Permanent Crusaders - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
Permanent Crusaders
by

HOMELAND DEFENDER
Re: Michael Fumento’s The F/A-22 Raptor Must Fly:

In your 7/8 article “The F/A-22 Raptor Must Fly” you said, “The value of the F-22 in the current guerrilla war? Zero.” I don’t think that’s entirely correct.

If we’d had F/A-22 Raptors on ready-alert on the morning of 9/11, we would have the capability to intercept the second, third, and fourth incoming hijacked planes. We might not have had the will to do so — shooting down an airliner is a chilling prospect even now –but we would have had the ability. It’s got to do with the F/A-22’s supercruise capability, the ability of the jet to intercept high-subsonic aircraft like commercial jets without going into fuel-guzzling afterburner.

In short, in an era when an attack on the continental U.S. is far more likely to come from within our borders than without, F/A-22 gives us capabilities for homeland defense that we simply don’t have right now.

I’ve written more about this on my site. You can read it here, if you like:

Thank you,
Jeff Harrell

Six air forces now possess planes more advanced than the United States air force. While not having to worry about France, Sweden, or the Czech Republic, we do still have to worry about Iran, North Korea, China, and a more militant Russia. Congress deliberately cuts the defense budget in order to line the pockets of their main supporters with pork projects not even needed. With Iran less than twelve months away from producing nuclear weapons that will be capable of hitting all of southern Europe and Israel, do we really want an outdated air force that would be slaughtered trying to take out these Iranian nuclear sites? The areas around these sites in Iran are more heavily defended than either Moscow or Hanoi during the Vietnam war. With advances being supplied to Iran in radar and missile technology from nations like France and Russia, we will be filling many body bags very quickly in the event hostilities become necessary. Our military needs more funding and quickly. Events in the Middle East could quickly unwind, requiring many more of our forces to deploy. I am unable to see how our forces — already stretched to breaking point — could quickly respond to an all-out attack.
Warren Bacon

I’m probably by now the hundredth person to point this out, but Michael Fumento’s assertion (“The F/A-22 Raptor Must Fly”) that Duke Cunningham is one of only two U.S. Vietnam aces is off the mark. He is one of two U.S. Navy aces. The U.S. Air Force had three. (References here and here.)
Brian R. Kelley
Fairfax, Virginia

AGAINST ISLAM
Re: Jackie Mason & Raoul Felder’s Religion of Hate:

President Bush-who was not elected Chief Theologian, who is not an Islamic scholar and who seems to be wildly mis-influenced and/or misinformed by someone close to him-should never have made those statements about Islam being a religion of peace. What he, his advisers and most people don’t want to acknowledge or are very afraid to acknowledge is that there now exists an active, overt war of civilizations, of values, initiated by Islam against the non-Islam world. But underlying it all, it’s a war of Islam versus Christianity and Judaism, mostly.

Most of us non-Muslims, us infidels — names the Qur’an calls us are kafirs (those who reject Islam), hypocrites, Christians, Jews, Israelites and transgressors — seem to be clueless about the social/religious culture out of which the zealots-terrorists and their supporters have arisen and continue to thrive. Likewise, it would appear that our cultures and freedoms are completely misunderstood. So, for example, when the partisan press and some politicians, as well as some academicians and jurists, betray the public’s trust or their professional or societal responsibilities by what they say or publish or do — and by what appears to be their active participation in or approval of the war against the war against terrorism — the terrorists and their supporters are emboldened.

Mason and Felder are right: Negotiating with the religious terrorists won’t work. We must resolutely and decisively defeat this religiously inspired madness. Force and commitment will be understood. But do we have the sense and will to acknowledge the problem and the urgency of its resolution and then act? Can we do all this within the confines of our society and the Constitution?
C. Kenna Amos Jr.
Princeton, West Virginia

Mason and Feder speak the truth.

It is unbelievable that the terms Crusades and Crusaders have become synonymous with Pure Evil. While no one can defend the atrocities committed by Christians during the Crusades, the Crusades themselves must be seen as a counteroffensive to the militarism and conquests of Islam. North Africa was once a center of Christianity until it was conquered by Islam. Spain was invaded hundreds of years before the first Crusade and Islamist forces marched northward until defeated by Charles Martel at the battle of Tours. In the East, Islamist forces would eventually conquer Constantinople and besiege Vienna. I think the Crusades need to be seen in the light of this Islamic military expansionism.

Many of us pray that moderate Islamists will come to their senses and help to expunge the radicals that are waging war against the West (actually against the world; what’s going to happen on that day Islam confronts China?). Sadly, as Mason and Feder point out, the “moderates” may not be on our side.
Frank Gibbons
Seekonk, Massachusetts

An excellent article and tells it like IT IS!

Having worked and traveled in the Middle East for years I can say, thank goodness for Israel and its existence! I am not Jewish by the way.

Hopefully you can get this article reprinted and a good distribution; this is the only way to stop this disease that has followed the Western world for centuries.

Thanks and regards,
Mike Martin

Jackie Mason and Raoul Felder (in “Religion of Hate”) aptly cite the Barbary Pirates as an example of Islam in practice. However, there is another interesting aspect to the story. The “great powers” of Europe were accustomed to pay tribute to the Barbary Pirates. In one of its first appearances on the world stage, the infant United States refused to do so, but sent its new Navy and Marine Corps to discipline the pirates. That’s the origin of the phrase “from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli.” And what is Tripoli but the ancestor to Libya, so the likes of Muammar Khaddafi are just continuing an old cultural tradition, and the nations of “old Europe” today are continuing their own cowardly behavior of centuries past.

Islam is the only religion which routinely encourages extortion, slavery, and genocide by nation-states (Sudan being a prominent example). It is far from being a “great world religion” comparable to Christianity, Judaism, or even Buddhism; Mohammed was an illiterate who made no original contributions to theological or ethical thought, but plagiarized his teachings from older religions. Rather, it should be viewed as the world’s largest and most dangerous militarized cult: a sort of Jonestown writ large.
Bruce Boyer

Over the past year or so I have read several articles by Mason & Felder. I must admit that after reading each article I find that their fusion of historical facts and current affairs is remarkably insightful.

My only wish is that they (or Mason) could get on some of the talking head shows and smack down some of the bleeding heart pap. Could you imagine Mason vs. Begala (aka The Forehead) on “CNN Crossfire”? Wow! I’d pay to see that.
Mark Krause
Calgary, Canada via Houston, Texas

Excellent article — about that of which our “leaders” dare not speak. But read on. What does the Koran specifically say about Jews and Christians? I double dare ya….
Gene Wright
Laguna Niguel, California

Mason and Felder have nailed it again, this time with their excellent “Religion of Hate.” And yes, the quotations are true. I have borrowed several versions of the Koran (or Quran) from a local library and these quotes are spot-on.

And for those who are still disbelieving of it all, track down a copy of Dr. Mark Gabriel’s book “Islam and Terrorism.” As a former Islamic cleric and teacher in his native Egypt (he memorized the Quran by time he was 12), he converted to Christianity (having found Islam an empty and hate-filled creed) and was imprisoned and tortured for it. His book sounds a tremendous warning not unlike that of Mason and Felder.
Jim Bjaloncik
Stow, Ohio

I loved this article. It is very important that we know the truth about this “religion.”

I use that term loosely because when you look in the dictionary under the word religion it does say, it has something to do with spirit and being spiritual. There is a goodness in this and with the radical Islamic there is no good. All is bad unless you believe the way they do.

One can look at the Middle East and know that this “religion” is not based on surviving, it is based on destroying. Look at how they treat women and children, look at the poverty and the lack of real education! The leaders do not give a crap about the people under them who fight, if it is so true that they have to stand and fight and kill all of us, then why does bin Laden and his cronies hide in caves and why did they find Saddam in a spider hole?

These men and men like them are cowards and they keep people following them by keeping these people stupid. If there ever was a devil here on earth it is these men.

Keep writing about this and pointing this out, we as Americans need to help educate the world or at least those who can differentiate from good and evil.
Joni Ramm
Los Angeles, California

I can hardly believe it, someone telling the unvarnished TRUTH about the situation America and Western Civilization is facing, versus Islam! I am for President Bush but have been so disgusted with his pronouncements that “Islam is a religion of peace!” Balderdash! We will be in great danger if we (the country, media, politicians, etc.) don’t wake up, drop the insane “Political Correctness,” (a communist invention) and start facing reality! One of the worst things that the Democrats (of course!) ever did to our country was pass the Immigration Reform Act of 1965, thereby allowing millions of third world immigrants, many of whom have never and do not want to “assimilate” into American culture. And after all that has happened to us, our government STILL does not seal or protect our borders!!! God Bless and God help America!
Howard Bixler
Toms River, New Jersey

Messrs. Felder and Mason state that the Muslims “lost” the Crusades. What makes the constant use of this troop more baffling is that by my count they won the Crusades. The Holy Land was reconquered by Islam and the Franks, Knights Templar, and Knights Hospitaller etc. all had to pack up. Christians entered or lived in the Holy Land on sufferance thereafter. It would be as if Americans sputtered in inchoate rage at the perfidies of the Spanish in the Spanish American war, and viewed every move by Spain as an attempt to retake Puerto Rico. Weird.
unsigned

Gee! Have I been wrong all these almost- 60-years? I always found the Southern Baptists and other Southern, conservative evangelicals to be the ‘religion[s] of hate’

After all, they mostly stood shoulder-to-shoulder in opposing integration, hosted racist speakers in their pulpits and harbored Kluxers, anti-Semites and church bombers in their congregations.

Damn! Have I been wrong all this time?
Ted Church
Memphis, Tennessee

Do you have any other loony piece like this one by Mason and Felder? If so please publish them because a good laugh a day keeps the doctor away. This Jackie Mason, based on this article, is indeed a hilarious comedian.
Charly Cadou

Most excellent article! I’m forwarding the link to everyone I know. Thanks.
unsigned

PEACE PROCESS
Re: Don Smith’s and Lia’s letters (“Give Peace a Chance”) in Reader Mail’s Instant Confusion:

Hey there, Mr. Babbin —

Apparently Mr. Smith from SC and Lia who is (please wake this child up!!) pro-UN have been just totally offended by your pro-America, pro-military truth telling. Please, please, just shut up so they don’t have to be offended — that’s all they ask!

Welcome to America, Smith and Lia, where sometimes when you actually are able to get the truth — it can hurt!

Why is it that liberals are only concerned with cost when it comes to defending our country? And why is it that a just war is continuously painted as some kind of an affront to the world when we actually did the world a favor? We are in the midst of a war, one that could very well determine whether our freedoms stay or are overrun by militant jihadists who would love to see Lia covered from head to toe and Mr. Smith praising Allah and only Allah. If the truth hurts, good, maybe one day those who refuse to see will finally be awakened by the pain of it all.
Deborah Durkee
Tampa, Florida

Wow, Lia, you sure seem to know a lot about Mr. Babbin and what makes him tick. However, I notice in your letter the absolute lack of debate regarding what he says. Instead, I read a bunch of mindless drivel, like “we are the ones who can look after the rest of the world” (I thought that’s what we were doing in Afghanistan and Iraq. Oh, I forgot. For the Left, “looking after the rest of the world” means emptying my checkbook for socialist farmers in the Balkans), and that people like Mr. Babbin “are keeping us from letting the world see that we are a good country with good people.” Yeah, that’s what keeps me up at night. What the Libyans, Sudanese, or Pakistanis think of us, let alone the French or Germans.

This country doesn’t have to prove anything to anybody. We’ve shown, time and time again, that we are on the forefront of human rights, democracy, and liberty throughout the world. And your precious U.N., Lia? The last time I checked, they had skimmed $5 billion from the Iraqi people for the benefit of a few countries, all of whom were against the liberation of Iraq. Now if THAT isn’t a model for international goodwill, I don’t know what is.
Joel

THINKING PERSONS
Re: The “Moore’s Minions” letters in Reader Mail’s Instant Confusion:

Whenever I read letters such as those by Gring, Parker and Black, I think back to the days leading up to the war and the anti-war claim that “the only reason that Saddam has WMDs is that we gave them to him.” These people seem utterly unconcerned about where those WMDs went or perhaps they were lying about the existence of WMDs also. As far as the F word business goes, since the Dems and the media didn’t care about Kerry using it in public a few weeks ago, Cheney probably figured they wouldn’t care if he did. For as we all know, there is no double standard for Republicans.
Scotty Uhrich
Glyndon, Minnesota

I’ve been avoiding wasting my time commenting on some of the more obvious misapprehensions, mischaracterizations, and just plain old mistakes lately appearing in Reader Mail because then, like my good friend John McGinnis, I’d be firing off e-mails every day, and in the end, it would be just shoveling s**t against the tide. But Mr. Gring has dredged up the old canard about V.P. Cheney and Halliburton, which I had hoped had been abandoned by readers who have found more recent “failings” in the Administration to harp about, and thus he richly deserves my contempt as well as that of other thinking persons who read TAS.

Tell me, please, Mr. Gring, isn’t it just possible that Halliburton has contracts in Iraq because of its extensive experience in building and re-building the kinds of things that the Iraqis need and not because of any perceived favoritism from its past CEO? Isn’t it just possible that Mr. Cheney’s leadership at the helm of Halliburton enhanced the company’s expertise to such an extent that it now leads the pack of companies with similar skills? And as for that tired old saw about the non-competitive nature of its contracts, if you or any other conspiracy-hunters out there in La-La-Land had any experience with government contracts, as I have, you would know that putting any such contract out for competitive bids would have delayed the rebuilding of Iraq to such an extent that there probably would not yet be water, power, and oil deliveries there.

Oh, yeah, as you said, don’t bother me with facts, my head’s made up already! Certainly not your mind, as I see no evidence that you have one.
Bob Johnson
Bedford, Texas

WHOSE, THEN?
Re: Jon Morrison’s letter “Fight Called”) in Reader Mail’s Instant Confusion:

Is it Jon Morrison’s opinion that the wars in Europe in the twentieth century, WWI & WWII, were also “not our fight”? Although with such a facile argument it might be entirely too much to expect that he would apply it consistently. His type never does especially when arguing anything that approaches partisan political viewpoints.

Perhaps if Jon Morrison had been in charge the U.S. could have sued Japan for peace after Pearl Harbor and 480,000 American lives could have been saved while the rest of the world lost 50 million souls. Or perhaps Mr. Morrison feels the U.S. bears culpability for a large number of the rest of the world’s WWII deaths by virtue of our involvement.

How many tens of millions of citizens of the Soviet Union, China, Southeast Asia, and Africa have died at the hands of their own despicable, despotic governments in the last 60 years because it wasn’t our fight?

How is Jon Morrison able to live in such a happy little universe where the only answer is always: “war is not the answer”? The little worm probably thinks peace and harmony would breakout spontaneously throughout the world if only the U.S. would unilaterally disarm itself.
Lee Davis
Wauwatosa, Wisconsin

Jon Morrison is the type of person who would stand by and watch a man beat his wife to death, because, well, it’s not HIS fight.
Greg Goff
Casper, Wyoming

SWEET SURPRISE
Re: Unsigned’s letter (under “Ticket Trons”) in Reader Mail’s Instant Confusion:

The anonymous writer who suggested we refer to the Democrat ticket as “Big John and Sparky” made me laugh out loud. He or she also revealed his/her age — I am nearly 60 and well remember that wonderful Saturday morning radio show. To the writer I say thanks for the memories — and the laugh!
Pam Burke
Lompoc, California

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