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Why We Fight: Moral Clarity and the War on Terrorism
The events of September 11, 2001, were an unforgettable tragedy, but they also revealed that the spirit of America is strong and undiminished. Not since the shocking attack on Pearl Harbor has the nation pulled together with such unity and purpose, resolving to endure whatever hardships may be necessary to win the war on terror. We were united in the defense of and belief in our country. It truly brought out the best in our national character.
But a small group of influential public intellectuals, writers, members of the media, and academics were not part of this unified response. They still preached the same self-doubt about America and her traditions that have steadily undermined our national confidence and resolve in recent decades. Within days of the attacks this debilitating mindset was in evidence, as influential figures rushed to point the finger at America and decry what they were sure would be our murderous and indiscriminate reaction. While most Americans remain confident of the justice and appropriateness of our military response in Afghanistan, these vocal critics have caused some to wonder whether we brought the attacks on ourselves because of our foreign policy, our popular culture, or our support for Israel.
As we enter the next phase of what will undoubtedly be a protracted and dangerous struggle--a war unlike any other in our history--it is more important than ever to respond to these doubts and objections and to preserve the patriotic ardor seen in the wake of September 11. In clear, compelling, straightforward language, William Bennett takes up and refutes the many myths and misconceptions about America’s character and role in world affairs that have become fashionable among our nation’s elites. The morning of September 12 dawned with a stunning moral clarity that has guided the actions of many Americans, both her leaders and her citizens. Bennett seeks to preserve that clarity in order to ensure that our national resolve does not falter in this difficult and necessary war.
But a small group of influential public intellectuals, writers, members of the media, and academics were not part of this unified response. They still preached the same self-doubt about America and her traditions that have steadily undermined our national confidence and resolve in recent decades. Within days of the attacks this debilitating mindset was in evidence, as influential figures rushed to point the finger at America and decry what they were sure would be our murderous and indiscriminate reaction. While most Americans remain confident of the justice and appropriateness of our military response in Afghanistan, these vocal critics have caused some to wonder whether we brought the attacks on ourselves because of our foreign policy, our popular culture, or our support for Israel.
As we enter the next phase of what will undoubtedly be a protracted and dangerous struggle--a war unlike any other in our history--it is more important than ever to respond to these doubts and objections and to preserve the patriotic ardor seen in the wake of September 11. In clear, compelling, straightforward language, William Bennett takes up and refutes the many myths and misconceptions about America’s character and role in world affairs that have become fashionable among our nation’s elites. The morning of September 12 dawned with a stunning moral clarity that has guided the actions of many Americans, both her leaders and her citizens. Bennett seeks to preserve that clarity in order to ensure that our national resolve does not falter in this difficult and necessary war.
170 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
1 person is currently reading
124 people want to read
About the author
William J. Bennett
131 books198 followersWilliam J. "Bill" Bennett is a politician and author who served in the Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations, as chief of National Endowment for the Humanities and later Secretary of Education under Reagan, and Drug Czar under Bush. He is a nationally well-known figure of political and social conservatism and authored many books on politics, ethics, and international relations.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 19, 2016
A refreshing case for moral clarity and the justice of the war on terror and a well aimed expose of the leftwing elites who preach that America is at fault, and in the wake of 911 brought the attacks on herself. Bennett exposes these hypocrites for the immorality and superficial sophistry of the ideas this coterie of writers, journalists, intellectuals and academics are trying to push onto America and the West as a whole.
These malignant narcissists are guided not by pacifism or morality at all but simply an anti-American animus There advice to the West is not simply 'dont hit' which has merit but 'dont hit back' which is a totally immoral thing to preach.\
When left-wingers claim that 'Killing people wont solve anything' as one of their activists moaned íts just more of the same'' Bennet reminds us that its not more of the same at all. Its the opposite of the same.
As he says “Terrorists target innocent civilians ; they seek the destruction of innocent life. Military action seeks to combat terrorists seeks to avoid non-combatant casualties''
In fact, while there are innocent casualties resulting America's actions against terror, without action against terrorism many more innocent people would die.
This book was written during the war against terror by President George W Bush. We can see today, with Obama following a policy of appeasement, how terrorism has proliferated with the rise of ISIS and Boko Haram, the straightening of Hamas and Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran being on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons with almost the open blessing of Obama.
Furthermore the left and Islamists have introduced a concept called Íslamophobia' with which to accuse anyone who points to the danger of Islamic terror or abuses-which gives the Islamists free reign of terror, murder and rape.
As for those leftwing Americans and British who attack their own countries militaries Bennett quotes George Orwell who spoke of pacifists in World War II : ''Those who 'abjure' violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf.
Art any rate they dont oppose violence at all. They opose military action against terror by the West and Israel, but continually praise acts of terror as 'resistance against oppression/occupation//imperialism'”
Feminists and gay and lesbian activists attack the male machismo of what they describe as american militarism but praise the machismo of Islamic jihad.
What passes for pacifism is not pacifism at all but anti-Americanism/anti-Westernism.
Bennett makes no apologies for rightly stating that the war against Islamic terror like world War II and the war against Soviet Communism is a war of good against evil.
He also reminds us far from the post modern lefts mantra that '”Óne mans terrorist is another man's freedom fighter'' there is in fact a crystal clear difference between terrorists and freedom fighters. A freedom fighter does not massacre innocents in pursuit of his goals
The Left have a transparent double standard on this anyway. They on the one hand state that there is no objective good and evil and the other hand rant about Western imperialism' and Israel being an absolute evil that must be violently destroyed – how pacifist is that? And how nonjudgemental from those who preach pacifism and nonjudementalism.
The book includes a valuable chapter on ''The Case of Israel”' The author makes it clear that the Arab-Israeli conflict is asymmetrical This is because one side (Israel) wishes to live in peace while the other side is bent not on living in a state next to Israel but in an Arab state replacing Israel.
The Israelis have revealed again and again their desperation for peace making far reaching concessions (Barak's offer at Camp David in 2000 and the Gaza withdrawal of 2005 are just two examples) while the so-called Palestinians are simply hellbent on violent destruction of the Jewish State and its people.
Acording to religious fatwa from Kuwait , that claim that the killing of Israeli women and children are justified as all 'Jewish women in the zionist entity are by definition fighters''
conspiracy theories that blame Israel for 911
The author rightly proclaims that '”The burden is not on Israel to make peace. The burden is on the Palestinians to renounce their terrorism and on both the Palestinians and the Arab States to renounce their murderous intention towards Israel. The day they make peace with the existence of a sovereign Jewish State in their midst will be the day the conflict ends.
Bennett does not deny that there are injustices and problems in America and the West but the free society these represent are indeed far superior to a culture that condones murder and rape jihad, genital mutilation and systematic oppression of women and girls
Bennett makes no apologies for his conviction that Western society is valuable, moral and worth fighting for. And this makes the book vital reading.
Merged review:
A refreshing case for moral clarity and the justice of the war on terror and a well aimed expose of the leftwing elites who preach that America is at fault, and in the wake of 911 brought the attacks on herself. Bennett exposes these hypocrites for the immorality and superficial sophistry of the ideas this coterie of writers, journalists, intellectuals and academics are trying to push onto America and the West as a whole.
These malignant narcissists are guided not by pacifism or morality at all but simply an anti-American animus There advice to the West is not simply 'dont hit' which has merit but 'dont hit back' which is a totally immoral thing to preach.\
When left-wingers claim that 'Killing people wont solve anything' as one of their activists moaned íts just more of the same'' Bennet reminds us that its not more of the same at all. Its the opposite of the same.
As he says "Terrorists target innocent civilians ; they seek the destruction of innocent life. Military action seeks to combat terrorists seeks to avoid non-combatant casualties''
In fact, while there are innocent casualties resulting America's actions against terror, without action against terrorism many more innocent people would die.
This book was written during the war against terror by President George W Bush. We can see today, with Obama following a policy of appeasement, how terrorism has proliferated with the rise of ISIS and Boko Haram, the straightening of Hamas and Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran being on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons with almost the open blessing of Obama.
Furthermore the left and Islamists have introduced a concept called Íslamophobia' with which to accuse anyone who points to the danger of Islamic terror or abuses-which gives the Islamists free reign of terror, murder and rape.
As for those leftwing Americans and British who attack their own countries militaries Bennett quotes George Orwell who spoke of pacifists in World War II : ''Those who 'abjure' violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf.
Art any rate they dont oppose violence at all. They opose military action against terror by the West and Israel, but continually praise acts of terror as 'resistance against oppression/occupation//imperialism'"
Feminists and gay and lesbian activists attack the male machismo of what they describe as american militarism but praise the machismo of Islamic jihad.
What passes for pacifism is not pacifism at all but anti-Americanism/anti-Westernism.
Bennett makes no apologies for rightly stating that the war against Islamic terror like world War II and the war against Soviet Communism is a war of good against evil.
He also reminds us far from the post modern lefts mantra that '"Óne mans terrorist is another man's freedom fighter'' there is in fact a crystal clear difference between terrorists and freedom fighters. A freedom fighter does not massacre innocents in pursuit of his goals
The Left have a transparent double standard on this anyway. They on the one hand state that there is no objective good and evil and the other hand rant about Western imperialism' and Israel being an absolute evil that must be violently destroyed - how pacifist is that? And how nonjudgemental from those who preach pacifism and nonjudementalism.
The book includes a valuable chapter on ''The Case of Israel"' The author makes it clear that the Arab-Israeli conflict is asymmetrical This is because one side (Israel) wishes to live in peace while the other side is bent not on living in a state next to Israel but in an Arab state replacing Israel.
The Israelis have revealed again and again their desperation for peace making far reaching concessions (Barak's offer at Camp David in 2000 and the Gaza withdrawal of 2005 are just two examples) while the so-called Palestinians are simply hellbent on violent destruction of the Jewish State and its people.
According to religious fatwa from Kuwait , that claim that the killing of Israeli women and children are justified as all 'Jewish women in the Zionist entity are by definition fighters''
conspiracy theories that blame Israel for 911
The author rightly proclaims that '"The burden is not on Israel to make peace. The burden is on the Palestinians to renoucnbe their terrorism and on both the Palestinians and the Arab States to renounce their murderous intention towards Israel. The day they make peace with the existence of a sovereign Jewish State in their midst will be the day the conflict ends.
Bennett does not deny that there are injustices and problems in America and the West but the free society these represent are indeed far superior to a culture that condones murder and rape jihad, genital mutilation and systematic oppression of women and girls
Bennett makes no apologies for his conviction that Western society is valuable, moral and worth fighting for. And this makes the book vital reading.
These malignant narcissists are guided not by pacifism or morality at all but simply an anti-American animus There advice to the West is not simply 'dont hit' which has merit but 'dont hit back' which is a totally immoral thing to preach.\
When left-wingers claim that 'Killing people wont solve anything' as one of their activists moaned íts just more of the same'' Bennet reminds us that its not more of the same at all. Its the opposite of the same.
As he says “Terrorists target innocent civilians ; they seek the destruction of innocent life. Military action seeks to combat terrorists seeks to avoid non-combatant casualties''
In fact, while there are innocent casualties resulting America's actions against terror, without action against terrorism many more innocent people would die.
This book was written during the war against terror by President George W Bush. We can see today, with Obama following a policy of appeasement, how terrorism has proliferated with the rise of ISIS and Boko Haram, the straightening of Hamas and Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran being on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons with almost the open blessing of Obama.
Furthermore the left and Islamists have introduced a concept called Íslamophobia' with which to accuse anyone who points to the danger of Islamic terror or abuses-which gives the Islamists free reign of terror, murder and rape.
As for those leftwing Americans and British who attack their own countries militaries Bennett quotes George Orwell who spoke of pacifists in World War II : ''Those who 'abjure' violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf.
Art any rate they dont oppose violence at all. They opose military action against terror by the West and Israel, but continually praise acts of terror as 'resistance against oppression/occupation//imperialism'”
Feminists and gay and lesbian activists attack the male machismo of what they describe as american militarism but praise the machismo of Islamic jihad.
What passes for pacifism is not pacifism at all but anti-Americanism/anti-Westernism.
Bennett makes no apologies for rightly stating that the war against Islamic terror like world War II and the war against Soviet Communism is a war of good against evil.
He also reminds us far from the post modern lefts mantra that '”Óne mans terrorist is another man's freedom fighter'' there is in fact a crystal clear difference between terrorists and freedom fighters. A freedom fighter does not massacre innocents in pursuit of his goals
The Left have a transparent double standard on this anyway. They on the one hand state that there is no objective good and evil and the other hand rant about Western imperialism' and Israel being an absolute evil that must be violently destroyed – how pacifist is that? And how nonjudgemental from those who preach pacifism and nonjudementalism.
The book includes a valuable chapter on ''The Case of Israel”' The author makes it clear that the Arab-Israeli conflict is asymmetrical This is because one side (Israel) wishes to live in peace while the other side is bent not on living in a state next to Israel but in an Arab state replacing Israel.
The Israelis have revealed again and again their desperation for peace making far reaching concessions (Barak's offer at Camp David in 2000 and the Gaza withdrawal of 2005 are just two examples) while the so-called Palestinians are simply hellbent on violent destruction of the Jewish State and its people.
Acording to religious fatwa from Kuwait , that claim that the killing of Israeli women and children are justified as all 'Jewish women in the zionist entity are by definition fighters''
conspiracy theories that blame Israel for 911
The author rightly proclaims that '”The burden is not on Israel to make peace. The burden is on the Palestinians to renounce their terrorism and on both the Palestinians and the Arab States to renounce their murderous intention towards Israel. The day they make peace with the existence of a sovereign Jewish State in their midst will be the day the conflict ends.
Bennett does not deny that there are injustices and problems in America and the West but the free society these represent are indeed far superior to a culture that condones murder and rape jihad, genital mutilation and systematic oppression of women and girls
Bennett makes no apologies for his conviction that Western society is valuable, moral and worth fighting for. And this makes the book vital reading.
Merged review:
A refreshing case for moral clarity and the justice of the war on terror and a well aimed expose of the leftwing elites who preach that America is at fault, and in the wake of 911 brought the attacks on herself. Bennett exposes these hypocrites for the immorality and superficial sophistry of the ideas this coterie of writers, journalists, intellectuals and academics are trying to push onto America and the West as a whole.
These malignant narcissists are guided not by pacifism or morality at all but simply an anti-American animus There advice to the West is not simply 'dont hit' which has merit but 'dont hit back' which is a totally immoral thing to preach.\
When left-wingers claim that 'Killing people wont solve anything' as one of their activists moaned íts just more of the same'' Bennet reminds us that its not more of the same at all. Its the opposite of the same.
As he says "Terrorists target innocent civilians ; they seek the destruction of innocent life. Military action seeks to combat terrorists seeks to avoid non-combatant casualties''
In fact, while there are innocent casualties resulting America's actions against terror, without action against terrorism many more innocent people would die.
This book was written during the war against terror by President George W Bush. We can see today, with Obama following a policy of appeasement, how terrorism has proliferated with the rise of ISIS and Boko Haram, the straightening of Hamas and Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran being on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons with almost the open blessing of Obama.
Furthermore the left and Islamists have introduced a concept called Íslamophobia' with which to accuse anyone who points to the danger of Islamic terror or abuses-which gives the Islamists free reign of terror, murder and rape.
As for those leftwing Americans and British who attack their own countries militaries Bennett quotes George Orwell who spoke of pacifists in World War II : ''Those who 'abjure' violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf.
Art any rate they dont oppose violence at all. They opose military action against terror by the West and Israel, but continually praise acts of terror as 'resistance against oppression/occupation//imperialism'"
Feminists and gay and lesbian activists attack the male machismo of what they describe as american militarism but praise the machismo of Islamic jihad.
What passes for pacifism is not pacifism at all but anti-Americanism/anti-Westernism.
Bennett makes no apologies for rightly stating that the war against Islamic terror like world War II and the war against Soviet Communism is a war of good against evil.
He also reminds us far from the post modern lefts mantra that '"Óne mans terrorist is another man's freedom fighter'' there is in fact a crystal clear difference between terrorists and freedom fighters. A freedom fighter does not massacre innocents in pursuit of his goals
The Left have a transparent double standard on this anyway. They on the one hand state that there is no objective good and evil and the other hand rant about Western imperialism' and Israel being an absolute evil that must be violently destroyed - how pacifist is that? And how nonjudgemental from those who preach pacifism and nonjudementalism.
The book includes a valuable chapter on ''The Case of Israel"' The author makes it clear that the Arab-Israeli conflict is asymmetrical This is because one side (Israel) wishes to live in peace while the other side is bent not on living in a state next to Israel but in an Arab state replacing Israel.
The Israelis have revealed again and again their desperation for peace making far reaching concessions (Barak's offer at Camp David in 2000 and the Gaza withdrawal of 2005 are just two examples) while the so-called Palestinians are simply hellbent on violent destruction of the Jewish State and its people.
According to religious fatwa from Kuwait , that claim that the killing of Israeli women and children are justified as all 'Jewish women in the Zionist entity are by definition fighters''
conspiracy theories that blame Israel for 911
The author rightly proclaims that '"The burden is not on Israel to make peace. The burden is on the Palestinians to renoucnbe their terrorism and on both the Palestinians and the Arab States to renounce their murderous intention towards Israel. The day they make peace with the existence of a sovereign Jewish State in their midst will be the day the conflict ends.
Bennett does not deny that there are injustices and problems in America and the West but the free society these represent are indeed far superior to a culture that condones murder and rape jihad, genital mutilation and systematic oppression of women and girls
Bennett makes no apologies for his conviction that Western society is valuable, moral and worth fighting for. And this makes the book vital reading.
June 21, 2021
This book is a historical throwback to the early days of the Iraq War, when questioning a war made you "anti-american" and anyone not willing to drop everything to serve on the front lines was akin to a secret traitor against the American tradition. Written by a man who never served in uniform and who spent a lot of time in the college classrooms he likes to denounce.
In all honesty it isn't a terrible book. His discussion of the moral implications of Christianity when it comes to war is interesting, and he might be right about our measured response to Afghanistan as being far less of a violent retaliation than many people feared it would be. He tries to be fair in some parts, but he is not interested in a even discussion, and he makes that clear by representing all questioning of US agenda in the early 2000s as a sign of someone hating their own country. Considering we are still in Iraq and Afghanistan, maybe the questions he shrugged off were worth thinking about? There is more to war than just defeating the enemy, which is a fact that is resolutely ignored in this book.
In all honesty it isn't a terrible book. His discussion of the moral implications of Christianity when it comes to war is interesting, and he might be right about our measured response to Afghanistan as being far less of a violent retaliation than many people feared it would be. He tries to be fair in some parts, but he is not interested in a even discussion, and he makes that clear by representing all questioning of US agenda in the early 2000s as a sign of someone hating their own country. Considering we are still in Iraq and Afghanistan, maybe the questions he shrugged off were worth thinking about? There is more to war than just defeating the enemy, which is a fact that is resolutely ignored in this book.
October 31, 2020
Read this for research purposes, for an article on conservatism, the culture wars, and the early War on Terror. Bennett makes a partial effort to be fair, but his argument relies mostly on platitudes and nut-picking of liberal viewpoints. Worth reading as a primary historical source but not otherwise. "Moral clarity," in his case, means little more than suspending critical thinking and ignoring any possibility that the United States has ever done wrong in the world.
May 1, 2009
Excellent statement of the reasons for and against war. Only Judge Bork writes a better argument--but Bennett is an easier read. Very good book. Short, handy--a great reference when everyone around you is talking incoherently about "peace," and the President is unable to articulate an intelligent reason for battle. This shimmering defense of America and its military hit the shelves weeks after 9/11. Remarkably well done.
Not sure this quote is in the book, but I like it:
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
John Stuart Mill.
Not sure this quote is in the book, but I like it:
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
John Stuart Mill.
July 3, 2011
Great book...but at times it was over my head. I think of myself as a fairly intelligent person (college graduate, Naval Officer) and yet I had to reread sentences over and over until it sunk it. Still a great insight; I have been able to see some of what he talked about first hand.
I know why I fight, and usually it comes down to the person fighting next to me.
I know why I fight, and usually it comes down to the person fighting next to me.
November 16, 2009
Moral Clarity and the War on Terrorism
August 10, 2013
This book was pretty good in 2002. That is until I read ANYTHING by RON PAUL. His stuff pretty much shoots this book right out of the water. Non-violently of course.
January 27, 2010
that pacifism is like communism... its a great idea... but it does not work.
Read
May 5, 2019A book that has a good start up-to the first 80-90 pages, and then at once the writer starts to defend the US and call Saddam Hussein, Yasir Arafat, and other Mulsim countries' leaders as evil. He tries to defend the evil acts carried by the US all across the world.
I picked it up thinking of it as a philosophy book, but it turned out to be a biased argumentative piece of writing that any Trump supporter would believe in.
I picked it up thinking of it as a philosophy book, but it turned out to be a biased argumentative piece of writing that any Trump supporter would believe in.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews