US casualties in Libya, a result of weakness in Afghanistan?

 

 

Magharebia via Compfight

 

Tragic loss of American lives in Benghazi on 11 September including the ambassador. Our sympathies to the families of those killed.

As more information comes to light it seems that it was a planned attack and not a spontaneous violent act arising from the hysterical mob protesting about a film in the USA which allegedly insulted Islam.

The mob violence both in Benghazi and Cairo certainly provided cover for the murders.

This is the thanks the USA and Nato get for freeing the same protesters from Ghadaffi’s reign of terror.

It’s a continuation of the pattern emerging in Afghanistan where more casualties are being inflicted on coalition forces by Afghan police and military members than by direct Taliban action.

It’s the sad reality that in any terrorist conflict, the general population will support the most brutal of the opposing forces. It was true in Vietnam, our own terrorist wars in Southern Africa and is just as true in the Middle East. It is quite understandable, most of us would also do as we were told if we had just seen our neighbour executed, his wife and daughters raped and his sons tortured into submission.

Regrettably, terrorists do not pay much attention to the Geneva Convention. They use the West’s insistence on fighting “civilized” battles to their advantage.

In the 3rd world, power and strength are the only things that matter. Compassion and kindness are taken as signs of weakness and are to be exploited.

What right do countries that still treat women as property, in many cases denying them the right to drive, work, choose their partners or expose their faces, have to complain about the USA or any country’s publications? Despite widespread horror in the West at the treatment of women and those practising other religions, in Muslim countries, we do not burn their embassies or murder their ambassadors.

The problem is that the West in general and the USA in particular are no longer seen as all-powerful. The West’s failure to take strong action against protests about Salmon Rushdie’s book, Swedish cartoons, followed by grovelling apologies over incidents in Iraq, Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan by high-ranking military and civilian leaders have set the stage for mobs to believe that they are entitled to blow small incidents totally out of proportion and use these to justify murder and destruction. The lack of immediate and effective repercussions by the US or Nato reinforces that belief.  Just as the hue and cry by well-meaning but totally misguided Western liberals over allegations of torture or breach of “human rights” by our forces, provide more confirmation.

When our forces are involved in any type of military action, it should be considered an act of treason for citizens to publicly accuse the military of torture. That is what costs our troops their lives and limbs. Report concerns to the military or appropriate government department but keep it out of the media, don’t do the enemy’s work for it. If you can’t support your country and military then go and live with the people you feel are being mistreated and see how long you last.

The next two most powerful nations, Russia and China are nowhere near as squeamish about torture, human rights or compassion. Russia may be the weak rump of the former USSR, but China is rapidly re-colonising Africa and quietly gaining control over huge reserves of strategically important minerals while we in the West wring our hands over upsetting religious fanatics.

It’s time we in the West woke up. Unless we stop being seen as weak, grovelling appeasers, we will see more ambassadors murdered, more embassies, businesses and property destroyed. By the very people we are supposed to be saving!

We need to send a clear signal that this type of action will not be tolerated, an immediate suspension of all aid to Libya and Egypt. A demand that the perpetrators are arrested and extradited for trial quickly, and in the case of Benghazi, perhaps a couple of shells from one of the American warships off the coast as a wake up call.

Dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were drastic acts that the USA did not flinch from. The decision to drop them ended WW2 and despite the huge loss of life in  Japan, undoubtedly saved hundreds of thousands or millions more casualties if that war had dragged on. That same degree of fortitude and resolution faded with the 20th Century, forgotten values which our leaders need to find if we want a future for our countries.

Nuking, Libya or Egypt might be a bit extreme, but the USA needs to retaliate harshly and be seen to retaliate to put an end to this nonsense.

What about your life and your business, do you show fortitude when things get tough? Do you follow a planned strategy or fall into the trap of trying to please everyone and being seen as weak?

Wishing you success and a future with strong Western leadership.