Detestable Cairo speech

This happened yesterday:

Heather, a military veteran herself, sees her husband off at 3:00 AM so he can ship off to Iraq.  She knows the danger.  She loves her husband.  She is sleepless.  She is weepy.  She has the TV on and she listens to The President of the United States in his Cairo speech:

The situation in Afghanistan demonstrates America's goals, and our need to work together. Over seven years ago, the United States pursued al Qaeda and the Taliban with broad international support. We did not go by choice; we went because of necessity.
[...]
Let me also address the issue of Iraq. Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq was a war of choice that provoked strong differences in my country and around the world. Although I believe that the Iraqi people are ultimately better off without the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, I also believe that events in Iraq have reminded America of the need to use diplomacy and build international consensus to resolve our problems whenever possible. (Applause.) Indeed, we can recall the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said: "I hope that our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it will be."

So, Heather called the Mark Levin radio show, and she said, in so many words:

What the heck?!  Why is my President condemning my husband's mission? Why is my President apologizing for Iraq? What is my husband fighting for? Will he die in vain??!!

Audio link.

The President is throwing his Muslim listeners a bone: Iraq, for purpose of wooing Muslims to our side.

Well, bull. He's throwing a bone at the expense of every American who fought and bled to keep America free and strong. We didn't go into Iraq on a humanitarian mission, and we ought not be there now on premise of a humanitarian mission.  If Iraq turns into an Iranian satellite nation: our life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness are at risk.  

If Iraq is a humanitarian mission, then the ongoing cost is too high in every respect, and we ought pull out with utmost rapidity.  And I mean UTMOST.  Leave some equipment behind.  It's cheaper just to get out. We've no business continuing to rip parents away from entire years of their children's lives.

Iraq is not a humanitarian mission.  Muslims know it's not a humanitarian mission.  Even our President knows it's not a humanitarian mission.  When he says it's a humanitarian mission (as he did say in Cairo): he knows he's lying, and most of his audience knows he's lying.  He ought know he is stripping honor from every American who is currently fighting in Iraq.  Most of his audience - no foolish Ivy League graduates they - understand the President debased every American who is fighting or has fought in Iraq.  His lie: that Iraq is primarily a humanitarian mission, was a sign of weakness and a conscious prostration before the audience.  The lie was detestable and sickening.  Excuse me while I puke.

What is the President doing?  

Why would he debase our nation and our military personnel?

The President wants to mediate with Muslims: wants to find a lawyerly middle ground.

Bull again. WE do not want to immorally walk towards any bogus shared middle ground.  

Parts of Islam are immoral.  A moderate Muslim is a Muslim who is distancing from the actual  exhortations of the Koran. I love moderate Muslims for distancing. But they are, in actuality, either covertly or unconsciously creating a reformed religion, i.e. a sort of Reform Islam - though no one calls it that, because they would be apostates who were subject to having their heads chopped off.  The moderates are declaring an Islam which distances from significant portions of Koranic instruction. That is very brave. They are brave and decent people.

Yet, we are not going to walk away from morality and towards them; and we damn sure are not going to walk away from morality and towards extant Islam and it's murderous Koranic exhortations. We are going to stand for morality, and we are going to give them space to choose to walk towards us.

And we don't do that by throwing them a bone. We don't throw a bone to moderate Muslims who we hope will continue walking towards us, and we don't throw a bone to fundamentalist Muslims. Throwing a bone dilutes our moral strength, dilutes our integrity, and makes it less likely Muslims will walk towards us.  Throwing a bone works against us; makes it less likely we will achieve our goal. Our goal is to maintain our morality, as opposed to compromising it via  

1. walking toward them, or
2. dishonestly pretending we are walking towards them. 

You only walk towards them if their morality is equal to your morality.  Then you are not compromising your own morality via walking towards them.  In this case, their morality is inferior to our morality, though our own President might have difficulty discerning why this is so.

The Cairo speech was an historic speech.  It is currently playing to mixed reviews.  One day, and sadly for the entire world:  it will be looked upon as an abomination.

Update:

Jonah Goldberg, in August 2008:

[Obama is] a very left-wing politician with almost no experience, who often sounds like his campaign slogan is: “People of Earth! Stop Your Bickering. I Am From Harvard, And I’m Here To Help.”

h/t