Columnist: OBL Danger 'Exaggerated,' Jihadists Lack 'Remotest Possibility' of Success

A few weeks ago on the Right Angle TV show I host, my guest was Barry Strauss, the brilliant professor of history and the classics at Cornell University. Our conversation focused on his recent book, "The Trojan War", which one reviewer has described as so authoritative "it may well preempt future historians from ever trying to improve on it."

Toward the end of the show I invited Prof. Strauss to comment on whether he saw any parallels between the fall of Greek and Roman civilizations and the situation in the West today. While eschewing sweeping generalizations, the professor did observe that one sign of a civilization in decline is its disinclination to believe in itself coupled with a loss of will to fight for its survival.

We clearly see that in the reflexive multi-culturalism and moral relativism of the left. Far from portraying Western civilization as history's great liberalizing force, the left denies Western exceptionalism and portrays it, if anything, as responsible for most of the world's ills.

Perhaps the surest sign of a civilization in peril is a refusal to take seriously the threat from its mortal enemies. Enter HDS Greenway and his Boston Globe column of this morning, A misguided faith in force. Greenway's column is an ode to "a thoughtful new book by Martin Woollacott titled 'After Suez, Adrift in the American Century.'" Inevitably, Greenway concludes that "parallels with today's Anglo-American attempt to force the West's will on the Middle East are unavoidable."

Of particular note is this line from Woollacott:

"The irrationality of British fears in the 1950s had its parallel in America in 2003 when the dangers represented by Osama bin Laden on the one hand and Saddam Hussein on the other were both exaggerated and conflated."

Not only does Greenway endorse Woollacott's analysis, he takes it a giant step further:

"One can hear the echoes of Eden in President Bush's fears of an evil empire-like Muslim caliphate from Indonesia to Spain -- as if Islamic extremists had the remotest possibility of achieving such a goal."

There you have it. The Western left discounting the specific threat of Al-Qaeda, and more broadly rejecting the idea that Islamic extremists have even the "remotest possibility" of achieving their ends. That way lies the path to extinction.

Finkelstein lives in Ithaca, NY. Beginning later this week he will be reporting for MRC from Iraq. Follow Mark's 'Iraq Diary' here. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net