Gingrich is a genius. Want to know why? Sit down and click on the following link and watch this speech. It goes into many of the very same ideas that I have thrown at you here on the Anvil for months and years. It delves into the unimaginable and yet entirely probable plans of Al Qaeda and the Islamist Movement. It talks candidly about our mistakes and what we need to do to correct for the future. It examines the real enemies and talks about the real war that Iraq is only one battlefront in.
The man pays attention!
Introduction from the speech:
The essence of this speech is very simple.
Six years after the attack of 9/11/2001 we are having the wrong debate about the wrong report.
The heart of our problem is in attitude. Wars require bold efforts and undertaking real risks. We must recognize the requirements for change and we must adopt a spirit that it is better to make mistakes of commission and then fix them than it is to avoid achievement by avoiding failure.
Six years after the attack of 9/11/2001, the difference between the debate we ought to be having and the debate we are having is staggering.
The gap between where we are and where we should be is so large that it seems almost impossible to explain why the Petraeus Report, while important, will be a wholly inadequate explanation as to what is required to defeat our enemies and secure America and her allies.
Instead it seems more effective to describe this dramatic gap today by imagining how things might have turned out differently had we made different decisions for our national security starting the night of September 11, 2001. What if we had begun a great national dialogue about the nature of our enemies, the seriousness of their intent, the scale of their capabilities, and the requirements of victory over them? What might then have happened?
We must think about alternative pasts if we are to create a more successful future.
America is currently trapped between those who advocate “staying the course” and those who would legislate surrender and defeat for America.
America needs a more realistic and more powerful solution to the challenges of our enemies.
This rethinking of the last six years is designed to make it easier to be creative about the next six years.
The issuance of the Petraeus Report is the right time to challenge both the stay the course policies and the legislate defeat policies.
Newt Gingrich is simply the smartest man in U.S. politics. Click the following link to know more and to understand why we need to hear just this sort of tough talk if we are to survive as a nation and a culture (hat-tip: Orville):
What If? An Alternative History of the War since 9/11
Podcasts Archive
@Sounder: Well, Americans are hated for 90% wrong reasons and 10% right. But here’s how much we should give a damn. 0%
The war is here. This will be the true test for the future of civilization, because if the United States can’t stop hating itself, we will tumble regardless of whether or not the Islamists usurp power or destroy our people with WMD terrorism.
@USorTHEM: I completely understand being disgusted by yet another adjective in front of Islam, but I think you underestimate Gingrich. He was using his own adjective in order to signal that he knows the truth but just can’t say it — yet. I urge you to watch the entire speech and you might think differently.
I’m convinced that there are powers in play that know what the probable outcome of all this political correct horseshit is going to be. A man like Gingrich is too well-read and smart to not see all the eventualities.
Now, indeed, if I could ever graft myself to some power players and grab an ear or two in the next decade or so, I definitely would shake up the standard line of thought, but the odds of that are slim since I don’t come from Old Money and never attended any Ivy League schools. There’s not going to be any easy path for me to get where I’m needed, but then, that’s probably why I chose to start running the Anvil. I can make a helluva lot of noise just from the sanctum of my home office and I sure as hell intend to make the most of that.
In due course I might actually reach someone of real power in Congress with this site. I already know I’m affecting a few authors that I am positive have read enough of my no-nonsense approach that they have to be left thinking a little more aggressively. I also know the same is true of some DoD employees and military personnel.
Now, I’ll refrain from wishful thinking and slapping myself on the back. Many other bloggers are out there smacking the keyboards along similar lines to me — finally — and this means a greater awakening for more Americans and Westerners and human beings of true sense and clarity, so I deem we are all making a difference. The key is to KEEP doing it, over and over and over with no apologies until enough people see the reality of this conflict that they start to treat it like a damn war and not a Hollywood movie!
This is going to be a long, drawn out process, unfortunately. The Cold War lasted over 40 years. This may last even longer, in which case we will lose, or it will be shorter and far more violent, in which case we might win. Scary thoughts I know, but that’s how I really see things.
This is going to take many hard choices if we are to preserve ourselves against the cadre of useful idiots, seditionists, Islamists, former and current Communists and all the rest that are wetting their lips at the thought of running the USA and her friends into the ground.
I am a big fan of Newt. In fact, I will be moderating a forum on “Solutions Day” that he is sponsoring on Sept., 29.
But…. As PM Ergodon of Turkey recently said
“ISLAM IS ISLAM AND THAT”S IT”
Newt and his constant references to the “irreconcilible wing of Islam” is more than I can take. I could not finish reading the entire speech.
If Islam is going to be reformed it is not going to be because infidels suggest it. It has to be reformed from within. But since you can get yourself beheaded quite easily at the first suggestion of some “modifications if you please”, that is unlikely. We are stuck and he needs to grasp that.
Newt exhibits an extraordinary misunderstanding of basic Islamic doctrines. A true muslim does not cherry pick which parts of the faith he choses to follow. The Taliban shooting girls going to school and destroying statuary are just doing what the Koran directs as far as the place of women in society is concerned and worshiping false idols. They are being true, devout muslims following a fair interpretation of the words of the Prophet( Peanut Butter Upon Him). This is the part Newt , and so many others don’t get. He thinks that the Taliban have perverted the religion when they are just doing what the Koran directs. This makes all the difference to me because he is, in this sense, no different from any other candididate or the Bush Cheney Rice gang.
I wonder if Newt has read any of Spencer books?
Newt is a respectful debater, and would probably love the chance to debate the issue with a knowledgble, and also respected and respectful opponent. I love listening to each of them. Wouldn’t a Spencer v. Gingrich debate on reformiming or modifying Islam be a hoot?
Foehammer: The ME is on the brink I would say. Big trouble between Syria and Israel, Gaza (Hamass) and Israel, Hezbo and Israel, and their great benefactor, Iran. Only a matter of time.
The US is being forced into being the bad guy again since the UN has no spine. The UN has become strictly management of propaganda, or silence, for member states like Russia and China and others, now Germany.
How would Bush survive such a thing? It would be perceived as the boy calling wolf again. I wonder.