Can We Actually Lose The War?
By Doug Edelman (07/29/06)
Military behemoth that we are, the US is not invulnerable, and not unbeatable, despite the delusions of some who naively presume that the "good guys" always win.
Let me get a personal peeve out of the way at the outset of this discussion. We are not in a Global War on Terror. This misnomer really irks me.
"Calling this a War on Terror is like calling the WWII European Theatre a War on Blitzkrieg!" I can't take credit for composing this statement (though I'd love to), but I cannot properly attribute it as I do not know the original source – yet it is so true!!
The fact is that Terror is not a who or a what – it's a HOW. It's a TACTIC just as Blitzkrieg was a tactic. We are not at war with a tactic – we are at war with those who IMPLEMENT that tactic. We are at war with radical Islamic Jihadists who are trying to advance their goal of worldwide Caliphate. Unless we can properly identify the enemy, we can not effectively fight it.
Said Sun Tzu in his ancient work, "The Art of War":
“Know yourself and know your enemy.
You will be safe in every battle.
You may know yourself but not know the enemy.
You will then lose one battle for every one you win.
You may not know yourself or the enemy.
You will then lose every battle.â€
Do we honestly understand the enemy? Do we honestly know ourselves – our goals, purpose, our reason for fighting, a definition of victory? Has our leadership communicated these things effectively?
"You must master command.
The nation must support you.
Supporting the military makes the nation powerful.
Not supporting the military makes the nation weak.
The army's position is made more difficult by politicians in three different ways.
Ignorant of the whole army’s inability to advance, they order an advance.
Ignorant of the whole army’s inability to withdraw, they order a withdrawal.
We call this tying up the army.
Politicians don’t understand the army’s business.
Still, they think they can run an army.
This confuses the army’s officers."
Is the Army being permitted to wage a winnable war? Are we "tying up" the Army? Do our politicians have a clue?
Why are our politicians blindsided by the insurgency? Why are they surprised that, when Israel hands over Gaza in a "land for peace" bid, the Palestinians then elect Hamas and Hezbollah launches rocket attacks and cross-border raids? Do they not understand the nature of the enemy? I dare say they do not.
Our enemy understands us far better than we understand them. They use our altruism, our freedoms and our own constitution against us. They understand that Americans are largely a narcissistic bunch, seeking immediate gratification and few of us see beyond our own noses. Yes, they discovered that if you bloody us by taking out 3000 of us in a day with a sucker punch, you'll raise our ire… but they also understand we quickly tire of most any endeavor extending beyond a few weeks. They understand we have little stomach for a protracted fight. They have learned that massive attacks as those of 9/11 bring us on strong, but daily picking off 2-4 of our soldiers will soon have our peaceniks calling for our withdrawal. This is why we are not battling an enemy in uniforms with tanks and airplanes, but rather one hiding behind women and kids, launching RPGs and burying IEDs.
Our enemy understands that their strategic battlefield is not in the desert, but on our TV screens and in our newspapers. If they can weaken American resolve, they can get us to stop fighting them. They attack not with artillery and armor, but with apathy, defeatism, self-loathing, and political correctness.
Can we lose? Sadly, it is not outside the realm of possibility. As the late President Dwight D. Eisenhower once stated: "What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it the size of the fight in the dog."
Do we still have the will to fight? Do we still believe anything is worth fighting for?
Copyright © 2006 by Doug Edelman
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