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Will we ever win another war?
Townhall ^ | Wednesday, December 6, 2006 | Ben Shapiro

Posted on 12/06/2006 7:25:53 AM PST by presidio9

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To: weef
Maybe I'm mistaken but I believe we won the war a while ago and now the nation building isn't wrapping up as quickly as people would like it to.

Here's where things get sticky, though: in terms of "winning" the war, can you really separate the nation building from the fighting? Will we have "won" if Iraq ends up being as -- or more -- dangerous than when Saddam was in power?

"Winning" in Iraq has to be defined in terms of what happens after we're gone -- a stable, non-agressive Iraq, for example.

Then again, Iraq isn't really "the war," at all. It's just a theatre of the war. The main event has more to do with Islamic totalitarianism ... a fuzzy, ill-defined mess. It's not certain that there's any real head to it ... though Iran certainly seems to be trying to take a leadership position.

61 posted on 12/06/2006 8:00:15 AM PST by r9etb
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To: From One - Many
So answer the question....

Why waste my time on stupid questions?

62 posted on 12/06/2006 8:00:43 AM PST by r9etb
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To: reagan_fanatic
"What a different world it was 60 years ago - 2400 Americans die at Pearl Harbor and the entire country stands up to the challenge..."

We also didn't ONLY lose a couple of major office building landmarks...we lost a good part of the nation's Pacific Fleet.

A bit of a difference IMO.

63 posted on 12/06/2006 8:01:29 AM PST by DCPatriot ("It aint what you don't know that kills you. It's what you know that aint so" Theodore Sturgeon)
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To: All

No, we will win battles but not wars. In order to win complete victory you must hang the guilty. We will not, and Saddam still draws breath to this day.
I wonder how Hitler's trial would have gone?


64 posted on 12/06/2006 8:01:58 AM PST by The Toll
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To: Brilliant

Let's blame it all on the demoncrats. Please!


65 posted on 12/06/2006 8:03:35 AM PST by conservativecorner
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To: r9etb

ok, if you don't want to win the war by killing people and breaking things, you should openly suggest 'loving the enemy to death.' At least people will understand where you stand concerning winning the war. Fine by me, just wanted to know where you stood.


66 posted on 12/06/2006 8:04:25 AM PST by From One - Many (Trust the Old Media At Your Own Risk)
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To: Jeffrey_D.
I really don't think most Americans have any concept as to how long the WOT will take. I think most have a 5 year outlook when they should thinking in terms of decades.

Without a doubt, PC is an inherent part and must be defeated by common sense. As reagan_fanatic stated, it may take a calamity for us to realize what we need to do. Let's hope not.

67 posted on 12/06/2006 8:04:45 AM PST by batter ("Never let the enemy pick the battle site." - Gen. George S. Patton)
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To: presidio9
Will we ever win another war??

What a baloney-headed writer!!

We won this war. The problem has always been that the Administration, in duplicity with the mainstream media, is still set in the old-school 20th Century definition of a WIN.

The Iraqi terror-insurgents are defeated to the point all they can do is set off roadside bombs, or IED's, or take a few pot shot mortar rounds here and there.

The PROBLEM is, and this is the HUGE problem, is that whenever a suicide bomber does his or her thing, the media (and the Bush Admin) drops into the "we are losing" mode.

You can NEVER stop all terror suicide bombers 100-percent, in any Muslim country, because around 20-percent of the populations are always radical nutjobs.

The only thing we can do is lessen the number of attacks.

68 posted on 12/06/2006 8:05:54 AM PST by Edit35
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To: presidio9

When? Well the next time we are deeply affected by 15,000,000 in armed forces [in today's population, maybe 20,000,000], Rosie the Riveter leaves the office for war production (if she can manage to import the material], rationing, air raid drills, blackouts, and bond drives to raise war funds. In other words when everyone is involved in effort to win.

Would the price of winning be acceptable today? Look at the popularity of a draft and tax cuts.

Winning a war requires more than advocacy from keyboard commandos.


69 posted on 12/06/2006 8:06:16 AM PST by ex-snook ("But above all things, truth beareth away the victory.")
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To: pgyanke
We won't win if we continue to value PC over liberty. We elected a Muslim to Congress. Muslims do not believe in multicultural melting pots, religious tolerance or free speech. Yet we allow one of their members, who likely wants to see Sharia Law as the law of the land, into our law-writing body.

You can't have missed out on that fact that this statement is a logical train wreck....

70 posted on 12/06/2006 8:07:10 AM PST by r9etb
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To: presidio9
"Will we ever win another war?"

You just need to come up with a definition that fits your needs. I used to think that a war had been won when your opponent's government was overthrown. I expect that many years from now historians will refer to Iraq as both "America's shortest and longest war." Hey, I should trademark that, it might catch on: "America's shortest and longest warTM"

71 posted on 12/06/2006 8:08:50 AM PST by faq
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To: From One - Many

Rush was misquoting something that G. Gordon Liddy said YEARS ago... "The purpose of an army is to break things and kill people."

The purpose of war is for a country to eliminate a threat to itself and/or its citizenry. One of the reasons that much of our country is so weak is because we haven't faced annihilation in over half a century. Sheeple aren't students of history; they forget that evil exists today just as surely as it did when Hitler rolled across Europe. Add to that the near-inability of liberals (and many self-described "moderates") to accept reality, let alone decipher and act upon it, and you have the problem we have today.

Liberalism is the social cancer of our age. Through ignorance and weakness, it is killing America a little bit more every day, and someday the bill will be due. When it does... in the form of Chinese agression, a nuclear detonation in one of our cities, or a third European conflict... who will be the first to stand in defense of the United States of America? Not those who caused the problem in the first place, that's for sure.

Bush, like his father, is ultimately weak, and so is the majority of the Republican House. I wish they would stop being part of the problem and get the hell out of the way.


72 posted on 12/06/2006 8:09:02 AM PST by snowrip (Liberal? YOU HAVE NO RATIONAL ARGUMENT. Actually, you lack even a legitimate excuse.)
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To: presidio9

One white nuclear flash in Mecca would solve the problem. Muslims respect nothing but strength. If we made the rock gone and Allah couldn't stop us, it would be the beginning of the end of Islam. It's a tumor and we are just fighting the symptoms.


73 posted on 12/06/2006 8:09:54 AM PST by A_perfect_lady
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To: presidio9

Not if the Democrats have anything to do with it. They are the cowards of America.
They want everything yesterday and are not willing to put in the effort to win.


74 posted on 12/06/2006 8:10:05 AM PST by Doc91678 (Doc91678)
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To: From One - Many
ok, if you don't want to win the war by killing people and breaking things, you should openly suggest 'loving the enemy to death.' At least people will understand where you stand concerning winning the war. Fine by me, just wanted to know where you stood.

Sigh. See, I knew that you did not understand the distinction between the methods of war and the purposes of war. You still don't -- and so it leads you to asking stupid questions, and building silly strawmen.

Seriously, think about the difference for a while, and come back when you're ready to discuss like a responsible adult.

75 posted on 12/06/2006 8:10:37 AM PST by r9etb
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To: r9etb

No, it's not. Toleration and freedom of religion doesn't mean they have to be elected to our governing bodies. Membership of a religion that 1) lies to those who are not members and 2) seeks to subvert the Constitution and laws of this country should not be trusted when they take an oath to support and defend the Constitution.


76 posted on 12/06/2006 8:11:15 AM PST by pgyanke (Gay marriage does to real marriage what counterfeit money does to real money. - Hemogoblin)
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To: Brilliant
Not with the Dems in charge.

Not with the dinosaur media composed almost completely of liars and traitors.

77 posted on 12/06/2006 8:11:46 AM PST by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilisation is aborting, buggering, and contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: DCPatriot
Yes, but the nation's rage centered on the fact that the attack came without declaration of war (ie cowardly) like a cheap shot. The nation rapidly turned onto war footing for an act committed, for the most part, against a military target.
On 911, the main targets were civilians. After Pearl, people were furious, imagine how much more enraged the people would have been if the targets were civilian.
78 posted on 12/06/2006 8:13:28 AM PST by batter ("Never let the enemy pick the battle site." - Gen. George S. Patton)
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To: r9etb
I'm sorry you can't comprehend what I'm asking.....
oh and BTW go ahead with your strawman as well.
LOL
79 posted on 12/06/2006 8:13:33 AM PST by From One - Many (Trust the Old Media At Your Own Risk)
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To: presidio9
Ruthless tactics must be used to win a war. It does not matter who is in charge in Washington. US citizens must be in full support of a war to win it. That is the only way Washington will use ruthless tactics.

What would cause US citizens to fully support a war? I fear, nothing short of nuclear annihilation of one of more US cities.
80 posted on 12/06/2006 8:14:03 AM PST by ryan71 (You can hear it on the coconut telegraph...)
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