OPINION:
Chuck Hagel will soon leave his post as secretary of defense, but the threat from the barbarians grows. The threat from the Islamic State, or ISIS, looming over Iraq and Syria and the entire Middle East is compounded by the Obama administration’s confusion and cultivated weakness. Nobody with a clear understanding of what the world is about is in charge of the nation’s security.
With change there’s always hope, and with a new secretary of defense in place maybe the United States will lead as the rest of the world expects the United States to lead. Maybe. But only if President Obama resists the temptation to choose another weak and ineffectual figure to manage the nation’s defense. Someone at the top must first decide that he wants to lead and how he intends to do it. The civilized world recognizes ISIS for what it is, but without strong and unapologetic leadership there will be no recognition of the enemy, particularly by the young.
A young filmmaker named Ari Horowitz not long ago conducted an experiment at the University of California to measure the perception of the enemy. His methodology was not complicated. He first walked across the Berkeley campus waving the black flag of ISIS, raving against “American imperialism.” Of the many milling about on the lush green stretch of the campus, only a few turned their heads or muttered a few words of lethargic protest. A few students raised their hands in salute with the clenched fist of the “revolution.”
A little later, he walked across the campus waving the flag of Israel with cries of praise for the Jewish state. This aroused the lethargic students. Boos, hisses and cries of “child killer” and “Zionist genocide” followed him across the campus green.
Fortunately for everyone, the campuses of the left — which sometimes seems to include all of academe — do not make policy. But generations of relentless left-wing indoctrination raises questions about the academic culture’s eagerness to recognize and grasp evil. “Students at Berkeley clearly have a lot of intellect,” Mr. Horowitz said on Fox News. “It is one of the most prestigious and selective universities in the country. But do they have wisdom? I went to the campus armed with a flag that represents the greatest evil known today, ISIS. If these are our best and brightest, then we should all be afraid, very afraid.”
The Middle East is ever at the mercy of the teeming malcontents, many looking for an opportunity to spread their violent ignorance. Without wise elders of the Muslim world to lead the young away from the guile blandishments of the terrorist, such as the slaughter at a Jerusalem synagogue, hope becomes a mockery of reality. If the young, or even that small part of the young on one of the nation’s most distinguished campuses, genuinely believe that Israel is worse than the most malevolent force to challenge civilization in decades, the grown-ups of civilization have a lot of work ahead of them.
One place to begin is for the commander in chief to choose a strong and effective manager of America’s overseas military commitments, and back him (or her) with determination of his own. Militant Islam is a determined enemy, armed with clear goals and aims. The hour is late and dawdling time is all but spent. The commander in chief must look reality in the eye and set clear goals for a nation eager for effective leadership.
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