The logos and telos of Bush’s policy revealed

President Bush discussed the London bombings in a speech today at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia:

The attack in London was an attack on the civilized world. And the civilized world is united in its resolve: We will not yield. We will defend our freedom….

The heart of our strategy is this: Free societies are peaceful societies. So in the long run, the only way to defeat the ideologies of hatred and fear, the only way to make sure our country is secure in the long run, is to advance the cause of freedom….

And when the Middle East grows in democracy and prosperity and hope, the terrorists will lose their sponsors. They’ll lose their recruits. They will lose their hopes for turning that region into a base of attacks against America and our allies.

Let us reflect on what the president is saying here. He is saying that the only way we can defend our homeland from domestic Moslem terrorists, many of whom were born in the West, is by spreading democracy in Moslem countries, that is, by replicating the catastrophe of our Iraq policy in several other places. Let us also remember that “democracy” by current understandings means treating all people, including Moslems, equally, particularly in terms of whom we welcome into our country and naturalize as our fellow citizens. As Bush has indicated over and over, the same universally shared human feelings, such as a desire for freedom and a love for one’s children, that give all people the right to democracy, also gives them the right to immigrate to America. Therefore, by Bush’s light (and he’s not one to hide his light under a Bush), protecting America from Moslem terrorists requires the continued open immigration of Moslems into America.

And if that’s not crazy enough for you, take in Bush’s further explanation of why democratization abroad makes us safe at home. My Indian correspondent yesterday pointed out that the support for terrorism shown by Moslems living in democratic Britain definitively proves that democracy is not the cure for terrrorism. But now it turns out that Bush has a ready answer to my correspondent’s objection: As long as anti-democratic forces exist in any Moslem countries and are influencing and serving as a base for Western Moslems, Western Moslems will continue to be pro-terrorist. Therefore, in order to make Moslems non-terrorist, it’s not enough for their actual country of residence, such as Britain or the U.S., to be democratic. All Moslem countries must become democratic. Nothing short of democratizing the entire Moslem world can make Britain and America safe from domestic terrorism. Thus, instead of undertaking doable steps to make ourselves safe, such as ceasing mass Moslem immigration and expelling jihad-supporting aliens, we must embark on the greatest utopian crusade in history, a crusade that can never succeed, but which must render us increasingly vulnerable to the very people from whom we are supposedly trying to protect ourselves.

Welcome to the Mad Mad Mad Mad World created by the consistent application of liberal and neocon principles.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 11, 2005 01:18 PM | Send