Comments and Appraisal: “The Neglected Home Front”/”America The Vulnerable”

  One of the many things in my life that I have enjoyed is reading. Compared to some my collection is very minimalist in nature, but I do have the desire to see it grow. One of the books  I acquired, oddly enough right here in the Philippines, is “America The Vulnerable” by Stephen Flynn. I believe the book was published in 2004 or there about. I was perusing the last  chapter, as I am some times prone to do, and began to read it. I found that Flynn made some very salient points, by that of course I mean that they jumped right out at me. To see if Flynn had any other writings online I typed in his book in Google and found an article(click here) which parroted the final chapter of his book. I am guessing that in all likelyhood the article, which was authored in 2004, must have been the seed that sprouted into Flynn’s book “America  the Vulnerable.”

Here are my thoughts on a quote that really stuck out to me.

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“Targeting terrorism at its source is an appealing notion. Unfortunately, the enemy is not cooperating. There is no central front on which al Qaeda and its radical jihadist imitators can be cornered and destroyed.”-Stephen Flynn

This first quote brings up a very undeniable point in the so called “War on Terror.” That point quite simply put is that the “enemy” in which we face, is an enemy that has no standard uniform, has no specific country of origin, and does not feel itself bound by the dictates of civilized warfare. In that, we find that the terrorist in which we face, be they jihadist who employ beheadings, or sleeper cells who sew themselves into the fabric of their target society, it is irresponsible to think that one can put the modern day terrorist into a certain, definable bracket. It is utterly impossible.

To that end we must conclude that a “War On Terror” is not possible, nor is it sensible. To truly fulfill the mandate that goes along with such a title, we would find ourselves the world over, fighting numerous foes, from Marxist guerilla’s to the ever present Jihadist. The oft used line of, “We fight them there, so we dont have to fight them here,” has been used to the point that it is much like a pair of old trousers which would be better served in being used as an oil rag. While our country goes bankrupt to support the Iraq War, you need only research to find that America is vulnerable, such as she was on 9-11. In a world where the gears of prosperity are oiled by trade, we find that our ports of call for ships hauling containers, all but exists as free entry ports for any terrorist with the gumption to smuggle a dirty bomb or nuke into our beloved country. While the Canadians, such as they are, can be considered a friend to the United States, according to Flynn all that stops a determined terrorist in Canada from passing into the United States are orange traffic cones. If you ask me that is hardly a secure detterent to committing a terrorist act, much less thinking about it. And of course the invitably leads to our Southern border. While the politicians court this ethnic group, or this minority, etc etc etc (ad nauseum) our Southern border goes untouched. Much like a nuke being smuggled into the United States in a shipping container, all it would take to unleash the power of a nuclear blast or a dirty bomb on a densely populated American city, would be a well-funded, determined terrorist and a willing, unscrupulous  “Coyote” (Guys who smuggle illegal aliens into the U.S. for a price).
Quite frankly what many people forget when it comes to Libertarian, Ultra-Conservative, Constitutionalist opposition to the Iraq war, that it is not about opposing a war based on being in opposition to doing the right thing. It is an opposition that springs from the well of Liberty. A sense that we must first secure what has been bequeathed to us (Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness), and then we can  condemn the evil(s) that inhabit the globe. Essentially the libertarian-Ultra-Conservative-Constitutionalist opposition to the Iraq War can be best described this way. There is an elderly man, he has one leg, and peg-leg. The problem is that his one leg is extremely weak, and his peg-leg is rotten with termites. Eventually the peg-leg will break, and what will he have to stand on but a weak leg. Seeing as this is the state of the current two-party system, If not already, which I believe to be so, then soon America will have nothing to stand  on but her one weak leg. Then when we speak of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, you can rest assured that the rest of the world will laugh us to shame for the way(s) in which we have operated.

J.onathan B.

 Amazon.com:”America The Vulnerable.”