smn1256
I miss Tripster
Posts: 28,878
Joined: Apr 2008
Reputation: 337
I Root For: Lower taxes
Location: North Mexico
|
NY Times: Bush created ISIS by calling terrorists evil
In a Friday op-ed which appeared in the paper's international print edition on Saturday and which can reasonably be seen as giving voice to an editorial board which wouldn't dare put their name to it, La Salle University Political Science Professor Michael Boyle strenuously objected to recent characterizations of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
We can't call ISIS "evil." We also shouldn't call them a "cancer," or "savage," or "barbaric." Oh, and the fact that George W. Bush called Al Qaeda "evildoers" is why ISIS came to be, and why our problems with radical Islam are now worse. Excerpts follow the jump:
The beheading of American journalist James Foley by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, has rightly provoked global condemnation of the insurgent group and its horrific tactics. Yet it has also led to a disturbing return of the moralistic language once used to describe Al Qaeda in the panicked days after the 9/11 attacks.
In an eerie echo of President George W. Bush’s description of the global war on terrorism as a campaign against “evildoers,” President Obama described ISIS as a “cancer” spreading across the Middle East that had “no place in the 21st century.” Secretary of State John Kerry condemned ISIS as the face of a “savage” and “valueless evil,” while Britain’s prime minister, David Cameron, called the group “barbaric.”
... condemning the black-clad, masked militants as purely “evil” is seductive, for it conveys a moral clarity and separates ourselves and our tactics from the enemy and theirs.
But if the “war on terror” has taught us anything, it is that such moralistic language can blind its users to consequences. Describing a group as “inexplicable” and “nihilistic,” as Mr. Kerry did, tends to obscure the group’s strategic aims and preclude further analysis. Resorting to ritualized rhetoric can be a very costly mistake if it leads one to misunderstand an enemy and to take actions that inadvertently help its cause.
After 9/11, the Bush administration’s repeated use of the language of good and evil played directly into the hands of Al Qaeda.
... (it) gave Al Qaeda a boost in funding and recruitment that sustained the group for nearly a decade.
... However appalled we might be by a group’s actions, our objective should always be to understand our enemies as they do themselves: in this case, a highly organized insurgency with specific strategic objectives.
This last aspect is particularly important because the discourse of “evil” can create a slippery slope in which almost any countermeasures become permissible to stop the advance of the threat. This week, Mr. Kerry tweeted that ISIS “must be destroyed/will be crushed.” America is still extricating itself from the huge costs and reputational damage sustained by more than a decade of foreign wars begun in the name of stamping out “evildoers.”
Got that? The "evildoers" tag, all by itself, has led to a decade of misery — not (to name just a few things) the left giving aid and comfort to the enemey by rooting for chaos in Iraq while Bush 43 was president, not President Obama's premature withdrawal from that country, and not Obama's rules of engagement which have seriously handicapped our efforts in Afghanistan. And as to our "reputation," does anyone rational believe that our reputation has improved since Dear Leader took office in January 2009?
Sadly, Mr. Boyle is giving voice to legions of leftists, including, I would contend, the editorial board at the News York Times, who think that refusing to correctly characterize an "evil" enemy for what they are is deserving of some kind of badge of honor, and that "moral clarity" is for simpletons.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/...z3BWYT36Zi
|
|
08-26-2014 02:08 PM |
|
DrTorch
Proved mach and GTS to be liars
Posts: 35,887
Joined: Jun 2002
Reputation: 201
I Root For: ASU, BGSU
Location:
|
RE: NY Times: Bush created ISIS by calling terrorists evil
Academia in the US has become a blight.
|
|
08-26-2014 02:47 PM |
|
pharaoh0
Triggered by Microaggressions
Posts: 2,926
Joined: Dec 2012
Reputation: 156
I Root For: Duke, L'ville
Location:
|
RE: NY Times: Bush created ISIS by calling terrorists evil
Obama floated a parallel to this stupidity at a recent speech.
|
|
08-26-2014 02:48 PM |
|
gdunn
Repping E-Gang Colors
Posts: 30,335
Joined: Oct 2011
Reputation: 2450
I Root For: Southern Miss
Location: In The Moment
|
RE: NY Times: Bush created ISIS by calling terrorists evil
That's straight out of the playbook...
Don't know what to do:
1. Take vacation and play golf.
2. Blame Bush.
3. Blame the GOP.
4. Blame the GOP in Congress for not wanting to work with you.
|
|
08-26-2014 02:50 PM |
|
Owl 69/70/75
Just an old rugby coach
Posts: 80,770
Joined: Sep 2005
Reputation: 3208
I Root For: RiceBathChelsea
Location: Montgomery, TX
|
RE: NY Times: Bush created ISIS by calling terrorists evil
Umm, didn't 9/11 happen before Bush called any of them evil?
Bottom line: Neither al-Qaeda nor ISIS/ISIL nor Hezbollah nor Hamas nor any other middle eastern terrorist organization happened because somebody got butt-hurt over being called evil.
(This post was last modified: 08-26-2014 02:55 PM by Owl 69/70/75.)
|
|
08-26-2014 02:55 PM |
|
DrTorch
Proved mach and GTS to be liars
Posts: 35,887
Joined: Jun 2002
Reputation: 201
I Root For: ASU, BGSU
Location:
|
RE: NY Times: Bush created ISIS by calling terrorists evil
(08-26-2014 02:55 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote: Umm, didn't 9/11 happen before Bush called any of them evil?
He thought it way before then.
|
|
08-26-2014 02:57 PM |
|
JMUDunk
Rootin' fer Dukes, bud
Posts: 29,580
Joined: Jan 2013
Reputation: 1731
I Root For: Freedom
Location: Shmocation
|
RE: NY Times: Bush created ISIS by calling terrorists evil
(08-26-2014 02:47 PM)DrTorch Wrote: Academia in the US has become a blight.
Many of them could reasonably be called the cancer.
|
|
08-26-2014 03:02 PM |
|
Redwingtom
Progressive filth
Posts: 51,694
Joined: Dec 2003
Reputation: 977
I Root For: B-G-S-U !!!!
Location: Soros' Basement
|
RE: NY Times: Bush created ISIS by calling terrorists evil
(08-26-2014 02:08 PM)smn1256 Wrote: In a Friday op-ed which appeared in the paper's international print edition on Saturday and which can reasonably be seen as giving voice to an editorial board which wouldn't dare put their name to it, La Salle University Political Science Professor Michael Boyle strenuously objected to recent characterizations of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
We can't call ISIS "evil." We also shouldn't call them a "cancer," or "savage," or "barbaric." Oh, and the fact that George W. Bush called Al Qaeda "evildoers" is why ISIS came to be, and why our problems with radical Islam are now worse. Excerpts follow the jump:
The beheading of American journalist James Foley by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, has rightly provoked global condemnation of the insurgent group and its horrific tactics. Yet it has also led to a disturbing return of the moralistic language once used to describe Al Qaeda in the panicked days after the 9/11 attacks.
In an eerie echo of President George W. Bush’s description of the global war on terrorism as a campaign against “evildoers,” President Obama described ISIS as a “cancer” spreading across the Middle East that had “no place in the 21st century.” Secretary of State John Kerry condemned ISIS as the face of a “savage” and “valueless evil,” while Britain’s prime minister, David Cameron, called the group “barbaric.”
... condemning the black-clad, masked militants as purely “evil” is seductive, for it conveys a moral clarity and separates ourselves and our tactics from the enemy and theirs.
But if the “war on terror” has taught us anything, it is that such moralistic language can blind its users to consequences. Describing a group as “inexplicable” and “nihilistic,” as Mr. Kerry did, tends to obscure the group’s strategic aims and preclude further analysis. Resorting to ritualized rhetoric can be a very costly mistake if it leads one to misunderstand an enemy and to take actions that inadvertently help its cause.
After 9/11, the Bush administration’s repeated use of the language of good and evil played directly into the hands of Al Qaeda.
... (it) gave Al Qaeda a boost in funding and recruitment that sustained the group for nearly a decade.
... However appalled we might be by a group’s actions, our objective should always be to understand our enemies as they do themselves: in this case, a highly organized insurgency with specific strategic objectives.
This last aspect is particularly important because the discourse of “evil” can create a slippery slope in which almost any countermeasures become permissible to stop the advance of the threat. This week, Mr. Kerry tweeted that ISIS “must be destroyed/will be crushed.” America is still extricating itself from the huge costs and reputational damage sustained by more than a decade of foreign wars begun in the name of stamping out “evildoers.”
Got that? The "evildoers" tag, all by itself, has led to a decade of misery — not (to name just a few things) the left giving aid and comfort to the enemey by rooting for chaos in Iraq while Bush 43 was president, not President Obama's premature withdrawal from that country, and not Obama's rules of engagement which have seriously handicapped our efforts in Afghanistan. And as to our "reputation," does anyone rational believe that our reputation has improved since Dear Leader took office in January 2009?
Sadly, Mr. Boyle is giving voice to legions of leftists, including, I would contend, the editorial board at the News York Times, who think that refusing to correctly characterize an "evil" enemy for what they are is deserving of some kind of badge of honor, and that "moral clarity" is for simpletons.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/...z3BWYT36Zi
|
|
08-26-2014 04:06 PM |
|
Smaug
Happnin' Dude
Posts: 61,211
Joined: Mar 2005
Reputation: 842
I Root For: Dragons
Location: The Lonely Mountain
|
RE: NY Times: Bush created ISIS by calling terrorists evil
6 years, and not responsible for anything.
Damnedest thing.
|
|
08-26-2014 04:31 PM |
|
QuestionSocratic
Banned
Posts: 8,276
Joined: Jul 2013
I Root For: Buffalo
Location:
|
RE: NY Times: Bush created ISIS by calling terrorists evil
Many academics agree that Reagan's coining of the "Evil Empire" was a critical juncture in the cold war. It labeled the cause that became the framework for America's commitment to dismantle the Soviet Union and Soviet hegemony.
|
|
08-26-2014 05:27 PM |
|
UTSAMarineVet09
Corporal of the Board.
Posts: 16,360
Joined: Oct 2011
Reputation: 1271
I Root For: UTSA
Location: West Michigan
|
NY Times: Bush created ISIS by calling terrorists evil
I thought it was because someone posted an anti-Islamic video on YouTube?
|
|
08-26-2014 05:50 PM |
|
Fo Shizzle
Pragmatic Classical Liberal
Posts: 42,023
Joined: Dec 2006
Reputation: 1206
I Root For: ECU PIRATES
Location: North Carolina
|
RE: NY Times: Bush created ISIS by calling terrorists evil
Whoever wrote that horseschit should be an ISIS captive.
|
|
08-26-2014 05:56 PM |
|
EagleX
Wake me when the suck is over
Posts: 14,790
Joined: Sep 2011
Reputation: 706
I Root For: Southern Miss
Location: Happy Hour
|
RE: NY Times: Bush created ISIS by calling terrorists evil
maybe this gigantic gavina that wrote this screed would like to study ISIS himself, up close. maybe he would change his mind before they sent him back to his mother in a hat box.
|
|
08-26-2014 11:23 PM |
|