Will we ever win another war?

Townhall ^ | Wednesday, December 6, 2006 | Ben Shapiro

[presidio9]

Popular consensus has it that we are losing the war in Iraq. Robert Gates, the White House nominee to replace Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense, stated on Tuesday that the United States was categorically not winning in Iraq. "What we are now doing is not satisfactory," Gates said. Popular consensus also has it that we are losing the war in Afghanistan. "[B]ecause of the Bush administration's inattention and mismanagement," wrote The New York Times editorial board on Tuesday, "even the good war is going wrong."

America has not "won" a major "hot" war since World War II. The Gulf War cannot be considered a full-fledged victory; it returned the situation in the Middle East to the status quo. The aggressor in that war, Saddam Hussein, would remain in power for another dozen years. The Vietnam War was surely a devastating loss. The Korean War ended in stalemate; North Korea, the aggressor in that war, remains militant and dangerous 50 years later.

It has been six decades since we emerged fully victorious from a major "hot" war. This is because the very definition of war has changed. Each modern war is now more of a battle than a war. Tearing out the enemy's motivating ideology by the roots is no longer a nation-centric task. Nazism was located in Germany and Shintoism in Japan. We could defeat both countries and win the war. Fundamentalist Islam, however, spans the globe. Even if we disestablish fundamentalist Islam in Afghanistan and Iraq, we still have not won the war. Afghanistan and Iraq are the equivalents of Okinawa and Utah Beach. Super-national ideologies mean that war is not a local affair, but a global one.

So how do we win a global war? We won the Cold War by waiting out our communist opponents. We could lose the war in Vietnam and still win the broader Cold War. We could stalemate in Korea without losing the fight against communism. Communist ideology was bankrupt, and if we denied them resources (as we did by funding anti-communist forces around the globe and rolling back communism under President Reagan), we would be successful in the long run.

That strategy will not work with fundamentalist Islam. Fundamentalist Islam is not an ideology that will crumble from within. It demands total religious obeisance of its practitioners, regardless of material hardships incurred. And anything but total replacement of fundamentalist Islam by another, friendlier ideology is seen as a victory by the fundamentalists. The Gulf War was not merely a victory squandered; it was a defeat. Denying Iraq oil may have hurt Saddam Hussein, but failing to depose Hussein hurt Western credibility and emboldened Muslims the world over.

Even were fundamentalist Islam internally unsustainable, we could not wait them out. The demographics are not in our favor. As time goes on, there will be more fundamentalist Muslims and fewer liberal Westerners to carry on the fight. Stalemate in Korea and prolonged fighting in Vietnam hurt the cause of communism. Stalemate in Iraq and Afghanistan favors our enemies, who can simply wait (SET ITAL) us (END ITAL) out.

There was one Cold War tactic, however, that remains useful today: suspicion of our enemies. Winning the Cold War relied on anti-infiltration strategy, particularly in Western Europe. Unfortunately, western civilization seems unwilling to acknowledge the growing fifth column in its midst, specifically because recognizing the growing threat would seem "racist." This is a recipe for disaster. If fundamentalist Islam relies on demographics to achieve its ends, ignoring the growing demographic threat in Europe is a crucial error. If fundamentalist Islam relies on proselytizing to spread its views, ignoring that proselytizing in the United States is an unforgivable mistake.

Will America ever win another war? Only if we combine our Cold War vigilance with our World War II ruthlessness. We cannot afford to lose in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and a stalemate is a loss. We cannot ignore demographic trends in the name of multiculturalism -- diversity will only survive in countries that can resist the long-term onslaught of fundamentalist Islam. This will be a long, hard slog, as former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld put it. In today's world, true victory always is.

[Brilliant]

Not with the Dems in charge.

[cripplecreek]

We'll win again but only after the enemy wipes out a couple hundred thousand of us first.

[himno hero]

use it as a launch platform for an assault next door.

[Rummyfan]

Will America ever win another war?

Only if we ignore the MSM, libs, and the 'international community', and get the judiciary to stay out of the conduct of the war!

As Mark Levin says

KILL THE ENEMY!!!!

[alice_in_bubbaland]

Or with rampant political correctness and the rabid liberal press.

[FreeAtlanta]

Sure, we just need to go in, kick butt, remove the leadership, then get out. Let nature take it's course. If we don't like the outcome, we quickly go back in and do it again.

We showed in Iraq that we can kick a heavily armed country's rear in short order. I think we could do Syria in less than a week. Iran might take a month. We could do it with very few casualties.

[Diogenesis]

"We are not afraid of any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid ...
"You’re a big fellow. But you’re not that big. You’re no warrior. I know warriors....
You are a terrorist, a species of criminal guilty of multiple attempted murders."
To call you a soldier gives you far too much stature.
You are a terrorist, and we do not negotiate with terrorists.
We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice. ...
"See that flag, Mr. Reid?
That is the flag of the United States of America
That flag will fly there long after this is long forgotten (*)."
[Federal Chief Judge William Young, First Circuit to Terrorist Shoebomber Reid]

(*) Unless, "thanks" to the MSM and Democrats, America and the American people LOSE the will to win.

[avacado]

The number #1 problem facing America is America's useful idiots. They must be dealt with...

[aristotleman]

We will not win any other wars because Western civilization has grown fat and developed ADD, and a desire to own stuff, retire, and think only of their immediate family's welfare, and cannot stomach the sacrifices it takes to fight wars they way they ought to be fought.

[roses of sharon]

LOL, no way, we can't even defeat the NYT bathhouse boys, and their ilk, the MSM/DNC.

As long as patriots cannibalize their own, instead of the true enemy who has run this country for 40 years, we are a mere whiners.

[Youngman442002]

The true answer is NO

[Mr. Mojo]

Unfortunately, western civilization seems unwilling to acknowledge the growing fifth column in its midst

In fact, we're welcoming that fifth column with the full red-carpet treatment.

[I still care]

With the 5th column of today's press, not likely.

People have no concept of what war is, what it is suppposed to be. As Rush says, "The purpose of war is to kill people and break things."

The consensus today seems to be it should be run like a sports event. I specifially remember articles that criticized us for attacking towns because it "wasn't fair".

[Deb]

The longer we are safe and at peace, the more power the Left grabs. When we are under attack, the Left hides under its bed and is silent.

[uncle fenders]

The only enemy strong enough to bring this country down are our own liberals...........

[steve-b]

Fundamentalist Islam is not an ideology that will crumble from within.

Defeatist claptrap.

[Wurlitzer]

We will never win another war if we constantly let our communist left define the debate.

Win #1:We defeated the Taliban. Yes that does not mean they cannot resurface. Remember Germany.

Win #2: We defeated the Iraq military and captured and convicted a dictator.

Now a 3rd conflict has begun instigated and funded by other pig-O-phobe rag head countries.

The left in their mode of all lies all the time will never admit we won anything. You can see that their strategy worked in the last elections and that the pig-O-phobes saw our weakness and escalated the violence now that the traitor party has been elected.

Because the good of the country is not the traitor's party primary interest, they will continue to give aid and comfort to the enemy until the enemy is so strong and entrenched as to make victory impossible.

[RexBeach]

It seems that the country doesn't have the stomach for this one. Sad to say.

Does unity count in a war effort? It can't hurt.

I think I heard someone say something like this on Laura Ingraham's show yesterday - I think it was a bull colonel in Iraq: "You're playing a tough game and then you look to the bleachers and discover that your fans are leaving. That's going to have a negative effect on morale." Poor paraphrasing, but that, I think, was the gist of the man's comment.

[DTogo]

Not with the Dems in charge.

Bush isn't helping much, either.