Posted on 05/14/2004 9:44:16 PM PDT by quidnunc
As gas prices rise at home, scream that the war abroad was fought to steal Iraqi oil and get American hands on cheap petroleum. Talk about American imperialism and hegemony while the United States spends billions of dollars to implant democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq. Claim that the United States has destabilized the Middle East as its troops leave Saudi Arabia, Libya gives up its WMD arsenal, Iran suddenly worries about UN inspections, and Pakistan begins to reveal its former Islamic felonies.
Watch columnists and pundits who advocated war, who applauded the three-week toppling of Saddam Hussein, and were convinced that democracy appears with a snap of the fingers suddenly repent, do an about face, and now lament that “they” got us into a messy war.
Insist that Iraq has nothing to do with the wider struggle against Islamic fundamentalists and their autocratic state supporters in the Middle East. Proclaim that there was little Islamic terrorism until our invasion of Iraq. Assume that beheadings are a result of Iraq and that Daniel Pearl was decapitated only after March 2003. Then pretend that the execution of a General Massoud in Afghanistan, the Chechen war, 9-11, the Pakistani murders and bombings, our African embassy bombings, the USS Cole, the first World Trade Center and the ongoing killing in Saudi Arabia simply did not happen until the invasion of Iraq.
Ignore, if not ridicule, any evidence that does not fit a preconceived view: Mohammed Atta could have never met with Iraqi intelligence officers; Abu Abbas and Abu Nidal were not really terrorists and not really in Baghdad; there is no chance that WMD have been transferred to Syria or evidence of its removal or destruction found in Iraq. Power, water, and sewage, as well as oil production, cannot be back at prewar levels.
Constantly demand more troops; but do not use to the fullest the soldiers that are in the field: do not move on Fallujah but then always call for more soldiers to guard more Fallujahs to come. Do not arrest al-Sadr in fear of Shiite reaction—then be told privately by Shiites to arrest al-Sadr.
Ignore American soldiers in battle and turn the entire nation’s attention toward sexual abuse and humiliation of Iraqi prisoners by a few miscreant American soldiers.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at victorhanson.com ...
FYI
vdh ping
Thanks for the ping.
bump
Ping
I like his summary in the last paragraph:
"Suggestions? We must press on, of course. Use the troops that we have to put down the insurrectionists immediately and without mercy—and we will not need perpetually to call for ever more soldiers. One subdued Fallujah is worth two additional armored divisions in terms of deterrence. Give the Iraqis a higher public profile, and do not waver from the long scheduled dates of transfer of power. And finally, keep reminding the American people how much has been accomplished and how rare is our effort to defeat fascism and leave consensual government in its wake—and do that every day."
Bump for later reading.
As usual, VDH is spot on...great mind brilliant analysis
I wish the President would articulate to the people in this manner.
put me on the VDH ping list
Likewise... I just really liked this one. You'll probably see the next one before I do!
Hanson is one of the best-- he really, truly gets it.
Thank God for VDH. A voice of sanity in the morass of madness!
Thanks for the ping! He's right. We must press on and we must stay the course. If we don't they will see it as a defeat, a weakness, and every terrorist in the world will want a piece of the action, only this time, it will ALL be fought on our soil. God help us if that happens. 9-11 will seem like a walk in the park compared to the devastation that we will witness from other attacks.
Victor Davis Hanson moral clarity huge BUMPBefore this peace is fully won we are going to see some more horrific scenes emanating out of Iraq—charred bodies, tortured American prisoners, West-Bank-style lynching and shootings. Such is the nature of war and peace in that part of the world. But what is different about this present war, what makes it so at odds with the effort to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan, the Lebanon peacekeeping and mass murder of Marines with attendant flight, the first Gulf War, the no-fly zones and various mini-scrapes like Operation Desert Fox or the cruise-missiles sent into Afghanistan and North Africa, is that the United States has repeatedly shown it is not simply interested in bombing and leaving, but wants this time to create the conditions under which a GPS bomb or cruise missile is no longer a necessary response—and that is a very difficult proposition indeed, especially when most regimes in the Middle East would prefer us to bomb and run rather than to build and stay.
Suggestions? We must press on, of course. Use the troops that we have to put down the insurrectionists immediately and without mercy—and we will not need perpetually to call for ever more soldiers. One subdued Fallujah is worth two additional armored divisions in terms of deterrence. Give the Iraqis a higher public profile, and do not waver from the long scheduled dates of transfer of power. And finally, keep reminding the American people how much has been accomplished and how rare is our effort to defeat fascism and leave consensual government in its wake—and do that every day.
[please freepmail me if you want or don't want to be pinged to Victor Davis Hanson articles]
If you want to bookmark his articles discussed at FR: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/k-victordavishanson/browse
His NRO archive: http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson-archive.asp
His blog: http://victorhanson.com/index.html BIO: http://victorhanson.com/Author/index.html
Yes, he is listened by the Bush Administration; they like him maybe as much as we do: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085464/posts?page=6#6
If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.
Wars are won or lost by the country that is willing to take the killing action to the civilian population. As long as it stays between soldiers (and the willing) the war will continue. WWII (Germany and Japan) did not quit the fight until we bombed the snot out of their civilian population. The war almost immediately stopped thereafter. There was no indication of cessation of hostilities for over five years prior while soldiers were doing the dieing.
We will not win this war or any war unless we become nastier than the enemy and take it directly to the population. Bomb a city where fighting is occurring and kill 100 soldiers along with 10,000 women and children and the war will stop very quickly.
This is a lesson that has been known (and proven time and again) through out history. Micaville knew it and wrote extensively on the subject, in addition to practicing what he preached. He was right. The only difference is that we have to be able to forgive our enemies and help our enemies afterward. I believe that Micaville would agree that this is the best way to assure the peace.
As long as we think that we can protect ourselves through good and peaceful intent we will lose. History proves that to be 100% true. We lost in Viet Nam because we let the enemy be nasty while we tried to be nice and introspective. We never got the point in Nam. We first blamed our soldiers (I was there), and then we blamed the protestors. It was partially the protestors but the civilian population and the political parties were not willing to do what was necessary to win the war.
We need to relearn our lessons of life or we will lose everything.
On another subject - (slightly)
If we were to take volunteers (over the age of enlistment in the military) and let them live with and work with the soldiers in Iraq and elsewhere (performing duties which would free up the more agile troops) we could not only help the troops themselves, we would show to the world the determination that this nation has to win. Anyone interested in driving supplies, pulling KP, doing the dirty work necessary to help? I am and I would love to have the opportunity to help finish a war we MUST win. I lost my chance in Nam as did thousands of others (including the entire US) and I am sure that there are thousands like me who will give our all to defend our country and show the world what AMERICANS are made of - even those of us over the age of enlistment.
Write me if you agree or have any suggestions on how to go about setting us such a program ..............
As ever and always, VDH doesn't mince words, and tells the truth, thank God. Andy Card must have already put it on Bush's desk with a note marked 'must read'.
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