Back In the Hands of America’s Children

We at DU are disappointed, but not surprised, at the election results that have returned Congress to the Democratic Party. Or, as Nancy Pelosi described it, "The gavel of the speaker of the House is in the hands of special interests, and now it will be in the hands of America's children.” By “special interests” she was referring to those incorrigibles like me whose ballots are still cast with an eye on the security of the nation. By "America's children" she literally meant America’s most childish party, the Democrats.

Children are fine in their place, but that place doesn’t mean behind the steering wheel. Historians often refer to America as still a young country. I’d say we are about the equivalent of teenagers, who live off mom and dad, couldn’t manage a moment without them, but think everything they think, do, and say, is irredeemably stupid and self-evidently wrong. With kidslike that you give them cell phones, not Congress. We are now going to have to all watch as Washington is transformed into the most obnoxious Sweet 16 party of all time.

Meanwhile, while the election may be over, the war is not. Al-Jazeerah aired a recent speech by Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, ((known locally here in Dearborn as “Our Leader!”), in which he had this to say about Iraq and Vietnam:

"When I talk about an [American] failure, I'm not saying that the Americans' plan for the region has collapsed, and that they are packing up their things and leaving, like what happened in the final days in Vietnam. But I would like to tell you clearly... I am one of those people who see a very clear picture. In our childhood... When we were young boys... I cannot forget the sight of the American forces leaving Vietnam in helicopters, which carried their officers and soldiers. Some Vietnamese, who had fought alongside the Americans, tried to climb into these helicopters, but the [Americans] threw them to the ground, abandoned them, and left. This is the sight I anticipate in our region, but I am not saying it will happen in months. It will take years. The Americans will gather their belongings and leave this region - the entire region. They have no future whatsoever in our region. They will leave the Middle East, and the Arab and Islamic worlds, like they left Vietnam. I advise all those who place their trust in the Americans to learn the lesson of Vietnam, and to learn the lesson of the South Lebanese Army with the Israelis, and to know that when the Americans lose this war – and lose it they will, Allah willing - they will abandon them to their fate, just like they did to all those who placed their trust in them throughout history."

This was before the election. I'm sure he'll pep the speech up now.

But America could ditch Vietnam and still pretend we were safe, because the North Vietnamese weren’t going to come after us here. They were content to slaughter, imprison, and reeducate their brothers to the South, satisfied with being lords in a peninsular Hell without ambitions for a global one.

If you think the jihadists trying to take over Iraq feel the same, you are mistaken. If you are the next Speaker of the House and you feel the same, you are a positive menace. Madame Speaker Pelosi said only a week or two ago, “The jihadists (are) in Iraq. But that doesn't mean we stay there. They'll stay there as long as we're there."

Yes, Madam Speaker. And as soon as we leave, they’ll still stay and solidify their gains, because they don’t need a free, democratic society to survive, and in fact thrive on instability. It was the instability we were over there to cure, not WMD, if you had been paying attention to the President in 2003, which you weren't. And then the jihadists will use Iraq the way they used Afghanistan, as a base for waging jihad on America and Western interests. But with this advantage—they’ll know we’ve had enough.

I think Nancy Pelosi has the same fond memories as Nasrallah of America’s shameful departure from Vietnam, though she wasn’t exactly a child when it happened, or at least, not in years. Maybe she drew inspiration from TV news footage of American warriors pushing Hueys over the sides of our aircraft carriers to make room for the escaping Americans crowding the flight deck. Maybe that’s when she first developed her shiny, thousand-yard stare.

Like the children that they are, Pelosi, and Levin, and Conyers, and Leahy, have no higher capacity for government than children who want re-live the raw delight of a child for whom a foolish old Uncle Sam dislocates his back trying to entertain them with some stunt or other. And like all children, there must always be a repeat performance. The loss of Vietnam was the stunt the Left, now controlling Congress, have wanted to see Uncle Sam repeat for more than 30 years. That was their idea of the high point in American foreign policy. So watch now as these children, re-armed with Congressional authority and a lust for revenge, begin clapping their hands excitedly and calling to their Uncle Sam,

“Oh, can you do it again? Oh, please, please do it again!”