More Mandatory Reading

Bill Whittle is at it again. The guy who brought you the mind-blowing essay "Magic" is at it again, with a two-part article entitled "Strength." (As in, why being strong should not make us hate ourselves.) It has to do with why we will not give up the faith, and why we cannot. And why this war is crucial to the survival of the West. It's about the length of an Atlantic feature, so make yourself comfortable.

It contains within it both a defense of the War in Iraq and a defense of U.S. strategy in Fallujah.

This one is impossible to summarize, but here's a passage I like because it's acerbic, and well-written:

Senator Kennedy claims Abu Ghraib is simply Saddam Hussein’s torture chambers “under new management – U.S. management.� Taking him at his word – a somewhat iffy proposition right out of the gate – he apparently cannot see the difference between the humiliation and bullying of enemy combatants, which is shameful, disgusting and reprehensible, and the gleeful, mocking murder, torture and gang rape of over 300,000 innocent men, women and children -- which is something worse. So Senator, here is a helpful analogy which you may find useful: The difference is about the same as pulling over and leaving a young female secretary on the curb in the rain, which is shameful, disgusting and reprehensible, vs. leaving her trapped in the car at the bottom of a river while you look at the bubbles and ponder the political repercussions.

Which is something worse, Senator.

Americans living today have never known torture or oppression or state-sponsored murder, and so it becomes nothing more than a rhetorical concept for most of us. People who defend Saddam and Kim and Castro have no idea at all about what that life entails. None. And so, in their safe and antiseptic little worlds of coffee shops and chat rooms, it all reduces to rhetoric. And since, in the end, it’s nothing but words anyway, they feel they can win an argument because their rhetoric goes up to eleven.

Bushitler.

(And, by the way, if you're too young to know what Bill's talking about with respect to Senator Kennedy, you need to Google the name Chappaquiddick, and/or drop by here, to find out why the Third Brother was never considered Presidential material.)

Via Reverend Pixy.