Casualties of war

By Joseph Farah

The Islamicists’ war on the United States has already claimed more civilian U.S. casualties than any conflict since the War Between the States.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that there may be some casualties of this war that are entirely welcome, long overdue, exceptionally positive.

Here are some of the things that may die a deserved death as a result of the attacks on America:

  • The idea that a nation can retain its sovereignty, freedom and culture with open borders: A CNN report recently pointed out that nine of the 19 hijackers of the four U.S. planes were in the U.S. legally. That’s typical CNN spin, of course. Another way to tell that story – a better way, in fact – is that 10 of 19 were here illegally. And there are big questions still about the process that was used to permit the nine to obtain legal status.

    But, more importantly, is the fact – recognized by most Americans, if not most politicians – that our open-border policy provides no defense against domestic terrorism. None. Zero. Zilch. Zip. Nada. This is a good thing. Americans have a new opportunity to make the case to the out-of-touch, ruling elite in Washington that out-of-control immigration is dangerous to our nation’s health – not just because of terrorism, but for a whole host of reasons.

  • The idea that one culture is as good as another: If multiculturalism and the promotion of “diversity” as the highest goal for our society have any validity, then I’d like to hear one of its proponents explain how Islamic culture is equal to Judeo-Christian culture and Western civilization. I’d like to hear one of them explain why it’s just OK to oppress women in second-class citizenship and third-rate lives. I’d like to hear one of them explain why suicide bombings are just examples of an alternative lifestyle. I’d like to hear one of them explain, in light of this tragedy, how we can all just get along with one another.

  • The idea that “discrimination” is always a bad thing: One recent poll showed that most Americans – and especially black Americans – believed ethnic and gender profiling of Middle Eastern men made all the sense in the world to them. It all depends, I guess, on whose ox is being gored. But the fact remains that of the 19 hijackers responsible for crashing those airliners on Sept. 11, 100 percent of them were Middle Eastern men. I point this out, of course, as a Middle Eastern man myself.

    I didn’t object at all when a flight attendant last week observed me reading a book about Osama bin Laden and questioned me. It must have looked suspicious indeed. The book was in uncorrected proof manuscript form and, thus, probably had the appearance of a terrorist manual. She did the right thing. She questioned me about it. In other words, she discriminated. She wasn’t afraid of being accused of racial profiling. After all, her life was at stake – as well as the lives of hundreds of others. Maybe this is the wakeup call our nation needs to get back to common sense with regard to using all of our senses, all of our logic, all of our judgment skills.

  • The idea that we need to be, no matter what the cost, “sensitive” to all other peoples and do what is “politically correct” for fear of the consequences: Last week we learned the CIA had Taliban leader Sheik Omar in its cross-hairs. Officials called for an airstrike that would have taken out Osama bin Laden’s chief ally in Afghanistan. But a Defense Department lawyer got involved. He didn’t feel right about it. So the strike was never ordered. Sheik Omar lives as a result of that indecision.

    Meanwhile, innocent Afghanis are dying by the score because bombs are being dropped on targets all over the country in an attempt to root out people like bin Laden and Sheik Omar. Does this make any sense to you? It doesn’t make any sense to me – nor do I expect it makes any sense to 99 percent of Americans. If this war is fought by the rules of political correctness, it will be the last war we as a nation live to fight.

  • The idea that unilateral disarmament is a good thing and that defense of the nation should take a backseat to social spending and social engineering: Yes, there are still a few stalwarts who say missile defense wouldn’t protect us in this fight so there’s no point in deploying it. But more and more Americans are realizing it is a losing proposition to keep fighting the last war. America is vulnerable. Of that, there is no question. It is not just vulnerable to suicide attacks by terrorists. It is equally vulnerable to nuclear attacks by terrorist states quickly arming themselves with unconventional weapons of mass destruction.

It may take awhile for these self-evident truths to become evident to political operatives in Washington. But I must say I am encouraged at how quickly ordinary common-sense Americans have grown to appreciate the obvious lessons of this attack on our civilization.


Don’t miss Joseph Farah’s exclusive report “Jihad in America” in the November issue of Whistleblower magazine, WorldNetDaily’s monthly offline publication. Order your subscription now.

Joseph Farah

Joseph Farah is founder, editor and chief executive officer of WND. He is the author or co-author of 13 books that have sold more than 5 million copies, including his latest, "The Gospel in Every Book of the Old Testament." Before launching WND as the first independent online news outlet in 1997, he served as editor in chief of major market dailies including the legendary Sacramento Union. Read more of Joseph Farah's articles here.