On a number of occasions over the past year we have referred to George Santayana’s famous quote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

The reason Santayana’s quote is so enduring is because it goes to the very heart of why people do what they do. Ideas have consequences. Understanding that helps one understand history. Learning from history helps one to replicate successes and triumphs – and avoid failures and tragedies.

In the excellent commentary below, Jonathan Rosenblum points out the disturbing parallels between how the West, and specifically British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, dealt with Hitler prior to World War II, and how the West, and President Obama, are dealing with the evil of radical Islam today.

That President Obama, for whatever reason, has drawn the wrong conclusions from history should be a cause for deep concern for every American concerned about the threat radical Islam poses to our safety, security and liberties.

ACT for America
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www.actforamerica.org

Jewish World Review May 11, 2009 / 17 Iyar 5769

By Jonathan Rosenblum

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Upon his first visit to one of the liberated death camps, Allied Supreme Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower said, "There are those who ask what are we fighting for. Let them come here and see what we are fighting against." Eisenhower's remark contains an important insight: Sometimes it is more essential that one define the nature of evil than that one define what is good. About the latter, there will inevitably be many opinions. But they need not prevent a consensus from coalescing around the definition of evil.

I was reminded of that point last week as I watched The Third Jihad, the third in a trilogy of documentaries on the threat of radical Islam produced by Raphael Shore and Wayne Kopping. Towards the end of the documentary one of the experts interviewed, former CIA intelligence officer Clare Lopez declared, "The real war is between the values of freedom and barbarism. If we are not willing to recognize the battle as one for our civilization, we might as well give up right now."

Continued...