Arid Ukas Gratitude
Mark Steyn NRO EXCERPT:
March 5, 2011 7:00 A.M.
Multiculturalism says hes as German as Helmut and Franz. Except hes not.
According to Bismarcks best-known maxim on Europes most troublesome region, the Balkans are not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier. Americans could be forgiven for harboring similar sentiments after the murder of two U.S. airmen in Germany by a Kosovar Muslim.
Remember Kosovo? Me neither. But it was big at the time, launched by Bill Clinton in the wake of his Monica difficulties: Make war, not love, as the boomers advise. So Clinton did and without any pesky U.N. resolutions, or even the pretense of seeking them. Instead, he and Tony Blair and even Jacques Chirac just cried Bombs away! and got on with it. And the Left didnt mind at all because, for a modern Western nation, war is only legitimate if you have no conceivable national interest in whatever war youre waging. Unlike Iraq and all its supposed blood for oil, in Kosovo no one remembers why we went in, what the hell the point of it was, or which side were the good guys. (Answer: Neither.) The principal rationale advanced by Clinton and Blair was that there was no rationale. This was what they called liberal interventionism, which boils down to: The fact that we have no reason to get into it justifies our getting into it.
A decade on, Kosovo is a sorta sovereign state, and in Frankfurt a young airport employee is so grateful for what America did for his people that he guns down U.S. servicemen while yelling Allahu akbar! The strange shrunken spectator who serves as president of the United States, offering what he called a few words about the tragic event that took place, announced that he was saddened, and expressed his gratitude for the service of those who were lost and would spare no effort to work with the German authorities but it was a stark reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices that our men and women in uniform are making . . .
The passivity of these remarks is very telling. Men and women in uniform (which its not clear these airmen were even wearing) understand they may be called upon to make extraordinary sacrifices in battle. They do not expect to be lost on the shuttle bus at the hands of a civilian employee at a passenger air terminal in an allied nation. But then I dont suppose their comrades expected to be lost at the hands of an army major at Fort Hood, to cite the last tragic event that took place which seems to be the presidents preferred euphemism for a guy opening fire while screaming Allahu akbar! But relax, this fellow in Frankfurt was most likely a lone wolf (as Sen. Chuck Schumer described the Times Square bomber) or an isolated extremist (as the president described the Christmas Day Pantybomber). There are so many of these lone wolves and isolated extremists you may occasionally wonder whether theyve all gotten together and joined Local 473 of the Amalgamated Union of Lone Wolves and Isolated Extremists, but dont worry about it: As any Homeland Security official can tell you, Allahu akbar is Arabic for Nothing to see here.
End EXCERPT
Mark Steyn NRO EXCERPT:
March 5, 2011 7:00 A.M.
Multiculturalism says hes as German as Helmut and Franz. Except hes not.
According to Bismarcks best-known maxim on Europes most troublesome region, the Balkans are not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier. Americans could be forgiven for harboring similar sentiments after the murder of two U.S. airmen in Germany by a Kosovar Muslim.
Remember Kosovo? Me neither. But it was big at the time, launched by Bill Clinton in the wake of his Monica difficulties: Make war, not love, as the boomers advise. So Clinton did and without any pesky U.N. resolutions, or even the pretense of seeking them. Instead, he and Tony Blair and even Jacques Chirac just cried Bombs away! and got on with it. And the Left didnt mind at all because, for a modern Western nation, war is only legitimate if you have no conceivable national interest in whatever war youre waging. Unlike Iraq and all its supposed blood for oil, in Kosovo no one remembers why we went in, what the hell the point of it was, or which side were the good guys. (Answer: Neither.) The principal rationale advanced by Clinton and Blair was that there was no rationale. This was what they called liberal interventionism, which boils down to: The fact that we have no reason to get into it justifies our getting into it.
A decade on, Kosovo is a sorta sovereign state, and in Frankfurt a young airport employee is so grateful for what America did for his people that he guns down U.S. servicemen while yelling Allahu akbar! The strange shrunken spectator who serves as president of the United States, offering what he called a few words about the tragic event that took place, announced that he was saddened, and expressed his gratitude for the service of those who were lost and would spare no effort to work with the German authorities but it was a stark reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices that our men and women in uniform are making . . .
The passivity of these remarks is very telling. Men and women in uniform (which its not clear these airmen were even wearing) understand they may be called upon to make extraordinary sacrifices in battle. They do not expect to be lost on the shuttle bus at the hands of a civilian employee at a passenger air terminal in an allied nation. But then I dont suppose their comrades expected to be lost at the hands of an army major at Fort Hood, to cite the last tragic event that took place which seems to be the presidents preferred euphemism for a guy opening fire while screaming Allahu akbar! But relax, this fellow in Frankfurt was most likely a lone wolf (as Sen. Chuck Schumer described the Times Square bomber) or an isolated extremist (as the president described the Christmas Day Pantybomber). There are so many of these lone wolves and isolated extremists you may occasionally wonder whether theyve all gotten together and joined Local 473 of the Amalgamated Union of Lone Wolves and Isolated Extremists, but dont worry about it: As any Homeland Security official can tell you, Allahu akbar is Arabic for Nothing to see here.
End EXCERPT
