Steyne

Mark Steyn discusses the myth of the "passive primitive man." You know, the ones who lived in beautiful harmony with nature until Western Civilization had to come and ruin it all.

In his shrewd book Civilization And Its Enemies, Lee Harris writes:

"Forgetfulness occurs when those who have been long inured to civilized order can no longer remember a time in which they had to wonder whether their crops would grow to maturity without being stolen or their children sold into slavery by a victorious foe. . . . That, before 9/11, was what had happened to us. The very concept of the enemy had been banished from our moral and political vocabulary."

It's worse than Harris thinks. We're not merely "forgetful." We've constructed a fantasy past in which primitive societies lived in peace and security with nary a fear that their crops would be stolen or their children enslaved. War has been the natural condition of mankind for thousands of years, and our civilization is a very fragile exception to that. What does it say about us that so many of our elites believe exactly the opposite -- that we are a monstrous violent rupture with our primitive pacifist ancestors? It's never a good idea to put reality up for grabs. You can bet your highest-denomination axe on that.

It is only in our modern times that we have the luxury of clamoring for "peace" above all else. But it is naive and dangerously foolish to believe that peace is what everyone wants. Whether we are dealing with drug gangs, rouge states, or terrorist organizations, peaceful means just simply will have no effect.

For some, war is a means to an end. And, I'm not referring to Bush.Reading through the "7 Phase plane" to establish an Islamic caliphate, it appears that we might now be in "phase three"- AHEAD OF PLAN. Phase one was basically 9/11. Phase Two, or "Opening Eyes", was designed as a recruiting, and making the world aware of the "Islamic community." The current situation in Israel makes me wonder if we are advancing into the Third Phase :

This is described as "Arising and Standing Up" and should last from 2007 to 2010. "There will be a focus on Syria," prophesies Hussein, based on what his sources told him. The fighting cadres are supposedly already prepared and some are in Iraq. Attacks on Turkey and -- even more explosive -- in Israel are predicted. Al-Qaida's masterminds hope that attacks on Israel will help the terrorist group become a recognized organization. The author also believes that countries neighboring Iraq, such as Jordan, are also in danger.

The rest of the phases involve the collapse of the Arab governments (phase four), the creation of the Islamic state, or caliphate (phase five), a great battle between the Islamic army and the "non-believers" (phase six), and the "definitive victory" with a world-wide Islamic caliphate (phase seven).

Some needs to explain to me exactly how peaceful means can be used in this situation. Or with Hezbollah or Iran or North Korea or in Sudan. Because, you know, I like Peace.