Too soft for a new kind of war?

The Washington Times ^ | September 2, 2005 | Victor Davis Hanson

[neverdem]

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The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com

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Too soft for a new kind of war?

By Victor Davis Hanson
Published September 2, 2005

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Not long ago Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, an authentic American hero, was shot three times and wounded in Mosul, Iraq, as he led his men into a terrorist enclave.

    The jihadist who shot him survived and was given first-rate American medical care for his wounds. It turns out the terrorist was captured earlier in December 2004, on suspicion of being involved in a deadly suicide attack on an American base. Then he was turned over to the Iraqis, sent to the notorious Abu Ghraib jail and released. Once free, he returned to killing Americans and his rendezvous with Col. Kurilla.

    For bickering Americans back home, Abu Ghraib is a "Stalag," but for the terrorists it's apparently a rest stop before resuming their hunt for Americans.

    This recent incident once more reflects how confused we are in the West over the proper way to obtain the needed ends. While we worry we have gone too far in our harshness, our enemies are convinced our softness has us too far gone to win this war.

    This fight is quite different from past conflicts. The jihadists have no uniforms. Their first, not last, resort is terrorism. They know they cannot win unless they murder and demoralize civilians, preferably in the U.S., as we saw September 11, 2001.

    But there is another difference that involves us and not just the enemy. In the past, a poorer and less sophisticated United States largely embraced a tragic vision of dealing with the world as it was rather...

[neverdem]

ping

[hombre_sincero]

"...notorious Abu Ghraib..."

That is usually enough to throw this into the trash -- but .... I may keep reading - carefully.

It sounds interesting so far ....

[Prime Choice]

While we worry we have gone too far in our harshness, our enemies are convinced our softness has us too far gone to win this war.

This sums up why we won't win this war if we keep up this insane notion that we're supposed to play by the rules when the enemy clearly has no intention of doing so. The jihadists have declared war on every man, woman and child in every free nation in the world. Either we return the favor and give them the total war they want to wage on us or we give up and go home. Half-measures are only going to get more of us killed for less of a chance at victory.

[garyhope]

Hanson is brilliant and wise and tells the truth.

Read some of his other columns and articles. Smart guy under no illusions about Islamofascism's goals and plans.

[rlmorel]

Folks,
You HAVE to go to this link and read the actual account of this by Michael Yon. Unbelievable.

http://michaelyon.blogspot.com/

[neverdem]

Thanks for the link to his blog. Others should read it. Mike Yon is the real deal.