Islamic-Fascism - Bush's Labels Helps Democrats

[taquinas101]

Upon hearing this new catch phrase of the moment, my initial reaction was to start spamming forums explaining how stupid it is to use fascism to describe the terrorists, because fascism was typically associated with nationalistic, highly centralized, and tightly controlled parties such as the Nazis in Germany under Hitler.

However, upon further thought, I think conservatives use of this term can be used to explain why Bush's strategy (use the term loosely) is so flawed. Perhaps Bush and conservatives truly perceive the terrorists as a tightly controlled institution, and if you eliminate the head, the body will die. For example, the Nazi party in Germany and the Fascists in Italy did not remain viable following the deaths of Hitler and Mussolini. Thus, Bush's strategy appears to be driven by an ongoing effort to kill the right leader in the hopes that terrorists will fade away without the leadership of the individual.

As a result, every time the US captures or kills a leader, Saddam Hussein, Zarquawi, etc., various Bush officials start appearing on various TV shows to declare that "freedom is winning" or that the insurgents are in their death throes, or that the insurgency consists of a few "dead enders." By now you are familiar with Bush's victory through photo-op modus operendi.

However, the terrorists, are anything but a fascist organizations, since they are highly decentralized and operate out of fairly independent sleeper cells. Thus, you cannot defeat them by simply killing the leader of the moment. Rather, you need to win the war of ideas by demonstrating that the US is not merely trying to manipulate events in the Middle East to maintain its economic dominance. Of course, the fact that Bush and Co. are actually trying to influence the middle east to support their friends in the oil industry complicates any effort to win the battle for the hearts and minds of young men in the middle east. They think that the U.S. is trying to exploit them, and they are mostly correct.

Bottom line: If Bush and company truly believe that the Insurgents and terrorists are a bunch of goose stepping fascists, then their efforts are doomed to fail, because their strategy will forever consist of trying to find and kill the latest Hitler/Mussolini of the moment, rather than addressing the reasons causing thousands of muslims to engage in such acts. However, perhaps chasing after the strawman of the moment is lot easier than dealing with America's dependence on oil and the influence of the military/oil industry, so we will continue searching for the terrorist mastermind of the momemnt (TMM).

[sinkingfeeling]

1. You're right. There was another post earlier in the week about how

misguided the administration was about the word 'win'. What 'win' meant in the past and how it is not possible in this situation.

[librechik]

2. This has nothing to do with what they believe

it has everything to do with what they want US to believe. And they want us to believe that Iraq id=s a just and needful war, like World War II, and anyone who opposes it is metaphirically opposing the good and necessary World War II, and that the enemy is an organized and fearsome group like the fascists. They are also very intent on making us believe the terrorists are connected with a State, so that they can use the war machine.

They just want to stamp "necessary war" and "patriotic" all over the little sheep brains and WWIIis the best metaphor around for that. It doesn't fit at all, but they don't care, they are only trying to contact the lizard brain, not the higher (hey, that's not true!) functions.

[taquinas101]

3. The Point Is That Use Of The Term Traps Them In A Lie

Because if they insist on equating terrorists with fascists, then just hammer at them for how stupid it is to pursue strategies designed to combat a top down organization. That's why capturing Saddam Hussein did nothing to slow the insurgency. Put another way, if they scream that their are trying to stop Islamic-Fascists, just point out that is why their efforts to combat terrorism have been so ineffective, because they think that capturing some straw man will result in a victory.

HOWEVER, if the conservative starts saying that they're not stupid because they understand that the terrorists are not a nationalistic highly centralized political group, then hammer them on why they are using the term fascism to describe a loosely connected, decentralized terrorist movement. Or, they are left arguing that the Nazis were a decentralized group and that Hitler was not really in charge of things.

In other words, they can't have it both ways. I say every time they call the terrorists fascists, then point out that's why they are losing the freaking war on terrorism, because they are under the false impression that the terrorists are some goose stepping centralized institution.

[librechik]

4. I know, but they don't seem to care.

lies are bread and butter to them. They feel utterly justified in using any means necessary to achieve their ends.