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May 18, 2005
Newsweek's Act of War
Posted by Dave Blount at May 18, 2005 6:33 AM
In case you were wondering, Newsweek has no intention of firing anybody over Korangate, according to Fox News. Their Michael Isikoff's false claim that interrogators at Gitmo have been flushing Korans down toilets predictably ignited lethal riots in the Middle East, but apparently this is not a major concern for Newsweek.
They have retracted the story. However, that is pretty much like retracting the match you used to burn down a barn. It isn't going to put the barn back up. The people who have died in the rioting will still be dead, American efforts to stabilize the situation in the Middle East will still be set back years, our troops will still be subjected to greatly increased danger, and al Qaeda — maybe you remember them, they want to destroy our civilization and are actively seeking the technology that will allow them to do it — will still have scored a major propaganda coup.
Try telling these guys it's all right, nobody flushed any Korans down any toilet, Newsweek was just printing vicious unconfirmed rumors because they don't like their own country:
By the way, if anyone ever did flush a Koran, would that be more insulting than burning our flag? Do we ever have a right to be angry? Would it surprise anyone if it turned out that these goons disgracing our flag are living off American aid?
Over at The Cliffs of Insanity, The Warden is right to wonder why Newsweek considered the Koran flushing incident — supposing it were true — to be news in the first place. Is it because they are concerned that people's religious views may not be shown proper respect? But then why have they published work by the guy who made Piss Christ? Why did they defend the outrageous portrait of the Virgin Mary smeared with elephant dung that taxpayers were forced to subsidize at the Brooklyn Museum?
The reason Newsweek published this fictional story is because they knew it would feed hostility against the government of the United States. They may have underestimated just how much damage it would do — just as bin Laden underestimated how much damage flying two jets into it would do to the World Trade Center. But that hardly redeems them.
As most people are aware, we are at war. It is a very serious war, one that we could conceivably lose. The price of losing would be the end of our civilization, and the beginning of a terrible new age of darkness. Imagine a radioactive wasteland ruled by the Taliban. That is the future if we lose.
In World War II, we fought two main enemies that were allied against us: Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. In the current war we again face an alliance of two enemies sworn to our destruction. Unfortunately they are harder to fight, because they are not so easily pinpointed on a map. Our two enemies are radical Islam and the Left.
Few on the Left would admit, even to themselves, that they are allied with al Qaeda in a war of annihilation against Western Civilization. But their actions speak much more clearly than the sanctimonious justifications used to excuse them.
Those who want to destroy us cannot compete directly with our military. This is why the war is not being fought on a conventional battlefield. Our enemies have two weapons: terrorism and propaganda. Al Qaeda provides the terrorism. The left-wing media — including our own "mainstream" media — provides the propaganda.
Newsweek's phony story is a godsend to al Qaeda, rallying the populace against us and pulling the rug out from under our Middle Eastern allies. Propaganda is a very real weapon. Korangate isn't sloppy journalism. It is an act of war — the equivalent of shipping ammunition to Germany during World War II.
