This Guy Can Get A Fellowship

It's a tragedy in the extreme that someone this mentally damaged can hold a high-ranking position at a conservative think tank. What it really bespeaks is how little progressive money-holders understand the value of using money to push message. Dinesh D'Souza should be in a rubber room somwhere prattling on: this so-called "argument" about the cultural Left's repsonsibility for 9-11 has no more credibility than someone who thinks explosives were placed in Tower 6. But because of the substantial wingnut welfare system, where movement conservatives like Scaife and Mellon and Koch and Olin and Wyly fund these organizations, the publishing houses, the entire echo chamber of nutjob conservative thought, this guy has a job instead of holding a cup on a street corner.

To understand this, we need a little perspective. Radical Islam became a global force in 1979, when it captured its first major state, Iran. Before that, radical organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood were fighting losing battles to overthrow their local governments. This changed with the success of the Khomeini regime in Iran. The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was the first Muslim leader to describe the U.S. as the "Great Satan" and to counsel martyrdom and jihad against it. Iran continues to be a model for radical Muslims.

Khomeini's ascent to power was aided by Carter's policies. Carter came into office stressing his support for human rights. His advisors told him that he could not consistently support the shah of Iran, who had secret police and was widely accused of violating human rights. The administration began to withdraw its support and finally pulled the rug out from under the shah, forcing him to step down.

The result was Khomeini, whose regime was vastly more tyrannical than the shah's. The Khomeini revolution provided state sponsorship for Islamic radicalism and terrorism and paved the way for Osama bin Laden and 9/11.

Clinton's policies also helped to provoke 9/11. After the Cold War, leading Islamic radicals returned to their home countries. Bin Laden left Afghanistan and went back to Saudi Arabia; Ayman Zawahiri returned to Egypt. They focused on fighting their own rulers — what they termed the "near enemy" — in order to establish states under Islamic law. But in the mid- to late 1990s, these radicals shifted strategy. They decided to stop fighting the near enemy and to attack the "far enemy," the U.S.

This is gibberish. The Shah was not popular with his own people. The Clinton distortions here are well-documented. And D'Souza couldn't even stop there, not getting the joke from Colbert and claiming 9-11 was FDR's fault.

COLBERT: This book is a revelation to me. Okay, It’s called “The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11.” Okay, I’ve been trying to figure this one out for a while. Walk me through it. How did the liberals plan 9/11? Go.

D’SOUZA: Well, first of all, the liberals convinced Jimmy Carter to withdraw American support for a valuable ally, the Shah of Iran. The United States pulled the Persian rug out from under the Shah, and who did we get — Khomeini? In trying to get back at the bad guy, we got the worst guy.

COLBERT: But Reagan got back at those bastards by selling them those Hawk missiles in the 80s, right? He showed them a thing or two about American muscle by giving them some –

D’SOUZA: Well, he also sent some, he sent missiles to Khadafi, which put him out of the terrorism trade. Here’s the second point. In the 1990s, the radical Muslims launched a bunch of attacks — the Khobar Towers, the embassies, the USS Cole. President Clinton did absolutely nothing, and bin Laden said, you know what, the United States is a bunch of cowards. That’s why, he says, he was emboldened to strike on 9/11.

COLBERT: But is all the responsibility Carter and Clinton’s? Doesn’t some of it lie at FDR’s doorstep? Doesn’t things like Social Security and Medicare and LBJ’s Great Society, doesn’t some of that send the wrong message to our enemies, that America cares about domestic issues and not just about foreign policy?

D’SOUZA: Indirectly, yes, here’s why.

COLBERT: I can’t wait. Can I guess? We never got to see him standing up, and, therefore, America doesn’t stand up for its principles?

D’SOUZA: No, FDR gave away Eastern Europe through Yalta, and then the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the Muslims had to fight back and that’s where bin Laden got his start.

Colbert got D'Souza to admit that he agrees with bin Laden's critiques of the culture of America. This man got a book published, got on a talk show, all the while spouting some of the most insane nonsense you'll ever hope to hear by anybody, left or right. But the right takes care of their own, supplying them with a fresh supply of grant money and book deals, and trying to make this depravity somehow sound sane.