Victor Davis Hanson : Another 9/11? – The awful response that we dare not speak about.

National Review ^ | July 6, 2004 | Victor Davis Hanson

[robowombat]

"In real wars of the past, Germans did not study in the U.S. in 1943. Third-Reich reporters did not mingle with Allied journalists. You could not just dial up Mainz or Kobe to chat. Americans did not watch documentaries alleging bloodguilt for B-17 raids."

I am convinced if contemporary cultural mores and the cultural Marxist attitudes of much of the prestitutes and the cackling classes were transported back to World War 2 the Third Reich would probably have had a good chance to fight to a draw by using the press to paralyze Anglo-American morale and eventually force a defacto truce thus allowing the Nazis to concentrate their energies on the Eastern Front and fight the Russians to some sort of draw.

Just imagine today's presstitutes covering such events as 'Operation Tiger' the dress rehearsal for D day that featured an E-boat raid , terrible security, and the deaths of nearly a thousand Americans as E-boats rampaged through the long column of slow moving LSTs. Or the D-Day landings with the disarray in the airborne phase and the carnage at Omaha Beach. Think of the headline 'Five Understrength German Divisions hold 100,000 Allied Troops At Bay'
Then the fighting in the bocage country of Normandy 'Allies gage advances in Yard as Prospect of World War One Style Quagmire Emerges". The list is endless climaxing with the friendly fire carnage that the heavy bomber attacks which preceded launching Operation Cobra at St Lo. The role of the press as a conveyor of defeatist messages and images was first seen in Viet Nam and is clearly in evidence today in Iraq. If combat lasts more than a few weeks the press is going to start spinning the quagmire and defeat image as soon as possible. Many of these people really don't want the US to succeed in any military endeavor and their combination of distaste for the armed services and generalized hatred for normal Americans corrupts their perceptions about any conflict we will ever be in.

[Eastbound]

Part of that 'Awful Response That We Dare Not Speak' is not even alluded to here. Probably because we dare not speak about it.

[RAY]

VDH and VP DC are probably talking - and GW likes the plan.

[Max Combined]

"This is a surprising lapse if one believes an understood response helps in advance to create deterrence."

Announce to the world that we will nuke Mecca if another 911 happens. We give them fair warning and if they bring this on themselves they have only themselves to blame.

[PogySailor]

If combat lasts more than a few weeks the press is going to start spinning the quagmire and defeat image as soon as possible.

IIRC, it was a matter of days before they were doing that at the beginning of the 2003 Iraq campaign.

[ought-six]

Christiane Amanpour is Iranian, by the way.

[ought-six]

You are right, I doubt we have the national will to do what is necessary to defeat this enemy. The Left has so emasculated the American body politic that I doubt we will ever again (well, at least in my lifetime: I am in my 50s) develop the brass danglers that we will need to win this war on our culture and our civilization. The Left in America actually hopes we will lose such a conflict.

[Billthedrill]

A couple of quick points - first, it is not good tactics to publicly list a group of assets to be attacked. It may be wonderful politics but it warns the enemy and gets people killed unnecessarily when you actually have to do it.

Moreover, such a message has absolutely been sent privately to certain parties - the sitting governments of Iran and Syria at a minimum, and such government as may care in Lebanon. It is these who are tops on the likely list of formal state support for terrorism. One message that does not need to be sent is that the last two occupants of the top of the list, Afghanistan and Iraq, no longer are. That speaks for itself.

There has been so much talk of "war" on terrorists from so many people, for so long, to so little effect, that these belligerents are to be forgiven for assuming that this time is no different, even after the fall of two host governments. It is slowly dawning on the Arab world that this is the real thing, and that angry men with guns can no longer hide behind our former respect for religion and national sovereignty. After all, the worst that can happen already has - they've been killing Americans on American soil, and the Europeans have sniffed in disdain at the impropriety of the whole thing. That last used to matter - I'm not really certain why. It doesn't now.

[Billthedrill]

I have to add this - I swear I did not read it before typing my last:

Iraq May Not Oppose Attacks On Neighboring States

[Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit]

There is something that is being missed here and it is the reason that Americans have already begun to turn against this war.

And, it goes beyond the traitorous press. As much as Freepers like to (rightly) insist that we are a nation at war, the population does not feel like it because they have not been asked to sacrifice.

After 9/11 peope were told to go shopping. War is a state of crisis that requires an all out effort. The President has not asked people to change anything. Had he taken the opportunity to ask the American people to rise up to the challenge the 21st century has presented us, his approval ratings would still be sky high.

And yes, it should have been, as suggested by Thomas Friedman, a Manhattan project to wean ourselves off of imported energy. This would have required everyone to change, to sacrifice and to keep themselves focused on a larger cause. A WWII style propaganda campaign would be raging and VDH would have exactly what he wanted in terms of public backing.

But, alas, W.'s oil buddies would certainly not have been thrilled.

[swarthyguy]

We would have to draft a formal declaration of war — as we should have against the Taliban, bin Laden, and Saddam Hussein — against those countries that harbored or even aided the next 9/11-like cell...... this presently deluded world right now should shudder at the very thought of it to come, try to prevent it, and stop looking at "war against terror" as some sort of parlor game. Honesty and resoluteness now might just saves lives later on

[Tolik]

They actually went to the preemptive quagmire mode before the action started...

[schu]

If there is another 911 type that uses WMD (chemical, bio or nuke) and there are mass casualties (>10,000) then we will:

1. Institute martial law until perps are caught and the true nature of future threat is identified

2. Incarcerate/internment camps for many/all Muslims

3. Severe economic disruption with mass layoffs, stock market crash and huge loss of wealth

4. Possible internal civil war as the left/right disagreement erupts into condemnation and anger

5. Possible secession of state(s) in aftermath as a result of #4

6. Response in kind to perpetrators country including nukes or massive bombing

7. Massive world-wide condemnation of US response, loss of world-wide allies for decades.

No matter who the President is at that time, if the response in kind does not occur, then he will not be President for long. Our country will cease to exist as it is today, it could recover in the future with good leadership, but that would be seriously in doubt. The situation would be analogous with the Civil War when it took 50-60 years to heal the wounds and move on.

This is why the entire scenario is so important and why it is so frustrating to see the left politicize this situation so much.

[johnb838]

I now believe that the only reason there was unity among the presstitutes and eastern liberal elites during WWII was because Uncle Joe Stalin and The Soviet Union, Cradle of Communism were threatened. I don't believe they were with us before the Nazis invaded Russia. Also, the 9-11 style shockwave from Pearl Harbor scared the hell out of a lot of people, including girly-boy liberals, and caused a goodly proportion of Red Country America to say Screw it, enough is enough.

I've never really considered the paralells, but the nips and the krauts had been sinking our ships, killing our people, and invading our friends for years by the time of the PH attacks, and we'd done little about it. When they hit American Territory and our Military Assets, a lot of people must have been ready to go kill their sorry arses.

After the war, the carping, whining, back-seat driving, and weak-kneed monday morning quarterbacking were rampant, as they probably were during the war. But the press had much less direct power over the people than they do today. It must have been easier to shut it out. Though newspapers and radio did a pretty good job, and then along came Television.

[omega4412]

We should also have a subplan -- in case of another 9/11 or a smaller attack, when the barbarians have their block parties to celebrate and chant "Death to America" and mutilate bodies, annihilate them. The Spectre gunship -- the ultimate party pooper.

[Eastbound]

"This is why the entire scenario is so important and why it is so frustrating to see the left politicize this situation so much."

Not only frustrating, it will be fatal to let them continue. There needs to be immediate pre-emption activity. Your #2 above should be considered, but instead of confining them, they should ALL be given a road map to the border for their own safety before the next attack, and in fact, may be the very thing we should do to prevent an attack.

It will be difficult if not impossible to guarantee their safety afterwards. Chaos will reign and looting and burning will be common in all urban areas. It will be difficult to know who the enemy is under such conditions and many innocents will perish.

The aftermath of another large-scale attack here will make the L.A. riots look like a revival meeting. Just my guess, based on the prevailing sentiment. This consequential scenario should not be overlooked by the purveyors of destruction.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Just make sure the Champaign vineyards are unaffected.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Nonsense. The RATmedia has destroyed the American mind so that it is losing its grip on reality.

A big government boondoggle is not sacrifice. Besides asking this spoiled, feckless and ignorant electorate to sacrifice would mean the support for the war would be about 25%.

Efforts to increase demand and keep the economy from collapsing were absolutely necessary. This is not the same kind of war as WWII and the tactics necessary then are not workable or appropriate now.

Apparently you buy into the Michael MOOre bilge from the crack about oilmen.

[happygrl]

It took twelve posts before the real culprit was mentioned.

Yes.

Nuke Mecca.

This should be the message to the entire Muslim World

Now.

Today.

[happygrl]

helping Americans to understand not to overreact if an attack happens.

WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT ?

NOT OVERREACT ?

Much of the Population has become comatose since 9-11.

My fear is that we won't react enough.