December 6, 2003
Maybe it’s a coincidence, but doesn’t it seem like everybody on the planet has enemies who, they tell us, only understand force? Do we all have the same enemy or something? Because if we do, it should be easy to gang up on the bastards.[11:33 PM]
Spare the rod, spoil the child. It goes back a long way.
This bit from the same entry in Henley's blog is also pretty good:
The same article has another great quote
"With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help them," Colonel Sassaman said.
Over in one of the comment threads on Calpundit, somebody pointed out that the administration line has shifted from 'democracy, and niceness', to 'toughness and striking and teaching them a lesson'.
The commenter felt that this was a sign that the administration felt that things were not going in their direction in Iraq. I agree.
"With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help them," Colonel Sassaman said.
Hey, it worked for Spain with the Aztecs, Incas, etc....
The Henley quote was priceless. Hopefully none of my friends in the real world read blogs and I can casually slip it into conversation as though it were my own.
Darn Google--it could spoil everything.
"doesn’t it seem like everybody on the planet has enemies who, they tell us, only understand force? Do we all have the same enemy or something?"
Wouldn't that enemy be, well, us?
That's the downside of choosing to be The Empire. Everyone you haven't conquered yet decides that you are the default entity to hate.
Gore Vidal says we chose to become an Empire under Harry Truman, when he created The National Security State.
They say, on the internet, that a study was done about 1999 or 2000 by Cheney, Ashcroft, Wolfowitz -- all the usual suspects -- who wrote a report on whether or not the USA should choose to be The Empire.
If so, I'm not clear which one they thought we should be. Babylon? Persia? Carthage? Rome? Britain?
One other downside -- our allies are lukewarm, for the most part, and expect us to pick up the tab...
Bush, dude, it's been done before, and never worked forever. The attempt was made to Romanize the world, to Christinize it, the Frankify it, to Spanishize it, to Britishize it, to Germanize it, to Communize it. And you think we can Americanize even the bits that none of these worked on before?
War of the Worlds, dude. Can't even Martianize it.
But, hey, let's build that Moonbase. I'm all in favor. Maybe then the voters will forget job loss and your war. Can we send prisoners there?
But always remember the key difference between us and them:
They only understand force. They will be forced to admit that they cannot win.
We will stand firm; we will never cut and run.
Jonathan: Are you thinking of the Project for the New American Century and their report Rebuilding America's Defenses (warning, link #2 is a 850 kb PDF file)? There's more on them at Exposing the Project For The New American Century.
Hard-Hitting Moderator: Teresa Nielsen Hayden.
Comments on People I quote too frequently, part XXIII.: