If one were to write a history of the past hundred years, one of the most consistent themes would be the oppposition of the English-speaking world to tyranny. (Another would be the utter discrediting of the Enlightenment project but we will save that for a future blog.)
From 1914-18 the Anglosphere fought and defeated the imperial designs of the Ottomans, the Hohenzollerns and the Habsburgs. In 1918-19 we tried, and failed, to prop up a nascent Russian democracy in the face of a Bolshevik revolution. From 1939 to 1945 the enemy was European fascism and in 1941-45 racist Japanese imperialism decided to take a run at us too; both were crushed at enormous expense in resources and lives. From 1945 to 1989 a war, both cold and hot, was waged against the worst enemy yet, Marxism-Leninism in its various forms. At a gigantic cost, on the battlefields of Korea and Vietnam, in thousands of covert and proxy skirmishes in Asia, Africa and South America, across a barbed wire curtain down the middle of Europe, in magazines, books, academic conferences and bankers' offices, a struggle for the soul of the planet was waged and won.
In these wars allies came and went: sometimes the Turks, say, or the Italians were enemies, sometimes they were neutral, sometimes they were helpful. One moment the Russians were arch foes, in the next they were bosom friends, and a moment later, they resumed their hostility. Some countries, like Sweden, always discovered they were morally superior to the struggle and muck.
It is also interesting to consider how some nations, over the course of the century, have lost their stomach for the fight. New Zealand, which left its dead at Gallipoli and Monte Cassino, now flies the flag of neutrality. Canada, which always fought with one hand (Quebec) tied behind its back, has become increasingly missish and ineffective. Of the French, whose stands on the Marne and at Verdun were once the stuff of legends, no more need be said.
Now an old enemy of civilization, militant Islam, has awoken again. Starting with the triumph of the ayatollahs in Iran, and continuing through the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in 1981, slave war in the Sudan, the despotism of the Taleban, bombings of American embassies, ships and cities, and countless acts of terror against Asian and African Christians and Muslim dissidents, Islamists have used violence to expand the boundaries of the faith.
Who will stand against this attempt to revive the caliphate and bring 8th-century sensibilities about stoning, dismemberment and dhimmitude to the 21st century? The Great Satan wasn't given much chance to negotiate with the Sons of the Prophet so America reluctantly found itself on the front line. Britain, Italy, Poland and Australia bravely stepped forth. Canada, as has become usual, played the high-school tease -- willing to go to second base with the Afghani mission but coyly unwilling to go all the way to Iraq. The cynical sabotage by France, Germany and Russia has been noted in the Book of Life and will be repaid in the Last Days (or sooner if I become king).
What is so disheartening in May 2004 is that we seem to have entered an Age of Iron, a sad decline from the Age of Gold. Even in countries whose governments have taken up the task of repelling the barbarians from the gate, a majority of voters and media outlets oppose the fight. The continuous nagging losses, the seeming ingratitude of the Iraqi people and the disgraceful behaviour of the military police have discredited the war and overshadowed the real successes on the ground. But even if there were few local successes, even if the cost in lives was many times greater, this would not be a fight to shrink from. The genius of the Bush Doctrine is twofold: to take the Islamist threat seriously in a way no American government had, and to take the battle into enemy territory. The best way to defeat Isamic terror is not to impair civil liberties in the U.S. and mount guard on every shopping centre, reservoir, power line and bus depot but to implant a democratic alternative in the madhouse of the Middle East. The effect of such an attempt has already produced fruit in Libya and will also have troubled the sleep of the dictators in Iraq and Syria. This is not a time for the American voters to reject Bush nor for allies to go wobbly.
Posted by Dexter at May 22, 2004 03:49 PM