As we proceed along in the new world war, or, as some call it (mistakenly, IMHO) the "Global War on Terror," there have been a few pleasant surprises offered up from several individuals who I never would have thought capable. While many left wing Democrats and their liberal comrades have taken the 60’s-like antiwar stance out of the mothballs and repackaged it for use against our present struggle, these lone voices of liberal sensibility are indeed a breath of fresh air.
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I can remember the days of cable TV news gone by when, during the Clinton administartion era,
Geraldo Rivera hosted his "defend the president at all costs" talk show, where flaming lib
Alan Dershowitz was among his most frequent guests. Nobody made my skin crawl more than Dershowitz. Then came September 11th, 2001- the day the world changed for everybody. The murderers of that day killed indiscriminately across the political spectrum. The dead included people that were left, right, and indifferent.
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To his credit, Alan Dershowitz recognized the gravity of our new situation. Here was the defender of OJ Simpson, Bill Clinton and
Claus Von Bulow – the darling of the ACLU- suddenly advocating the use of torture in some circumstances in the fight against the terrorist enemy. Whoa!!! On September 20th, 2002, CBS news
reported on Dershowitz’s appearance on 60 Minutes:
Is there a place in the U.S. justice system for torture?
Alan Dershowitz, the civil libertarian defender of O.J Simpson, believes the law should sanction torture so it may be applied in certain cases, such as terrorist acts.
Mr. Dershowitz continues to "get it right" with regards to the present war.
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The July 22nd
LA Times ran an op-ed on the latest front in the new world war by Professor Dershowitz that captures what the mainstream media and the anti-Israel camp have inexplicably been
unable to understand about the present outbreak of war:
There is a vast difference — both moral and legal — between a 2-year-old who is killed by an enemy rocket and a 30-year-old civilian who has allowed his house to be used to store Katyusha rockets. Both are technically civilians, but the former is far more innocent than the latter.
Exactly. Read the entire piece by clicking
here. I know it’s Alan Dershowitz, but hey… you’ll be glad you did. What’s really great is that even the most misguided individuals can learn the truth given the facts.
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Another breath of fresh air from the liberal side emanates from former Democratic mayor of NYC Ed Koch. Recognizing the seriousness of the post 9/11 world, Mayor Koch has had a similar epiphany to that of the aforementioned Professor Dershowitz- to the point of
endorsing the re-election of George W. Bush:
"While I don’t agree with Bush on a single domestic issue, they are all trumped by the issue of terrorism, where he has enunciated the Bush Doctrine and proven his ability to fight this war," said Koch. "The Democratic Party just doesn’t have the stomach to go after terrorists."
Mayor Koch weighs in this week with an excellent piece for the
New York Press newspaper on the Israeli/Lebanon situation. His take in diplomacy and ceasefires pretty much falls in line with my thinking:
Israel’s response to Hezbollah has demonstrated to the enemies of the Jewish state that Israel will stand up and fight. This is in marked contrast to Spain, France and Germany under Schroeder, who have blinked and withdrawn responding to Islamic terror or threatened terror. Thankfully, our country’s leaders appreciate that we are at war with international terrorism. The West confronts a war of civilizations that is not for the fainthearted.
There are those who believe that negotiations without the will to engage in military action will suffice. They are wrong. For 58 years, Israel has tried both negotiations and self-defense by its armed forces. The work of its armed forces has given it considerable security vis-à-vis those states and terrorists who seek to destroy it. Negotiations alone never brought peace.
Negotiating after defending oneself — as Israel did with Egypt and Jordan, with which it now has peace treaties — is far more successful and preferable to blinking, hesitation and faintheartedness.
The mayor continues with an informative synopsis of the history of modern Israel, its wars of survival, and the involvement of Iran. He reminds us that while the present battle may only involve Israel at this point,
it is a war against Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and all Western civilization. It is a war being waged against Europe, Russia, India, Iraq, the U.S. and elsewhere. It is a war we must win.
Click
here to read the entire piece. You’ll be smarter if you do.
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It’s really too bad that more liberals can’t open their eyes and see the reality of the world around them. I guess there’s hope, though. After all, there was a time when the mention of Ed Koch or Alan Dershowitz turned my stomach. Now, when I see they’ve written a new piece, or are going to appear on some talking head show, I try to make sure I give them a listen.
