A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand
By Sam Weaver (06/25/04)
Back in February of 2002—five months after 9/11/01, Americans were basically united in the War on Terror. We were all mightily enraged by the despicable beheading of Daniel Pearl. The murder of Mr. Pearl in Pakistan only quickened America’s resolve to wage and win this “new and different kind of war”.
Fast forward to May of this year. By virtually all accounts, Americans were as divided as we had been in November of 2000. News of the outrageous and evil decapitation of Nicholas Berg was eclipsed by the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Much of the outrage engendered by the vile act of barbarism committed against Mr. Berg was directed at the Bush Administration for having gotten us into this “ill-conceived war in Iraq” in the first place.
On June 18, 2004, yet another innocent American, Paul Johnson, was gruesomely murdered in cold blood via decapitation at the hands of Al Qaeda terrorists. Will this third incident finally be the charm? Will Americans finally wake up and smell the EVIL that we are fighting against? How many more innocent civilians—Iraqis, Americans, Italians, Koreans—will have to die horrendous deaths before we unite and fight this evil with everything we’ve got?!
As governor of Texas, George W. Bush campaigned for president in 2000 as “a uniter, not a divider”. As a Texan, I was amazed by the great working relationship –indeed the true friendship—that Governor Bush had forged with Lieutenant Governor and staunch Democrat Bob Bullock. I don’t care what Molly Ivins says; the facts reveal that Governor Bush did help to unite a divided Texas. Partisan Democrats and hate-filled “leftists”, like Ms. Ivins, have seized upon that campaign promise. “President Bush’s ‘ill-conceived war in Iraq’, based upon ‘misleading’ and/or ‘selective’ interpretation of intelligence data has divided this nation”, they screech.
Who, really, divided this nation? Have these partisans and “leftists” forgotten how disunited the country was in November of 2000? Surely not! The very fact that Vice President Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote in that unforgettable campaign is a primary source of their bitterness and anger. America is no more divided now as she was then.
Had that terrible act of war perpetrated on American soil on 9/11/01 never happened, I would still go to my grave insisting that war against Saddam’s regime in Iraq was both justified and necessary. Every major national political figure—not to mention the intelligence communities of virtually every nation on earth—proclaimed that Saddam had WMD and was willing to use them. (Yet, Bush was lying to us when he made those assertions!) The whole world witnessed the video images of dead Kurdish women and children in the streets of Northern Iraq after an attack launched upon them by Saddam’s cousin and thug, Chemical Ali. There was a cease-fire agreement after the 1991 Gulf War and many U. N. resolutions that Saddam continuously violated. American and British planes were constantly being fired upon as they patrolled the no-fly zones. On Friday, June 18, a report surfaced stating that Russian President Vladimir Putin has revealed Russian intelligence indicating that Saddam Hussein had planned to attack Americans on American soil. As far as I can tell, the “mainstream” media have been largely silent regarding this report.
In November of 2000, America was a divided nation. On September 11, 2001, we became a united nation. In March of 2003, the second major front of the War on Terror was engaged in Iraq. Then came the election season, the “9/11 Commission” and the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.
If there is no bias in the “mainstream” media, then how can one possibly account for the fact that Abu Ghraib achieved infinitely more attention than the inhuman beheading of Nicholas Berg? Why are the insurgents in Iraq receiving so much more coverage than either the accomplishments or even the generally optimistic attitudes of coalition forces? Why are the phenomenal achievements of coalition forces and contractors either hidden in the back pages or ignored completely?
Every moral, educated and informed American can see the glaring partiality of the press in a series of headlines in the New York Times, USA Today, and The Los Angeles Times. Every one of these rags carried stories that were picked up even by my small-town paper, which proclaimed “Al-Qaida links not found”. The very first sentence in my local paper under that headline stated, “Rebuffing Bush Administration claims, the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks said Wednesday no evidence exists that Al-Qaida had strong ties to Saddam Hussein.” After the Sunday morning talk shows, and a bit of reflection and research, many Americans are beginning to see these headlines for what they are—misinformation and propaganda. At least two of the commission members, including the chairman, have disputed these headlines.
Who is dividing this great nation? The very same folks who divided us in the late 1960’s and early 70’s, that’s who! The liberal (nihilistic, relativistic, socialistic) elites in the media and in academia are doing their best to rip the traditional unity of the American people to shreds by clouding our traditional values and principles with relativistic and “tolerant” (politically correct) gobbledygook. God is dead! Relativism rules! Traditional American values and principles are no better than the “values” of the communist or the radical, fringe, and fanatic Islamist “values” of those who would sooner see you dead than look at you! If you fall for this lie—the beguiling lie of relativism—then you are hastening the division and the ultimate conquest of the United States of America. These same media/academic “geniuses” lost the Cold War battle in Vietnam in much the same way they are subconsciously attempting to bring defeat on the front of Iraq.
President Bush is not dividing this nation. To be sure, he does not possess the communication skills of a Ronald Reagan or the “people skills” of a Bill Clinton. In my opinion, he has failed to adequately further his case and rally the people behind it. Yet, he is leading a reluctant world in a life-and-death war against terrorism. The battle to end Saddam’s regime in Iraq was both justified and necessary. The struggle to bring some form of representative democracy to the people of Iraq is both noble and just. Together, this is only one of many fronts in the greater war against terrorism. Failure on this front may not spell absolute doom in the overall War on Terror, but it would be an egregious setback to say the least.
Those who cannot or will not understand the significance of Operation Iraqi Freedom are assisting those who want to destroy American unity. Yes, it is as simple as that! Americans would do well to remember the words of Abraham Lincoln from a speech in June of 1858: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Americans would fare even better to realize the source of Lincoln’s quote—Mark 3:24-25 of the Holy Bible.
For the sake of argument, let’s say that President Bush was horribly wrong and that regime change by military force in Iraq was absolutely ill-advised. The fact is, coalition forces and contractors are there now, fighting and working hard against all odds to bring hope and freedom to the Iraqi people. Repeated attempts to “prove” the president wrong, and to show all that is bad in the Iraqi theater without showing the good, only serves to aid and abet the enemy. This is déjà vu all over again! It happened some thirty to forty years ago when America was fighting an “ill-conceived” war in Vietnam. America lost that war not because her military was unable to win it, and not because it was an unjust or unrighteous war; but because she was a divided nation. We lost Vietnam because our unity, our values, our principles and our resolve were compromised by hostile elites in the media and academia.
Let us not ever forget the Source of our liberty! Let us never forget that we are fighting against evil people such as Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and against evil regimes that seek to destroy us and our institutions. Let us not fall for relativistic propaganda which is spewed by those among us who cannot or will not see these truths.
Let us stand united and resolved in the eyes of God Almighty. As Americans, we must never forget either the principles of our founding, or the Source of those principles. Unity and resolve helped us win two world wars and the Cold War. Without unity and resolve, we will lose the War on Terror.
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