On Messianic Mass Movements

 Our friend Michael Ledeen is well know thanks to many achievements and more than a few controversies. But above all he is a scholar who has spent many decades studying fascism in all its forms.

His op-ed in today’s WSJ is very much required reading. His argument is not hard to follow, but its logic has nonetheless eluded many members of our intellectual, foreign policy and political elites.

You should read the entire piece but especially important is his contention that we are today in a war — a real war, not a metaphoric war — against radical, revolutionary and aggressive enemies – heirs to the radical, revolutionary and aggressive enemies who came closer than most people realize to defeating the West in the 20th century. Michael writes that

they are with us again, and we are acting as we did in the last century. The world is simmering in the familiar rhetoric and actions of movements and regimes – from Hezbollah and al Qaeda to the Iranian Khomeinists and the Saudi Wahhabis – who swear to destroy us and others like us. Like their 20th-century predecessors, they openly proclaim their intentions, and carry them out whenever and wherever they can. Like our own 20th-century predecessors, we rarely take them seriously or act accordingly. More often than not, we downplay the consequences of their words, as if they were some Islamic or Arab version of “politics,” intended for internal consumption, and designed to accomplish domestic objectives. …The rise of messianic mass movements is not new, and there is very little we do not know about them. Nor is there any excuse for us to be surprised at the success of evil leaders, even in countries with long histories and great cultural and political accomplishments. We know all about that. So we need to ask the old questions again. Why are we failing to see the mounting power of evil enemies? Why do we treat them as if they were normal political phenomena, as Western leaders do when they embrace negotiations as the best course of action? …Then, as now, the initiative lies with the enemies of the West. Even today, when we are engaged on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, there is little apparent recognition that we are under attack by a familiar sort of enemy, and great reluctance to act accordingly. This time, ignorance cannot be claimed as an excuse. If we are defeated, it will be because of failure of will, not lack of understanding. As, indeed, was almost the case with our near-defeat in the 1940s.