Moral Cowardice Prevents Winning the War

Ayn Rand Institute ^ | Thursday December 23, 2004 | Dr. Yaron Brook,

[eakole]

"Moral Cowardice Prevents Winning the War Thursday December 23, 2004

"IRVINE, CA--The blame for the murder of 19 Americans in Mosul yesterday lies not only with the insurgents who initiated the attack, but also with the Bush Administration's suicidal policies, said Dr. Yaron Brook, president of the Ayn Rand Institute. "The insurgency would have been crushed long ago, and yesterday's attack averted, were it not for America's altruistic policy of placing the lives of Iraqi civilians above its own self-defense.

"America must destroy the insurgency if we are to implement a non-threatening government in Iraq," said Dr. Brook. "This can be done, but to do so we must make the insurgency's complicit civilian population--those who harbor and support the insurgents--pay for the violence that they abet. We must enforce their complete surrender to our presence. Thanks to such a policy, during the occupation of Japan zero soldiers were killed by insurgents and the threat posed by the country was ended.

"Shamefully, the Bush Administration has been unwilling to make hostile Iraqi civilians pay for their crimes," said Dr. Brook. "Time and again, it has treated Iraqi lives as sacrosanct and American security and soldiers as dispensable. It is in the name of sparing civilians that our soldiers have been ordered to follow crippling rules of engagement that have cost hundreds of their lives. It was in the name of sparing civilians that we withdrew from Fallujah in April, and in November allowed thousands of insurgents to flee to places like Mosul. Such capitulations have preserved and emboldened the insurgents, while giving hope to Islamic terrorists worldwide.

"To win this war," concluded Dr. Brook, "we need a fundamental shift in our moral priorities. We need to see the military place the lives of Americans--including American soldiers--above the lives of Iraqi civilians. To those who insist that we continue to sacrifice for the sake of Iraqi civilians, I say that the death of 19 Americans yesterday, and the many more to come, are on your heads."

[petertare]

Bravo. We will not become victorious until our enemies are certain they have suffered a total defeat. Too many Americans have died, and will continue to die, until that time as we make a decision to win. Where are the implements to lay waste to the marauders? Where is the moral courage to begin?

Merry Christmas to all.

[Dubya]

Good post.

[mhx]

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

[BCrago66]

Screw the Ayn Rand Institute. This is a group of worthless unproductive people cashing in on Ayn Rand's legacy while doing nothing themselves. Their editorials, like everything else they do, are sub-par.

[bubman]

I like this, I like this alot. Moral platitudes have no place in conflict when the end game is to win.

WIN!!!

[Dubya]

Thanks for posting this.

[radicalamericannationalist]

Hmm. While I agree with the notion that we should place the lives of US soldiers above those of the Iraqi population, I also shudder to agree with anyone from the Ayn Rand Institute. In the end, I guess even that broken clock can be right twice a day.

[Mount Athos]

The Ayn Rand institute has to be one of the worst possible places for a person to take their cues on morality from.

[FITZ]

"Time and again, it has treated Iraqi lives as sacrosanct and American security and soldiers as dispensable.

I wonder why all the thousands of Iraqis are happily and safely living on USA soil --- while Americans have to go fight for their freedom. You'd think they'd be going back home and fighting for their nation's freedom.

[radicalamericannationalist]

I know. Reference broken clock comment. But, thinking on it, the actual phrase is stopped clock.

[KC_for_Freedom]

Such capitulations have preserved and emboldened the insurgents, while giving hope to Islamic terrorists worldwide.

there is no doubt about this, but the political world we live in is as much at fault as "altruism". No leader in warfare is perfect, but the President is driving the car and we need to give him our support. And at the same time urge him to let loose the dogs and please don't try to make friends over there.

[F.J. Mitchell]

In this war on terror,
nothing could be more clearer, than this.
To stick til the end we must,
else the end will stick it to us!

[inquest]

If the blame should be anywhere, it should be on the Allawi administration, not the Bush administration. They're the ones calling the shots.

[rbg81]

Why is it hard for me to believe that the academics at the Ayn Rand Institute, safe in their Ivy Tower in Irvine, have all the answers for winning the war?

[hermgem]

Iraqi's are people that Saddam kept in line with atrocities.
Cutoff ears, tongues, genitals. Pulled teeth, fingernails, fingers, hands. Fed them to wild animals, thrown them into shredders, pushed them off 30 feet high walls, buried live etc. were all part of Saddam's arsenal.
These people are so hardened that incarceration is like a vacation retreat with steady food provided.
What is it that needs to be done to get into their heads and emit a signal you do or else...
What does that else need to be?
We know what they do...
Namely: cut off heads and make certain everybody has a good look at it on TV... That's why we do not get intelligence.

[NurdlyPeon]

I keep hearing that the vast majority of the Iraqi civilians support the US and our goals. But we are suppose to indiscriminately kill them? What's a good ratio? Do we kill a thousand civilians (995 of whom are probably pro US) for every 1 American soldier killed? I wonder if the average soldier over there, who is putting their life on the line for the sake of the Iraqi population, would really like the idea of killing 1000 civilians to avenge his death? We could probably bomb the hell out of their cities, and kill them by the tens of thousands, but is that really what we want to do? Look, guys, I don't like seeing our boys getting killed any more than anyone else does, but I just don't think that this kind of scorched-earth policy is the way to go. It seems to me to kind of un-American (and please don't flame me for saying that). Yes, I do remember Dresden and Hiroshima, but in that case, we were talking about thousands of American lives, rather than dozens. Let's give George and Rummey the benefit of the doubt here, okay?

[Kurt_D]

Yaron Brook is quite an interesting character. I chatted with him once when he came to Chicago. In any case, he is absolutely right when it cames to dealing with the so-called insurgents (a.k.a. terrorists).

The essence of war is violence. Moderation in war is imbecility.

--British Sea Lord John Fisher