Another reminder that neocons are at war—with reality

On the main page of yesterday’s FrontPage Magazine was this headline:

The West’s Islamist Infiltrators
By: Daniel Pipes
Another reminder that our nation is at war.

Now, if our country were at war, meaning, if our country were waging war, would we need a reminder of that fact? Did we need a reminder in, say, September 1943 that we were at war with Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan? Did we need a reminder in January 1969 that we were at war with the Communists in South Vietnam? Did we need a reminder in late March and early April 2003 that we were at war with the regime of Saddam Hussein? If we need to be reminded that we are at war, then, obviously, we are not at war. The statement cancels itself.

Now you could say that what FP’s editors meant to say is that others are at war with us (which in fact is what Daniel Pipes is actually saying in the article, where he makes a case that al Qaeda members have been infiltrating U.S. security agencies), and that we need to realize this and make war on them, or at least defend ourselves from them. But if we need to become aware that others are at war with us so that we will then make war on them, then we are not currently at war with them, and once again the statement, “Another reminder that our nation is at war,” cancels itself out. The subtitle should have been: “Another reminder that al Qaeda is at war with us.” But for some reason, when it comes to the threat of Islam and what we are doing or supposedly doing about it, neocons repeatedly show themselves to be unable to use words that correspond with reality.

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Sage McLaughlin writes:

It is official policy that the United States is at war. But that’s all it is. Neocons, being good liberals, fail to see the distinction, at least when “their guy” is in charge. When Obama takes the reigns, they’ll wail that we’re no longer really at war, no matter what official policy says, and they’ll list all the reasons why (coddling Palestinian terrorists, for example, which Bush, of course, would never do…).

Posted by Lawrence Auster at August 13, 2008 09:07 AM | Send