Kissinger, Steyn, and Power Line honor Norman Podhoretz for World War IV
By Seth Mandel
Feb. 15, 2008

With Mark Steyn telling stories of him singing "Making Whoopee" on cruise ships and Henry Kissinger praising his political clairvoyance, Norman Podhoretz was honored by friends and colleagues as he received the first annual Power Line Book of the Year award Feb. 11.

Podhoretz, prolific author, political writer, and former editor-in-chief of Commentary magazine, as well as past recipient of Bar-Ilan's Guardian of Zion Award, was given the award for his most recent work, World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism. Power Line is a conservative-leaning blog authored by attorneys John Hinderaker, Scott Johnson, and Paul Mirengoff. The award's cash prize of $25,000 -- the largest monetary prize in letters -- was donated by Podhoretz to Soldiers' Angels, a volunteer-based nonprofit that helps American soldiers.

"I am also here as a testimony to my innate masochism," Kissinger deadpanned before Podhoretz gave his acceptance speech at the Four Seasons Restaurant in Manhattan. "I've been attacked by Norman from the left and I've been attacked by Norman from the right. I've been attacked for being too Cold War-ish, and I've been attacked for not being Cold War-ish enough. I've been attacked for failure to engage in detente, and for excessive enthusiasm for detente.

"At the same time, I suffer from enormous affection for Norman and Midge. They are heroes to me of the intellectual struggles of our period."

World War IV is premised on calling the current political and military battles waged against the West by radical Islamists the fourth world war, the Cold War being the third.

Hinderaker told the audience that Podhoretz's book is an invaluable resource to those who need to understand the current struggle against Islamists. He said in his book, Podhoretz lays out in detail how the war began long before Sept. 11, 2001, and that President George W. Bush's policies are the only response that can be effective against an enemy that cannot be deterred by threats of retaliation or saber-rattling.

"The so-called realist proposal to placate the jihadists, which consists, essentially, of selling out Israel, is as unrealistic as it is immoral," Hinderaker said, describing what he called Podhoretz's lucid and fact-driven analysis of the issue. "In recognition of all these virtues and more, we are proud to present the Power Line Book of the Year Award for 2007 to Norman Podhoretz for World War IV.

The event was organized by the Hudson Institute New York Briefing Council, the N.Y.-based public policy discussion arm of the Washington D.C.-based futurist think tank.

'Norman is a prophet'

Kissinger was secretary of state and national security advisor to former President Richard Nixon. Kissinger pointed out that he held both positions simultaneously at one point.

"And the reason I mention it is... never before, and never since, have relations between the White House and the State Department been as amicable and coherent as they were in those days," he quipped.

Kissinger said that he always agreed with Podhoretz's analogies, but not always with his conclusions. The issue, he said, is that Podhoretz is a prophet, and prophets believe in the immediate feasibility of their ideals. Statesmen like himself, Kissinger said, concentrate on what can be done in a specific period of time.

"Of course, people like me couldn't function unless there were a few prophets around to recall us to our duties," Kissinger said.

Kissinger said Podhoretz has contributed greatly to his own understanding of current events, and that he agrees completely with Podhoretz's description of the challenge the West faces.

"What we call terrorism refers to a method; what terrorism represents is an assault by radical Islam on the political structure of the Islamic world, but in a deeper sense, on the secular structure and international structure of anything any society within reach of Islam, which means almost every part of the world," Kissinger said. "That is the fundamental challenge. Therefore, to talk about withdrawal from any battlefield is to describe defeat. There is no way to escape the conflict with Islam by leaving Afghanistan or leaving Iraq."

Kissinger then turned to the issue of Iranian nuclear capability. He said some argue that since nuclear proliferation was tolerated for some nations, it must be tolerated for the Islamic Republic as well. He disagrees, whether or not Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in power.

"The nature of the Iranian government compounds the problem, but I would be opposed to it even if there were another government in Tehran," he said. "And I don't think we should confuse those two issues."

On the topic of the use of force and unilateral American action, Podhoretz "brilliantly illuminated" the options, Kissinger said.

"My major reason for being here is to express my gratitude for what Norman has contributed to our society, the friendship he has shown Nancy and me, and for the courage with which he has faced his critics and stood by his convictions," Kissinger said. "And now if he can only learn how to implement them, we'll have nothing left to argue about."

A new Cold War

Columnist and author of American Alone: The End of the World As We Know It, Mark Steyn spoke about the facets of each of the first three world wars that can be seen in the current war against radical Islam. It is closer to a new Cold War than a new hot war, Steyn said, and among America's new priorities there is less emphasis on removing some of the Arab world's despots like Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who "sleeps a lot easier in his bed now than he did five years ago."

Steyn also noted that the current wave of appeasement of Islamic warriors is foolhardy, especially given the precedent.

"We don't have the same excuse that Neville Chamberlain and Lord Halifax had 70 years ago, because our appeasement is done knowing full well the consequences of what happened the last time round," Steyn said. "I think that makes it worse."

For example, he said, calling this a war on terror is dangerously imprecise.

"To the modern progressive, there are no enemies, just friends whose grievances we haven't yet accommodated," he said. "And radical Islam gets that message -- it smells weakness and decay at the heart of the West, and it figures, reasonably enough, that if we're going to lose to someone it might as well be them."

Will trumps wealth, Steyn said, noting that Americans and their allies must have the resolve to win the war. Podhoretz has that will, he said. In fact, he added, Podhoretz's dedication to the Bush Doctrine is unparalleled, and it probably should be renamed the Podhoretz Doctrine.

Never fail to anticipate American resiliency

Upon accepting the award, Podhoretz asked if Americans have what it takes to take on our enemies, as did the "greatest generation" that defeated the Nazis. The jury may still be out, he said, because the nation is caught up in an "unresolved war of ideas" over whether to even fight this war.

"On one side stand those of us who see Islamofascism as the third in a series of totalitarian challenges to our civilization, and who insist on the correlative necessity of meeting and defeating it by military means where necessary and by nonmilitary instruments of power where possible," Podhoretz said. "On the other side of this war of ideas stand those who think that the threat is a mere criminal 'nuisance.'

In some ways, he said, we have it easier than in the preceding world wars; there is no mandatory military conscription, there is currently no rationing of supplies, and our taxes haven't been raised.

"But on the other hand, we have more cause to be anxious over the safety and security of our continental homeland than they were," Podhoretz said. "For in response to the claims that the Islamofascists are as nothing compared to the Wehrmacht and the Red Army, it cannot be said too often that neither Hitler nor Stalin ever managed to hit us literally where we live, let alone with weapons of mass destruction."

Podhoretz has been an advocate for using military force against Iran to prevent the Islamic Republic from attaining nuclear capability. Not only will the suicidal Iranian leaders use the bomb, they would share the technology with their jihadist customers, he said, noting that Iran is the world's leading sponsor of terror.

Like it or not, he said, Americans are going to have to fight and win this war. But Podhoretz was optimistic; despite the open defeatism of some, he said, the mettle and will of the American people have been doubted before. Against the Nazis, he said, some wondered if Americans were any match for the fascist fanatics; against the Soviets, some questioned whether Americans had the heart and the stomach to be effective against the Soviet regime.

Today, similar fears are flying about, Podhoretz said, though it would be unwise to underestimate the American people.

"In their determination, their courage, and their love of country, they are by all accounts a match and more than a match for their forebears of WWII and world war three," he said. "And who is to say that these young people are less representative of America than such of their elders and contemporaries who conspicuously lack the same virtues?"

Podhoretz concluded by expressing his hope that his book will help galvanize the spirit of those who thus far have chosen to ignore the threat, and those "who do not appreciate how infinitely precious is the heritage of liberty we are called upon to protect and preserve and, yes, to spread, so that it may long endure and not perish from the earth."