Nordlinger's Grim Thoughts

Jay Nordlinger in today's NRO:

The question comes anew whether the West has the stomach to fight the War on Terror, and prevail in it. I don’t know — think of all the major personages and institutions that are either against the war or sympathetic to the other side. Three years ago, interviewing Secretary Rumsfeld, I asked this question: whether the West had the stomach. Actually, what I asked was whether Americans would “stick with the Terror War.” Rumsfeld answered, quick as a flash, “They stuck with the Cold War.”

Yes, indeed — but I’ve always felt we got somewhat lucky there, particularly with the advent of Gorbachev. (I know this makes many of my fellow Reaganauts gag.)

And many years ago — when I was in college — I read those stirring Norman Podhoretz essays, in which he spoke of Israel, America, and Europe, and said things like, “Oh, West, look in the mirror and behold your fate.”

I’m afraid these times prompt apocalyptical thoughts.

I wish I could disagree.