restraints can be observed with respect to lawful combatants and truly innocent civilians This approach risks conflating jus ad bellum and jus in bello and inviting other parties to engage in unrestricted warfare simply by asserting the justice of their causes. Yet the exception need not establish the rule: no future cause could ever be more just than defense of Western civilization against conquest by Islamists
demands mental reconfiguration away from wishful thinking, half-measures, and handwringing over the fate of mortal enemies and toward reawakening and acculturating the necessary fighting spirit. Spartanization of the West will require the deepening of the concept of citizenship to include duties as well as rights, and in particular the duty to fight in defense of one’s nation that has been all but extinguished over the past two generations, but also the recovery of thumos without which this collective spirit to fight, to prefer one’s own people and civilization over an enemy’s, and to vanquish that enemy cannot be conjured.
defending the political will of Americans to continue the fight against an Islamist foe bent on destroying their belief in the inherent goodness of their civilization and in their duty to defend it
defending the political will of Americans to continue the fight against an Islamist foe bent on destroying their belief in the inherent goodness of their civilization and in their duty to defend it
cultural conflicts over guns, gay marriage, abortion, and the welfare state balkanize people into groups battling for the helm of the state
profound transformation of minds necessary to make people appreciate the severity of the threat and to set aside lower-order differences in favor of social cohesion
“exhibitions of indecision, disunity and internal disintegration within th[e] [U.S.] ha[d] an exhilarating effect on the whole Communist movement[,]”
so too do U.S. cultural conflicts, particularly those revolving around interpretation and application of LOAC, encourage Islamist adversaries
George Kennan at the dawn of the Cold War: “It is imperative that the [U.S.] create…the impression of a country which knows what it wants, which is coping successfully with the problem of its internal life and [can] hold[] its own among the major ideological currents of the time”
declare a truce insofar as those issues which destroy unity of purpose and introduce doubts as to their right and duty of self-defense
declare a truce insofar as those issues which destroy unity of purpose and introduce doubts as to their right and duty of self-defense
truce does not imply agreement as to all moral and political disputes, but withdraws issues bearing on national survivability from the political arena
absent American victory, arguments over lesser-order “social” or distributional issues of gay marriage, abortion, and the welfare state are moot
The Greatest Generation knew that a Nazi victory would radically remake post-war America in the image of the enemy, and thus in that total war domestic opposition to war entry, aims, and conduct shrank to the vanishing point. Political leaders rallied the people to fight and win, and the military “ran the war…the way the…people…wanted it run”—with precious few restraints
So too would Islamist victory supplant our way-of-life and impose Shari’a-based prescriptions inimical to the entire Left-Right spectrum, and so too must Americans cohere against this outcome.
self-interest directs the U.S. to reject most of the “progressive” developments in the field over the last forty years, including rules, institutions, and scholarship that accord Islamists advantage or otherwise shackle U.S. power
self-interest directs the U.S. to reject most of the “progressive” developments in the field over the last forty years, including rules, institutions, and scholarship that accord Islamists advantage or otherwise shackle U.S. power
Reaffirmation of orthodox interpretations of LOAC as the lawful and ethical basis for defense of Americans against Islamism should assume many forms in many fora—including an aggressive public education campaign, “robust efforts to educate the media as to what [LOAC] does—and does not—require[,]” and strategic communications to counter CLOACA disinformation.
LOAC is instrumental, and to the extent it does not incorporate their values and imperatives Americans must reshape it. Some may question the legitimacy of auto-interpretation of LOAC, yet survival is its own justification. In 1861, “[m]easures, otherwise un[lawful], might become lawful, by becoming indispensable to the preservation of the…Nation.” The existential threat circa 2014 merits as wide a margin of appreciation for U.S. leaders in divining the means and methods necessary to defend Americans and in proclaiming that these, by their indispensability, are lawful. Like Lincoln, Americans must regard law in instrumental terms and answer accordingly: LOAC permits everything and prohibits nothing that secures their survival.
it is the military upon whom the constitutional duty to defend Americans is incumbent, and in whom Americans repose trust. The responsibility it bears must accrue to it sufficient quanta of power and autonomy to execute its mission. Only the military has the expertise to determine the strategies, operational plans, and tactics necessary to defeat Islamism, and thus it should limn the parameters of compatible legal constraints with LOACA in support.
it is the military upon whom the constitutional duty to defend Americans is incumbent, and in whom Americans repose trust. The responsibility it bears must accrue to it sufficient quanta of power and autonomy to execute its mission. Only the military has the expertise to determine the strategies, operational plans, and tactics necessary to defeat Islamism, and thus it should limn the parameters of compatible legal constraints with LOACA in support.
