OPINION:
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The atrocities are heartbreaking. The crimes committed by Hamas terrorists against Israelis and Americans are medieval in their brutality. While this barbarism is shocking, it should not be surprising. We’ve seen it before in the gas chambers of the Nazis, Stalin’s mass executions, the Red Terror of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the 9/11 attacks, the beheadings by ISIS and more.
Yet we continue to be amazed when we see the face of evil.
There was a time when Republicans had clear principles for combating such demonic behavior by governments and their proxies. The party needs to find its bearings again, and quickly.
Thanks to the Biden administration and left-wing Democrats, it is increasingly likely that we will have to deal with Islamic terrorism here again. Even with its soldiers far-flung and lacking technological superiority, they and the nations that support them know that guerrilla warfare is the dominant form of combat in this century.
Henry Kissinger once rightly observed that the “guerrilla wins if he does not lose. The conventional army loses if it doesn’t win.”
This year, 160 people listed on terrorist watchlists were prevented from entering the U.S. illegally. It’s the highest number ever recorded, and it doesn’t include those that got away. We know that thousands of unmarried Chinese men of fighting age are coming across the border as well.
Republicans once knew that history repeats itself.
With everyone fat and happy in the 1990s, the Clinton administration ignored the rise of al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist networks. That led to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Republicans used to know these are not overseas wars.
While Democrats such as former President Barack Obama and President Biden have tried to convince Americans that Islamic terrorist networks have been destroyed, they are operating around the globe. The “new axis” of China, Russia and Iran is advancing its imperial objectives through direct and asymmetric warfare in Ukraine and other countries, now including Israel.
They are also perpetrating “fifth column” attacks here in the U.S. through the advancement of left-wing Marxist ideologies that are teaching Americans to hate one another and their nation.
By all accounts, in our new global digital battlefield, whether it’s the hacking of information, interference in elections through artificial intelligence, misinformation campaigns, the resurgence of communist power, or emboldened Islamic fascism, we are losing.
We are losing because we lack decisive leaders that project power.
Global liberal elites criticized President Ronald Reagan for saying our strategy on communism was “We win. They lose.” They were appalled by President George W. Bush’s declaration that you were either “with the terrorists or with us.”
That clarity was effective, and it has all but vanished.
There are no coincidences. Mr. Biden’s aimless foreign policy is to blame for the collapse of Afghanistan, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Iran’s assistance of Hamas, and the continued rise of China’s influence.
But make no mistake, this anti-American ecosystem is also emboldened by a fractured Republican Party that has sounded more isolationist tones in recent years.
Now is not the time to just say we stand with Israel.
Now is the time to recognize the critical links between the actions of our adversaries at home and abroad. It’s time to recognize the substantial, coordinated threats we face as free people.
It appears clear that the Israeli government is compromised from within. Are we so naive as to think that’s not happening here as well?
Even the Chinese-led BRICS movement is no accident. It is part of a series of bold economic moves to counter the West that have been employed by the Chinese Communist Party for decades.
Blaming Mr. Biden’s incompetence is not enough. Whining about the cost of the Ukraine war is not enough.
The world is watching how Republicans handle this new global paradigm. So far, our enemies have been bolstered by the sniping about RINOs, neocons and forever wars. They’ve been emboldened by a schizophrenic GOP that for the first time since before Nixon is telegraphing a total lack of clarity about America’s role in the world.
It is not enough to put up a flag or trendy profile picture on social media and call it a day. It’s not enough to spout some provocative one-liners on cable news.
It’s certainly nonsensical to ignore the civilian atrocities in Ukraine but be appalled by the carnage in Israel.
Republicans need to fully back the rebuilding of our military, restocking our fighting infrastructure and reacquainting themselves with the notion that we have global responsibilities that cannot be ignored.
There is no either-or proposition. China can certainly walk and chew gum at the same time, and so must we. The unspeakable carnage in Israel should inspire a renewed clarity of purpose.
• Tom Basile is the host of “America Right Now” on Newsmax and the author of “Tough Sell: Fighting the Media War in Iraq.”
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