War on Terrorism - McCaffrey Foresees Longest Conflict Since Revolutionary War

War on Terrorism - McCaffrey Foresees Longest Sustained Conflict Since Revolutionary War

“We will sing again,” proclaimed Sandy Forker, a host at the Conference on Comprehensive NeuroScience, just before welcoming guest speaker Gen. Barry McCaffrey. In his address to the audience of behavioral health-care specialists and consumers, the former White House drug czar insisted that Americans would need to muster courage for the war which began yesterday with the bombing of Taliban bases in Afghanistan. This war, he said, would be the longest battle since the Revolutionary War, which began in 1775 and ended in 1783.

The former drug czar’s comments and predictions, though surely not inaccurate or unwarranted, have not always been easy to swallow over the years. In a past Insight story, he was nicknamed “General Superlative” for his seeming inability to finish a sentence without using a term along the lines of “greatest,” “longest” or some other generality.

Now a teacher at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., the president of his own consulting firm and an analyst for NBC news, McCaffrey asserted that Americans have come to hold unrealistic expectations, particularly concerning world conflicts and how they can be resolved. McCaffrey said that Americans believe “when there is a problem, we will intervene and almost none of our boys and girls will get hurt. We’ll resolve the situation and we’ll give it to you on TV.” McCaffrey admitted that these expectations were formed as a result of the successful U.S. military operations in Panama, the Persian Gulf and Haiti.

“It is only when we begin to have problems that our expectations get in the way of handling military maneuvers correctly,” said McCaffrey while discussing our initial retreat from Somalia. We had entered the country to facilitate the feeding of its starving citizens. “We ended up with 18 soldiers killed and a couple hundred wounded, and we left Somalia with hurt feelings,” he said. Our military remained out of the country until it was grudgingly pushed back into the Balkans on a peacekeeping mission. “I had greater casualties than that in my company in Vietnam, and we didn’t make the Daily Stars and Stripes. We’ve forgotten what the world is like out there,” said McCaffrey. The psyche of those serving in our armed forces is not the same necessarily as that of the average citizen. While both groups were just as surprised by the Sept. 11 tragedy, the long-term effects will vary. McCaffrey addressed this subject while expounding on what the upcoming months and years might have in store. He described the next 36 months as a period of reorganization during which American soldiers will be put at risk and citizens will face a changing environment.

At one point in his speech, the crowd erupted into spontaneous applause after hearing McCaffrey condemn the canceling of the Emmys that had been planned for Sunday night. “We must go on with our economic life, our family life” he said. “I think it will require courage and I think we have plenty of it. If we don’t, we won’t survive as a society.”

McCaffrey specifically emphasized the virtue of courage because he predicted there will be future terrorist attacks — meaning a new environment for American citizens, one which does not guarantee the same level of security as in the past. However, it may be that McCaffrey never believed that our nation, or that any nation, ever guaranteed the level of security that some have come to expect.

How many times can you burn sand?

I'm beginning to think of this with an analogy.

You go into the doctor because you've discovered this dark and painful spot on the back of your neck.

The doctor runs the tests, and says, "I'm afraid it's cancer".

You say, "I've never been sick a day in my life! And I'm very busy, so let's get on with it".

And the doctor says, "You don't understand. you've got melanoma".

And you say, "Well doc, can't we just burn it out, because I've gotta' get back to the beach. My vollyball team's just warmin' up."

And the doctor says, "You still don't understand. You're probably not going to be able to go out in the direct sun ever again. Besides, I'm concerned about metastisis."

And you stare at him.

And he stares back.

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