by Matt Barr

Watcher's Council results, July 21

For July 21 (nominees, full results), the Council speakethed thus:

Joshuapundit's When History Bites Back was voted best Council post.

Those who favor bullying Israel into a so-called peace settlement would do well to remember the last time the West betrayed a strong ally to preserve "peace in our time." They might want to consider what a victory of this kind for the forces of Islamic fascism might mean to the West and preserving its freedom.

And the Israelis would do well to remember that all the security guarantees in the world are no substitute for defensible borders and a strong military. And that `security' is not something that can be left to others.

History bites back, especially to those who forget its lessons.

The Sundries Shack's Blogging For Dummies Like Me justly placed.

TierHawk's Whither the 'Democratization Strategy'? won best non-Council post.

So, if the democratization project holds out little demonstrable chance of shrinking the number of extremists and if it carries the great risk of propelling anti-American regimes into office, should the next administration abandon Bush's initiatives and return to a willingness to exchange support for autocracies for "stability" and pro-American governments? My answer is no.

The true benefit of democratization has very little to do with Natan Sharansky's romantic view that a genuine franchise and the civil rights necessary to sustain it will somehow destroy jihadi terrorism by removing the discontent that feeds its roots. No, the best and perhaps only argument for democratization is that it will increase the number of active enemies of the jihadis within the Muslim world, whether or not those enemies of the Islamists are themselves supporters of the United States or quite opposed to us. It will be enough for us to create more enemies of al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah. We need to create more enemies of Islamist terrorists because we cannot beat al Qaeda and Hez and their ilk on our own.

Dhimmi Watch's Beheading Nations -- The Islamization of Europe's Cities came in second.

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