Correspondence
Correspondence A JUST WAR I USUALLY ENJOY J. Bottum's writing, but I'm troubled by his premature and ill-advised Christian-bashing article ("AWOL Christian Soldiers," Oct. 1). Bottum claims to...
...Just War Christians are more likely to hang in there for the long haul than those without such theological convictions to motivate them...
...foreign policy in the Middle East ("Bin Laden, Beware," Sept...
...Britain lost some of its own during the tragedy...
...The recent "situation" involved the death of every soul aboard four jet airliners plus thousands of victims on the ground, and the destruction of billions of dollars' worth of public and private real estate...
...Along with the rest of the establishment media, Gerecht characterizes them as irrational madmen...
...There is no question that war between the two of us is inevitable...
...He also dismisses the United States' lopsided support of Israel as the core problem...
...The commentary on the continent is even worse, and it will deteriorate more rapidly...
...In this case that will not include the countries of Europe...
...He thought that he would be able to bring upon Israel international pressure to go beyond even what former Prime Minister Barak had offered him at Camp David and Taba—and again he failed...
...While Bottum rightly reminds us of the "peace church" tradition, he is simply wrong when he concludes that the "soft pacificism" of post-World War II mainline Protestantism has replaced the Just War theory embraced by most Catholic, Orthodox, mainline Protestant, and evangelical American Christians...
...They are afraid to go to the movies...
...So Bottum goes over the top with his Neronian "blame the Christians" sentiment: "If the United States goes wobbly in its war on terrorism...
...Yes, the Brits came back, but they never really controlled the territory...
...For this reason it is not in the interest of Western governments to expose the interests of their people to all kinds of retaliation for almost nothing...
...Italian defense minister Antonio Martino said, "The term war is inappropriate," as though it is up to him to determine how the United States will classify and respond to the worst act of terror in its history...
...Reading the British media and watching the BBC over the last few days, I have heard continual commentary from their correspondents about whether or not George Bush is getting "wise counsel" from his "more measured" allies in Europe, and whether the United States will be "disproportionate" in its response...
...The American belief in the possiblity of a just war is deeper and broader than that, for it is rooted in the way American Christians worship, pray, and relate to other Christians and to those of other religions...
...I HAD THE UNFORTUNATE EXPERIENCE OF seeing exactly what Peter Feaver describes as "the knee-jerk anti-Americanism of much of Britain (and Europe's) intellectual and media elite" ("The Brits are All Right," Sept...
...C. D. TAVARES Morristown, AZ LIVING WITH TERROR I HAVE READ Charles Krauthammer's important and incisive article "Arafat's War" (Sept...
...While I agree both with his analysis and his conclusions, I disagree with one part of the article, i.e., the one that says that "Israelis are afraid...
...One has only to listen to John Miller's rare 1998 interview with Osama bin Laden to hear from the man himself...
...as the illusion that assuaging the Palestinians and granting them their own state would bring peace is shattered...
...Christian feeling will have had something to do with it...
...Not even close...
...That, and the irreplaceable conviction that God has already defeated evil and will not allow it to prevail in our time...
...If they believe that, then perhaps they should brush up on their British colonial history...
...To do so would unduly raise our expectations of what support we can count on, and ultimately distract our leaders and disappoint the American people when the coalition predictably fractures when the going gets really tough...
...I'm thinking specifically of the 1842 Khyber Pass massacre...
...Even worse, they are demoralized...
...Thanks to The Weekly Standard and Peter Feaver for helping to set the record straight with regard to the bias of the British media...
...We have definitely not lost hope, but we have shed the remaining fantasies of Oslo...
...Petersburg, FL HAVING LIVED IN EUROPE for several years, I have some firsthand observations of what Peter Feaver reports, and I fully agree with his analysis...
...Ground war in Afghanistan may be necessary, but a Panama-style war and victory it will not be...
...ROBERT R. REDMAN JR...
...KEVIN BREAY Los Angeles, CA WHO'S WITH US...
...Unfortunately, though Arafat must by now understand that he cannot win— obviously not caring about the terrible price the Palestinian population is paying for his intifada—he may nevertheless continue spreading terror and bloodshed unless the international community makes it absolutely clear to him that neither the Palestinians nor he personally will reap any political dividends from his strategy of violence...
...3) as reprinted in the Jerusalem Post...
...I would go even further in predicting an eventual distancing of their support...
...foreign policy and support of Israel as the real culprit...
...The American media should put aside their own opinions and start leveling with the American public...
...Contrary to the above, the vast majority of Israelis are actually determined to go on living their normal lives as if there were no Palestinian terror...
...CARL W GOSS Los Angeles, CA HOPLOPHOBIA PSYCHOLOGISTS HAVE COINED the term "hoplophobia" to describe unreasonable fear of weapons...
...The United States has the support of the British government and the British people during this difficult time...
...She says her union rejects arming pilots against hijackers because "We don't need to make these situations more dangerous than they are...
...It is hoped that people of those countries will initiate a positive move and force their governments not to act on behalf of other states and other sects...
...Do they really believe that a country that more or less successfully fended off the British Raj for 130 years and the Russians for at least 10 years can be defeated or rendered powerless by a Panama-type expeditionary force...
...Polls show overwhelming support for American action to stop terrorism, and the numbers are largely unchanged by religious preference...
...ZALMAN SHOVAL Former ambassador to the United States Tel Aviv, Israel THE WEEKLY STANDARD welcomes letters to the editor...
...He surely wants the United States out of Saudi Arabia...
...He initially expressed regret about the World Trade Center terrorist bombings and then proceeded to blame U.S...
...All letters should be addressed: Correspondence Editor THE WEEKLY STANDARD 1150 17th St., NW, Suite 505 Washington, DC 20036...
...He wants the United States to leave the Middle East...
...He spoke out of both sides of his mouth...
...They are afraid to drive the open road...
...Europe is a nice place to visit, and their leaders may mean well, but when it comes to the defense of the United States in a life and death struggle, I would prefer to leave that entirely to people I can count on...
...Indeed, if the United States prevails in its war on terrorism, the widespread Christian conviction that America must act to prevent the further loss of innocent lives will have had something to do with it...
...Further comments about the United States' not understanding the root causes of this terrorism make the condescension almost unbearable...
...2 New York Times: "Israeli citizens, while worried about terrorism, have hardened, swinging to the right...
...It would be enlightening to hear this woman explain the mechanism by which handguns in the hands of responsible pilots could have made this situation any "more dangerous...
...Bin Laden states, "The enmity between us and the Jews goes far back in time and is deep rooted...
...And that defeat took place without Stinger and blow-pipe missiles, which the Afghans now have...
...It is clear that bin Laden is attempting to change our foreign policy in the Middle East...
...On the BBC World Service Telecast on September 12, a gentleman representing the Islamic Front in London was interviewed...
...You may also fax letters: (202) 293-4901 or e-mail: editor@weeklystandard.com...
...With so little evidence to go on, Bottum is bound to miss the mark when he complains that "the entire theological tradition of using martial metaphors to describe God's glory has fallen into massive disrepute...
...REV...
...Bin Laden went on to tell Miller: "We believe that this [Clinton] administration represents Israel inside America...
...Bottum's facile criteria of proof-text scripture and selected hymns cannot adequately gauge most Christians' support for America's campaign to protect innocent lives and root out the evil that threatens them...
...This is not a "holy war...
...San Antonio, TX HOLY POLITICS REUEL MARC GERECHT's focusing on Osama bin Laden and his followers' being holy warriors detracts attention from their main political motivation, which is to change U.S...
...SCOTT FRANDSEN ATLANTA, GA IT'S NOT GRAB-AND-GO GARY SCHMITT and Tom Donnelly rightly assert that Osama bin Laden wants us out of the Middle East ("What Our Enemies Want," Sept...
...All of this from the United Kingdom, our staunchest ally in Europe...
...That most Israelis, except for the rapidly diminishing number of incorrigible "peaceniks," have lost any illusion as to Yasser Arafat's real intentions is a good thing—and as Clyde Haberman commented in the Sept...
...And the support of American Christians will last...
...We shouldn't plan on anything more than verbal and moral support from our European allies...
...A textbook example of this syndrome is the statement by the Association of Flight Attendants' spokeswoman in Sam Dealey's "How Not to Fix Airport Security" (Sept...
...The views of the BBC and its anti-American and anti-Israeli demagogues do not represent the views of the fine citizens of the United Kingdom...
...A few weeks ago, tens of thousands from Israel and abroad participated in a folk-dancing festival in Galilee, and there are other examples...
...KENNETH PORTERFIELD St...
...But Schmitt and Donnelly are wrong to imply that a campaign in Afghanistan will be an operation as simple as the one that grabbed Manuel Noriega in Panama a few years back...
...No opposing view was aired...
...Yasser Arafat made two basic miscalculations when he started his wave of terror and violence: He believed that the fortitude and unity of the Israeli public would weaken—and they have grown stronger...
...This is certainly the case among the declining liberal mainline, but the tradition is alive and well in many circles, not the least of which are the flourishing Pentecostal and charismatic movements...
...Movie theaters in most of the country, though less so in Jerusalem, are crowded as usual, and so are the concert halls, the restaurants, and the cafes...
...Bottum claims to know what was said and sung in most American churches following the attacks of September 11, but he refers only to Jerry Falwell and to one editorial...
...For this war we need our leaders and citizens fully focused on the task at hand, not trying to hold together a half dozen European allies in a military effort we can fight ourselves...
...They are afraid to send children to the mall...
Vol. 7 • October 2001 • No. 5
