[IMC-Editorial] Op-Ed: U.S. Must Stop Undermining Israel's War on Terrorism

[The Ayn Rand Institute]

Dear Editor, 

Please consider this Op-Ed submission from the Ayn Rand Institute. For
your convenience, you can download it from:
http://www.aynrand.org/medialink/freeisrael.shtml

The U.S. Must Stop Undermining Israel's War on Terrorism

By Andrew Bernstein

President Bush acknowledges that Yasser Arafat has "failed as a
leader" and recognizes that his promises to fight terrorism are
nothing but empty lies. So why does his administration oppose Arafat's
elimination?  If Bin Laden or Saddam Hussein were holed up in a
compound surrounded by U.S. troops, is there any doubt as to what the
outcome would be? Why is Arafat different?

The answer is that the Bush administration continues to uphold the
absurd contradiction of appeasing Palestinian terrorism while
supposedly fighting the broader phenomenon of Islamic terrorism
elsewhere in the world. According to Colin Powell, the result of
Arafat's removal would be "rage throughout the Arab world, the Muslim
world, and in many other parts of the world." But where is the
rage--in this case a morally justified rage--of Mr. Powell and the
U.S. government toward the terrorists who repeatedly murder Israeli
civilians? 

America has failed to learn the full lesson of September 11, 2001:
that appeasement only invites more and worse attacks. The atrocities
of that day were merely the most egregious attacks against us by
Islamic terrorists. They had kidnapped our diplomats in Teheran,
murdered U.S. servicemen in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, bombed our
embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, attacked the U.S.S. Cole in
Yemen--and for more than two decades we did nothing to defend
ourselves. For the same reason that we reversed our policy of
appeasement after September 11 and began defending ourselves with
force, we should allow and encourage Israel to defend itself with
force.

For years the U.S. government has pressured Israel into suicidal
negotiations with Palestinian terrorists. Israel had Arafat and the
PLO surrounded south of Beirut in 1982, and was ready to eradicate
them, but was restrained by President Reagan, who pressured the
Israelis to allow Arafat and his organization safe passage to Tunisia.
Despite the price paid in blood by innocent Israelis and Americans
since, and despite Arafat's empty promises to fight Palestinian
terrorism, the Bush administration continues to urge Israel to keep
its troops out of the West Bank and to exercise "restraint."

For several compelling reasons the United States must desist from
restraining Israel. The death of Arafat and the destruction of
murderous groups like Hamas and Hizbollah will eliminate terrorists
who hate the United States. It will strengthen Israel, our sole ally
in the area, who will no longer have to live with constant suicide
attacks. And the demise of Palestinian terrorism will prevent the
creation of a Palestinian state, which given the hostility to the West
of Palestinian leaders, would only add another independent nation to
those already supporting terrorism.

There are also deeper moral reasons for setting Israel free to defend
itself. The U.S. government needs to understand that more than Israel
and America are under attack by terrorist organizations and regimes:
Western Civilization is. At its deepest level, this is a struggle
between two philosophies and two civilizations. Our murderous and
tyrannical enemies are morally committed to their anti-Western
ideology. Are we committed to our ideology? The terrorists know of our
overwhelming military might--but they sense, too, our vacillating
moral weakness. The U.S. government must fight this war in the name of
the right and supremacy of Western Civilization, a culture vastly
superior to Islamic culture in its ability to promote man's life on
earth.

Israel is the lone country in the Middle East that stands for freedom,
individual rights, secularism, reason, science and prosperity. Every
Arab government is a dictatorship--be it a monarchy, theocracy or
military state. Only in Israel is there freedom of speech and of the
press, freedom of religion and the right to private property. The
honest, nonviolent Arab living in Israel enjoys far greater freedom
than he would under any Arab regime, including Arafat's. Israel, as
the sole Western nation in that region, must be encouraged to apply
its military superiority to achieve victory over the terrorists.

Urging the Israelis to destroy Arafat and to fight terrorists
aggressively is good for the United States, both militarily and
morally. We will then have an effective, trustworthy ally fighting by
our side. More important, it will show the world that we are committed
to the values of Western Civilization, that we will defend them to our
last breath, and that we will not yield. Such uncompromising
commitment to freedom and to Western values is a weapon far more
powerful than any in our military arsenal.
___________________________________________________________________

Andrew Bernstein, Ph.D. in philosophy, is a senior writer for the Ayn
Rand Institute (www.aynrand.org) in Irvine, Calif. The Institute
promotes Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand, author of Atlas
Shrugged and The Fountainhead.

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