pacific the general policy of the nation may be ,it ought never be without an adequate stock of military knowledge for emergencies.”
Furthermore, with this post- 9/11 USA it should likewise be remembered that one very good way to defeat the jihadists who compose the many brutal and deadly Islamic terror entities ,such as al Qaeda, ISIS, the Taliban, is by the means of a very strong power of US military might. As Thomas Jefferson had declared “With every barbarous people …force is law.”
gravenimage says
Was their sacrifice in vain?
……………….
We have to ensure that they were not.
Fine article from Robert Spencer.
Scott Carlson says
Since Islam depends on ignorance to survive, I think mass education of Islamic deception tactics will wake up more of the masses.
No matter what they call us. Never back down.
GreekEmpress says
Happy Veterans Day to all the Veterans here at JW!
Thank you for your service—you are all heroes!!
gravenimage says
Hear, hear!
James Lincoln says
Another extremely well written article by Robert Spencer. Completely “on-point”.
Westerners, as a group, broadly hold Judeo-Christian values and follow the Golden rule. Most cannot conceive of a mindset that does not hold these values. However, Muslims have that mindset.
Muslims hold Islamic values. The values of Islamic fundamentalists are in direct opposition to Western Judeo-Christian values. Given the opportunity, Muslims will take over your country – using the various forms of Jihad – and will eventually impose sharia law.
What is happening now in Western Europe is a harbinger of things to come in the United States – unless we fully understand the threat and push back extremely forcefully.
We are now in a war for our own survival as a free country. Pres. Trump is doing his very best to keep the United States safe and free – and he must prevail in 2020 or the country is in big trouble…
Larry A. Singleton says
VA Torture 8-15-15 (Updated 8-26-19)
I’ve been tortured at the local Loma Linda VA here in California because of its policies regarding Opioids and that everyone who uses them is an addict and abuser. “Dependence” is totally absent from their vocabulary. This is all thanks to the “war on drugs”. I’ve been taking morphine for almost twenty years and admittedly it does have its problems, like sleep issues, but they pale to the trade-off that is the relief they give me for my pain.
It works like this: When people with legitimate pain issues take pain meds, “opioids”, it works from the neck DOWN, doing the job it’s supposed to do. When people with no pain issues take these “drugs”, it effects them from the neck UP!
If you think “tortured” is a little much; I can only think of those times I’ve been on the floor whimpering like a baby with pain that felt like someone was driving a red hot poker into my lower back. I won’t get into it but I remember when I was in my early twenties, (I just turned 59 Aug. 8th), and the doctors diagnosed me with rheumatoid arthritis. I woke up one morning in a little ball of pain. Hurting in every part of my body from the soles of my feet to the top of my head. My hands were like claws I had to open and close for hours just to hold a glass of water. Anyway, I “worked it out” by going back to my construction job and “toughing it out”. Today, there is no comparison. That said;
This War on Drugs and Three Strikes laws are also a cash cow for police departments and correctional officers promoted by their unions and the growth industry that is prisons. This black violence issue doesn’t help in light of the fact that the police are also being used for revenue collection to fill city coffers instead of trying to get guns from gangs.
At the VA in Loma Linda, CA I was put on “escort” for over ten years because of a quack named Dr. Ask, a backstabber and a liar, and another Doctor who had pulled my pain meds, claiming that my back pain was a result of “stress” brought on from my ex abducting my kids and taking them to NC and who all but accused me of lying; “Your pain does not seem to reflect what we’re seeing on the MRI’s Mr. Singleton”. What happened as a result of their incompetence was a living nightmare.
By this time I had been screwed over by the VA more times than I can count. (I’ve documented years of abuse by this VA against other veterans.) I’d accidentally put a hole in the wall with the door knob. I put my hands on the arms of a chair that was against the door, raised it three inches and pounded it down on the floor in frustration.
They actually pressed charges against me. No thought at all about what even they said would be “dangerous withdrawals” from cutting me off morphine, (which I’ve read is a medical biggy), nothing at all but putting me in my place.
They forced me to drive almost a hundred miles into the middle of a desert in my crappy car to a “Federal Court” for “damaging government property”.
I ran across some papers when my Gra’mom passed away. My Gran’pop was a vet who’d injured his back on the job after falling off a ladder. He went to what passed for the VA at the time and they accused him of being drunk and on drugs and kicked him out of the VA. Three days later he shot himself.
This thought sometimes goes through my mind, although with less frequency these days; “thoughts of suicide are my constant companions”.
His story is almost identical to mine; I was injured on the job. I went to the VA for help. They accused me of lying about my pain. My life became a living hell. My Gra’mom had it worse as she had to fight the government for years for her benefits as a widow with two children. Some of the letters I’ve got were those she wrote to her representatives begging for help. To give an idea of the time period; the papers from the government were the consistency of tissue paper.
I’m not saying the VA is all bad. I frequently query vets about their treatment at the VA and the response is mostly positive.
As a matter of fact one morning a couple of years ago I woke up with a pain in my neck. I thought that I probably slept wrong or something until the pain became so excruciating it was unbearable I decided to go to the VA. In one day they x-rayed me and prescribed medication for what turned out to be arthritis in my neck. (Holy Pain-in-the-Neck Batman!)
Twenty years ago I’d go to the VA looking forward to having to go to an appointment in the early morning and not leaving till six o’clock in the evening. Today I’m in and out in couple of hours. Sometimes less.
I count my blessing every day that I can go to the VA compared to the hell hole that is “County”. Except for some exceptions the staff is first rate. Especially the people at the call center, fellow vets sometimes, who have calmed my hissy-fits more than once. They have some great programs Meditation groups, VASH for homeless vets and at one time had the best alcohol treatment program in the United States. Although I don’t know how it’s doing now.
About ten years ago I actually had the privilege of finding myself sitting next to one of the Marines who raised the original flag on Iwo Jima and last week had a book signed by Ted Pannell who’d written “Vietnam Stories: Dreams to Nightmares”. His wife Sylvia, one of the sweetest ladies I’ve ever met, was helping her husband “plug” his book.
Unfortunately, the VA is a bureaucracy, like any other bureaucracy and acts accordingly.
Veteran Commits Suicide Hours After Being Turned Away At VA Facility – Rest In Peace-American Military News.
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2016/07/veteran-commits-suicide-hours-after-being-turned-away-at-va-facility-rest-in-peace/
Cover Story: Chronic Back Pain One More Problem for Vets of Iraq & Afghanistan by John Nova Lomax (Houston Press Blogs)
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/…/back_pain_iraq_vets…
Breaking It Down: It May Not be PTSD’s or Brain Injuries that Pose the Most Long-Term Danger to our Surviving Vets from Their Middle East Tours by John Nova Lomax-OC Weekly.
Deadly Morals by Katherine Eban Finkelstein Copyright Playboy Magazine, August, 1997 (Drug Library)
http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/asap/DEADLYM.htm
“Addiction vs. Dependence” from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) (News Groups Derk Eiler) http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/…/2007-07/msg01429.html
Update: 3-6-2018 “What’s Driving the Opioid Crisis?” by Star Parker 3-6-18? (“Crisis” overblown)
People Who Have Never Experienced Back Pain Have No Business Making Opioid Policy by Michael F. Cannon-Cato at Liberty.
Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump Say ‘Tough it Out’ Without Opioids But They Never Felt My Pain by Steven Howitz-USA Today.
How the VA Fueled the National Opioid Crisis and Is Killing Thousands of Veterans by Art Levine. (Adopted from the new book Mental Health, Inc.: How Corruption, Lax Oversight and Failed Reforms Endanger Our Most Valuable Citizens by Art Levine.)
Ruling Class Looters: VA Salaries Inflated by Over $24 Million by John Hayward.
Off Topic:
VA Sued for Harassing Christian Chaplains by Drew Zahn-Military pastors ordered to stop quoting the Bible, leave Jesus at home.
VA’s Greatest Hits: Old Glory Going to Jail by Joanna Rosamond-American Thinker.
And a little off topic but something that should be in every patriot’s and thinking man’s library:
Read the Introduction to Taken Into Custody: The War Against Fathers, Marriage and the Family by Stephen Baskerville and the Preface to The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men by Christina Hoff Sommers at Amazon. Your days of believing you live in a free country will disappear when you finish these books.
Purple Heart’s Final Beat – A Soldier Suicide Story (You Tube video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_StCzStBy0
One Nation Under Arrest: How Crazy Laws, Rogue Prosecutors and Activist Judges Threaten You Liberty by Reosenzweig & Walsh.
Save Europe says
As anyone who sees my occasional posts, you‘ll know I’m English.
Answer to the subject title – very very very sadly – YES!
Message to Robert – this ALSO applies to us in Britain, the Canadians, the Aussies, the Russians, the free Poles, free Dutch etc
I LOVE America, but it cannot go on any longer that the USA saved Western Europe alone. It simply did not.
Please include THOSE nations’ flags alongside the USA, when saying ‘was their sacrifice in vain?’
Marigold says
Thankyou Robert for the very thought provoking article.French, British and German soldiers who died for their country in WW1 would turn over in their graves if they saw their homelands now.The Judeo -Christian traditions and values they knew and cherished have been virtually abandoned by a succession of weak and foolish political leaders who stubbornly refuse to recognise Islam for what it really is.
The film “All Quiet on the Western Front” brilliantly illustrates the point you made Robert of shared values and traditions even between enemies.This was in a scene where a young German soldier gives a drink of water to a wounded French soldier and tries to comfort him in his dying moments .This gesture came naturally to him because as a German and a West European he believed in and shared the Judeo – Christian values of his enemy.
Angemon says
Indeed.