The Discerning Texan

Froggy is on fire: no sooner do I link to him over the Durbin affair, than he posts this masterpiece:

Attacking Your Enemy’s Weakness

This is something that our enemies, aided by treasonous politicians and a willing media, have had great success recently. There is no scenario under which islamofascists can actually invade the US, or even conduct sustained offensive operations on our soil. Eventually we would roll them all up or they would kill themselves in possibly a spectacular (perhaps even nuclear) attack, and that would be about the most they could do. Which is not to say that this is an acceptable outcome, but nevertheless, there is no victory on their horizon under any reasonable standard.

Of course our weakness is our decency and respect for the individual human being, be they American or foreign. Make no mistake; this is a very soft underbelly considering the utter barbarity of our enemies. Our decency is assaulted every time a head is chopped off to the sheer delight of the executioners. It is assaulted each time a bomb explodes in a crowded market killing dozens of innocent civilians.

The islamofascist “culture” reminds me of a group of mischievous teenage boys. I know a little about this having been one 20 years ago. Often boys will get together and talk about the people and institutions that they feel make their lives difficult in one way or another. Amongst themselves these conversations contain much bravado and posturing. They make great plans to get back at their enemies, they conceive of cruel methods of punishment, and every once in a while a group of these boys, usually having little supervision, will actually act on these schemes. While in the US our culture stands in defiance to the exercise of these dark motives, the islamonutter’s culture completely reinforces and supports them. Their media lionizes murderers and gives legitimacy and intellectual support to their twisted and evil motives. The result is a hypermasculine death cult. I use the word masculine for lack of a better term because masculinity demands balance between leadership, a warrior ethic, mentorship, and friendship; none of which are found in the islamonutter.

Their weakness is their pride. Our weakness is the lack of political will to exploit that. We fear the “muslim street” because to offend it is to further “radicalize” the muslim world. Really? How much more radical can it get? The only moderate muslims that I am aware of are members of the elected Iraqi government and they are our allies. Secular liberals have a conniption when they think our soldiers have “mishandled” the Koran. But they confiscate and destroy Bibles at the airport in Saudi Arabia and other muslim countries. “Human rights activists” call humiliation of muslim detainees “torture” that is occurring in a modern “gulag”. Meanwhile there are mass graves spanning the middle east and ample evidence that Saddam Hussein made sausage out of his opponents while they were alive.

These islamocultists seemingly want to die in the act of killing us. This presents a conundrum in that not only do we want to live, we also don’t want them to have what they want. While slaughtering these animals is surely an important aspect of the GWOT, it doesn’t do much for our side in the propaganda campaign. These are people who murder their daughters for being raped in order to uphold the family “honor”. Pride is a terrible weakness to have because it is something that is very easy to take away. Dignity, honor, decency can only be given away while pride is right out in the open for the taking. Let’s take it.

Shame is a powerful weapon when it is wielded with intelligence and guile. At this point, treating AQ detainees with the same dignity and respect shown to members of a chain gang would be a start. Put them to work. Let’s have them grow their own food; the soil is fertile in Cuba. I’m sure there are ditches that need to be dug, toilets that need to be cleaned, clothes washed, etc. Don’t hide it from the world, make a frickin’ web cam site so we can log in and watch Imad scrubbing pots, and Mohammed breaking rocks with a sledge hammer. There is no need for air conditioning in any detainee cell in Cuba. All that is required is a roof. You put those boys outside for 12 hours a day working themselves to the bone, and we’ll see how the recruiting numbers work out. If a detainee wants a day off, he can spend it telling the CIA and FBI what’s on the schedule for AQ ops next month and who is doing what. If not, no problem, grab a shovel and start diggin’. By the way, detainees can read the Koran on THEIR time, not Uncle Sam’s. The schedule of Guantanamo should be made by the Camp not by the inmates. You are in OUR world now Ahmed, not yours.

Make no mistake, I am not proposing any rubber hose treatment, fingernail removal, or genital E-stim, and I want everything to be well publicized and transparent for all to see. I’m not talking about denying medical care or food either. I want these animals to live a long and humiliating life working their a$$es off from dawn to dusk in order to serve as an example to their comrades that the “glory” they seek will not be found making war with the US.These terrorists should be given three choices: death, humiliation, or surrender. When one of those mischievous teenage boys I mentioned would step out of line, usually having his nose caved in would be enough for him and his friends to abandon their ill conceived plans. Taking away the pride of their most respected terrorists for all to see is likely to cause others to have second thoughts about going up against us. Bowing to the demands of Amnesty International, the ACLU, and seditious Senators has never been a winning strategy. Let's hit them where it hurts by taking their pride, and rubbing their noses in it for the whole world to see.

America needs more blogs like Froggy Ruminations who are willing to not mince words in telling the truth. These are not decent people who are incarcerated in Gitmo. These are monsters who would gladly slit your throat and then praise Allah. Thank God we live in a country where people like Matthew Heidt (aka Froggy) are allowed to speak out without being thrown into a real torture chamber. Wouldn't it be amazing to one day read stories like this in the New York Times? (OK, so I have a vivid imagination...). But this demonstrates how far we have fallen, when men like Heidt do not represent the "mainstream"; it is the symptom of a country that no longer appreciates what it has -- and what was paid for by its forefathers blood and toil. We need to take our country back from those whose ignorance and/or hatred for what this country stands for could cost us hundreds of thousands of lives of our fellow citizens. Right now Durbin is at the top of the list but there are others. It has been and will continue to be my mission to help great bloggers like Froggy dissimenate this important message, however and whenever I can.

UPDATE: Two excellent posts on the outrages of these modern day Benedict Arnolds today in The American Thinker: here (oWe're at war...right?) and here (The Democrats sign up with the Anti-Semites).

UPDATE: John Kass of the Chicago Tribune has hit one out of the park on the Gitmo matter: he says that it has nothing to do with torture and everything to do with posturing for mid-term elections. But since when is disgracing America's name worldwide, comparing the finest citizens that America has to offer to Pol Pot, and fanning the flames of hate in the Arab world -- for negligible political gain (I think it will backfire...) -- acceptable behavior in the United States Senate? Dick Durbin has by this action alone proven himself unworthy of being a US Senator; his colleagues should not let this story die: they need to Censure Durbin now. I have highlighted the portions of Kass' column that really hit home. Keep in mind, this is a mainstream media columnist from the largest paper in Durbin's home state:

On serious note, Gitmo tactics far from torture

Some readers are angry that I made light of the politics surrounding the treatment of suspected terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay. They're upset that I didn't take it seriously.

OK. I'll take it seriously, particularly statements by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who compared Guantanamo to Hitler's camps, Stalin's gulags and the Cambodian killing fields of the Khmer Rouge.

Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot murdered roughly 50 million people. At Guantanamo, suspected terrorists have been made uncomfortable, including a minion of Osama bin Laden's who was forced to listen to Christina Aguilera tunes. But I haven't heard of anyone being killed there.

Which brings me to those outraged at my lack of outrage. I understand the problem. The suspected terrorists don't wear the uniform of a nation state. An innocent man may be held there simply because a neighbor ratted him out to grab his land.

And there are legitimate legal concerns as to how to treat them under the law. There also are immediate issues--such as finding out what they know in order to protect Americans here and overseas.

But on Thursday, I had some fun with a Time magazine report about the use of Christina Aguilera's music by interrogators to loosen tongues at Gitmo.

Why? Because I thought it was funny. And because most of the debate is calculated, having little to do with the merits and much to do with midterm elections.

By the way, I'd like to thank all those who sent in their favorite songs to be offered as new Guantanamo musical interrogation tools, now to be referred to as "Interro-Tunes."

According to my quick look at the Tribune Web site, the Interro-Tune leader appeared to be "Muskrat Love" by the Captain & Tennille.

But I remain loyal to "Ballerina," and the chorus "Dance, ballerina, dance," as the best musical breaker of terrorist will. Yet I also had hoped to explore the musical stylings of the noted Calypso singers the Rev. Louis Farrakhan and Harry "Shut your mouth, go away; Mama look a Boo-Boo" Belafonte.

Still, some folks thought it was in poor taste, and I got letters warning of a letter-writing campaign. A colleague forwarded the following letter to me, representative of others I received.

"There is nothing funny about torture. Torture is what the bad guys do. Torture negates our common humanity. Torture is what the Nazis did. Torture is what Stalin did. Torture is what Saddam did. Why is the U.S. torturing prisoners?"

Yes, torture is not funny. But I don't consider what is going on at Guantanamo worthy of the Hitler tag. Interestingly, the letter mirrors what Durbin recently said on the Senate floor. He complained that detainees were kept in chairs to soil themselves and subjected to "extremely loud rap music" while chained in a fetal position on the floor. Durbin said:"If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by the Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime--Pol Pot or others--that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners." "It is not too late," Durbin said. "I hope we will learn from history. I hope we will change course."

We're at war, Senator. How can you possibly justify that statement?

And you know what? We have learned from history. The reason buildings at Guantanamo are full is because there are two big holes in the ground in New York.

Senator, weren't you one of those legitimately complaining that U.S. intelligence dropped the ball and something had to be done so it wouldn't happen again?

It is being done. Much of it isn't polite or civilized and some of it upsets me, like the abuse of the Koran. Suspects have been pushed around, hurt, and enemies have been given propaganda fodder.

Clearly, Americans don't like it when others get hurt. But Americans really don't like it when Americans get hurt.

At any rate, this is not the kind of torture I've heard about. In World War II in Greece, my father was handed over to the Germans on the suspicion he aided downed British airmen. They beat him, day after day, making him dig his own grave. He played dumb to survive and it worked. An uncle was forced into a labor camp. The Nazis didn't use Christina Aguilera music on him, though luckily, he too survived.

Sen. Durbin, in other places, suspected terrorists have their feet flayed with rods, their families raped; they're force-fed a quart of olive oil, then tied, seated, to a block of ice. By your own words, Senator, Guantanamo isn't remotely like that.

You don't have to apologize to the Republicans in the White House. But Senator, you should apologize to the nation.

And if you don't have the stomach for the work, please have the guts not to play partisan politics with what has to be done.

Seriously.

I'll go one better; show some respect for your countrymen who have perished, and who will perish because you have now made the job that much more difficult for the men and women protecting your traitorous ass.

Resign. Now.

Seriously.