The Seattle Times: Opinion: We must teach the insurgents to respect U.S. power: "Certainly this is not a suggestion to bring back the Mukhabharat or its methods of mass murder, torture and rape rooms in order to pacify Iraq. Rather, the point is that, despite much hand-wringing about 'evil, bloodthirsty American imperialists' in the world, these insurgents clearly understand something that many anti-American ideologues do not: Americans are not to be feared precisely because we are not evil, bloodthirsty imperialists. This lack of fear is a tremendous hindrance to our efforts, because in the cold reality of that region, to elicit no fear is to be powerless, and the powerless do not command respect.

To be successful in Iraq, we do not need more troops. Instead, we need to instill a healthy dose of fear - that is, respect - for our power. This certainly does not mean murder and torture, but it does mean overwhelming military responses to insurgents even in the face of serious collateral damages, as well as collective communal punishments such as reduced electricity and water rations for harboring insurgents. "
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But for fifty years, parents, teachers, police, churchmen have been afraid--yes, afraid--to confront evil, because the malefactor has learned that if he escalates the confrontation, then it will become the fault of the authority figure. Thus the heritage of the revolution of the sixties. I cannot image any teacher or principal that I knew as a boy imagining that it would be their fault if some bratty kid begin to scream and holler because obedience was demanded and enforced with violence if necessary. Furthermore, no parent I knew would have a complaint. But it was the National Guard at Kent State; it was the police at Berkeley; it was the U.S. in Viet Nam.

And so we sent the police to sensitivity school; the army to learn about meals on wheels; principals began to learn to respect "students' rights." Parents could not longer use language to "lay down the law," and make children obey, but learned to use language to manipulate into desired behavior. Kids were thus truly disrespected, as if it somehow were better to be treated as nuts rather than naughty.

So the will to confront and defeat evil was lost, or at least greatly enervated. Does America have the will to do what is necessary to bring order to Iraq? The jury is still out, I think. The dweebs like John Kerry and Jane Fonda and their anti-war cohorts destroyed the will of Americans to withstand the horror of Communism in Viet Nam and carry the blood of millions of people on their hands. They will add the blood of millions of Iraqis, if Americans are persuaded to leave, for everyone that helped America will have their throats cut in the mosques. We are not dealing with civilized people. They have taken heart by the fiascos in Viet Nam and Somalia and think that Americans will run if the cost in blood becomes too great. They are right about one part of America.

The latte crowd in America, hugging trees, self-righteous in their self-congratulating compassion, simpering over their cups, little fingers smartly curled, will never understand what it takes to defeat evil. They are not even sure there is such a thing as evil. They are so compromised in their own lives, living with evil and compromise, as to be unable to decide what evil is and what good is. It is all one to them, for that makes them feel confident that they are good people. Yes, I am speaking of morally corrupt people like Ted Kennedy, who could not find the moral force to try to save a young woman drowning in his car, but thought only of saving his own sorry political hide; of Bill Clinton who turned the Oval office into a porn palace and lied under oath rather than face up to his responsibility for the harrassment of Paula Jones; the list could go on and on, and is not limited to Democrats, for their are plenty of Republican wooses. This is the generation of self-esteem, drugs, rock 'n roll, and sexual anarchy. Leave no desire ungratified; brook no restraint upon your wishes. If confronted, throw such a fit as to intimidate and pass the blame to whoever is in your way: Mom, Dad, Teacher, Policeman, or National Guard. The only reality is the truth of my desires.The remarkable thing is that these reprobates feel morally and spiritually superior to the other America, the ones who know what evil is and are willing to confront and destroy it.

Yes, there is another America, the sons and daughters of Bunker Hill, Gettysburg, Normandy, and the Halls of Montezuma, who know you have to spank kids, expel students, fire teachers, and maybe shoot the bad guys who terrorize the 'hood. They know that evil has to be resisted. If we have enough of these Americans left, we will prevail. Otherwise, the world will regress to the 7th Century. Let Jane Fonda try her feminism on the Mullahs if that happens. Or see what happens when the simpering liberals try to raise their confrontation with the dark hoards of Islam. See how they respond to wimpishness.