The Enemy Within

Wretchard at Belmont Club says it like no other. Robert Mandel believes. Gateway Pundit weighs in. Matthew at Fresh Tasty Ideas is right in there, from Berkeley, no less. The Discerning Texan, too, and linking to Rick Moran's post at the American Thinker, where he says: [...] Our national conversation about the War on Terror is proceeding in a manner very much as our enemies wish. They have seized the psychological initiative by playing our national news organs like a Wurlitzer. Admittedly, the military has helped al Qaeda out enormously, not only by the occasional breakdown in discipline which has led to isolated but significant incidents of torture, but by the natural tendency of the military command authorities to not give the enemy a propaganda weapon to use against us. This has resulted in the appearance of cover-up, if not in the intent then certainly in the result of torture allegations. [...] Kevin at Strategy Revolutions has some comments, and a reprint of a Col. Oliver North dispatch from Fallujah, Al-Anbar Province, Iraq. Many, many more examples are available. Notice that all of these cites are not from Mainstream Media! Those are few and far between. Based on my favorite simplistic theory that 'If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck...', the majority of the Mainstream Media are behaving exactly like the enemy, al Qaeda. The only difference is that the choice of weapons are words, instead of AK-47s and IEDs. I'm sure that each individual does not feel like they are an enemy to America, but when they open their mouths... QUACK! Back to Wretchard, drawing parallels between current war-fighting philosophies and those of yesteryear via Rudyard Kipling's The Grave of the Hundred Dead: [...] There'll be some who say that toppling Saddam was meant to be an object lesson to the Arab world. If so, it has sent mixed messages because it was never prosecuted with the kind of frightening brutality that some have advocated. The image of the US after OIF is one of a giant afraid to hurt or even give offense to its enemies. Even in the battles of the First and Second Fallujah there were always extraordinary efforts to preserve mosques and similar places, probably to the glee and wonderment of the enemy. If the Kevin Sites incident and the subsequent investigation proved anything it was that the Marines were no Shikaris. [...] Actually, the Marines ARE akin to the Shikaris of the poem, but they have been unfairly restrained by our politicians, who seem to live in fear of the enemy within. Concerning the enemy without, our military forces are trained and expected to fight for our causes with perserverance, honor, and bravery, and they perform admirably. But now they are asked to fight a 'kinder, gentler' war. Rather, the enemy, looking in our direction, should see 'A thousand points of light' emanating from 'A shining city on a hill', and each point of light should be a muzzle flash. Although too late to employ in the Afghanistan and Iraq Campaigns of the Global War on Terror, upcoming campaigns should be guided by a different philosophy, ably stated by W.S.... 'Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war;' To defeat the enemy without, we must defeat the enemy within. They must be defeated using their weapons of choice; words, courts, and public opinion. The enemy within must be confronted at every turn, and given no rest or quarter. Tagged as Global War on Terror, GWoT, War for Survival, Iraq, Afghanistan, United States, al Qaeda, Terrorist, Terrorism, MSM, Mainstream Media, Military, U.S. Marines, Rudyard Kipling