Perhaps our enemies will simply wait us out this time

VJ Day + 60
Today marks the 60th anniversary of the informal end of hostilities in World War II.
As hid from the oppressive heat and thunderstorms of this mid-August day by watching TV, I was struck by the lack of coverage of anniversary. Outside of a few mentions on TV News, there was little coverage. The only relief came from the History channel, which replayed a wonderful documentary "The Last Mission", a special live program from the USS Intrepid, a repeat of last weeks appalling documentary on Hiroshima, and, sadly, episode one of "Band of Brothers".

The showing of Band of Brothers was ill timed, only because the 101st airborne Division served gallantly in Europe, not the Pacific. The lack of a similarly powerful series on the war against Japan says much of our politically correct times. Until this year, the recent movies on this theater were horrendous. "Wind Talkers" was a touching movie, which was marred by the theme of the betrayal. The Navajo code talkers were betrayed by the Marines, who were supposedly ordered to kill them, rather than allow them to fall into enemy hands and the Marines, in general, were betrayed by their rear-guard officers. The "Thin Red Line" supposedly a complex drama about fear in battle, justified desertion. Pearl Harbor was an insipid display of poorly planned special effects and worse writing.

Fortunately, I did see a wonderful movie about the Pacific War. Last night, I ignored the reviews and went to a showing of "The Great Raid". This was an uplifting tale of bravery honor and sacrifice, which vividly portrayed some of the war crimes and depraved behavior of the Japanese towards American and Filipino soldiers and civilians.
Given the political climate in Hollywood, which is set on releasing near treasonous movies like "Syriana", I was surprised to see execution of "The Great Raid".

I wish that more Americans would see this film. According to Exhibitor Relations, which track box office sales, "The Great Raid" took in a mere 3.4 million. To put this in perspective, the sophomoric scifi gore-fest "Alien vs Predator, made 11 times as much last year and this weekend the sequel to "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigalo" made 9.4 million.
Half of the audience for "The Great Raid" was over 50. It seems that generations X and Y have no problem with blood, but have been deprived of a sense of honor and respect. Worse, the American populace as a whole, seems to have been worn down by two and half years of fighting in Iraq.



10th of Av, mourning continues
At 5:05PM tonight, I was moved to tears at the expected announcement of the forced evacuation of Gaza. The site of the IDF preparing to uproot Jewish communities located in part of the land God gave to Israel was more than I could tolerate. I am not a particularly observant Jew. Nevertheless, I remember that the Day of Mourning, Tisha B'Av (Ninth of Av) actually lasts until noon the following day. Thus, it is not until Monday afternoon that Orthodox Jews end the rituals. To have an operation begin, at a time that symbolizes both the continued burning of the Second Temple and the continued spiritual exile, was an insult no government of a Jewish State should ever have even considered.
The current leadership of Israel has less faith than the generation of Israelites, who were cursed to die in the desert after they lost faith and refused to conquer Canaan.
Israel won 4 wars and numerous small campaigns against larger Arab armies, but the hero of the 1973 retaking of the Sinai cowers at a re-arming Hamas, a left wing media, and the vacillating rhetoric of the Bush administration. The plan was to hand over Gaza to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas had been disarmed. Instead, Hamas is openly arming and Israel still trades land for no peace.

For its sorry part, the Bush administration, hoping to appease Eurabia has pressured Israel into creating a new enclave for a sister organization to Al Qaida, Hamas- Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Meanwhile we sit back and make empty promises of a possible "military option" against Iran, while we have no public plan to win in Iraq, other than to hope that the Iraqis do it for us.

The Muslims conquered the Persian and Byzantine Empires over 800 years. They outwaited the Crusaders. They laid seeds of dissent and betrayal in smaller kingdoms dooming attempts to survive the waves of Jihad. The West may be rich and technologically superior, but we are decadent and historically ignorant. If the yoke of dhimmitude falls on future generations, it is because we lacked resolve today.