[Principled]

bump...interesting

[Will]

Hmmm, maybe.

But it doesn't seem too likely that 1400 years of violent agression toward the West will end that quickly. We can hope though.

[ClearCase_guy]

I wish we had never called it The War on Terrorism. Given that construction, the world could have Peace if only the US would stop making war on the terrorists. Of course that's ludicrous, but some mush-brains fall into that thinking.

I wish we called it The Terrorism War. That captures the dominant tactic of our opponents. It also captures what the US is seeking to end. Clearly the US has been defending itself in The Terrorism War since at least 1993 (first WTC bombing).

And how shall we have Peace? Remember Patrick Henry: "Gentlemen cry Peace! Peace! But there is no Peace." The only two Peace plans are:

Do not defend ourselves and allow the Terrorism War to claim more US victims until they get tired of killing us.
OR
Fight back, end the Terrorism War and usher in a period of Peace.

The anti-war protesters choose #1.

[facedown]

Great analysis. Thanks for posting.

[SquirrelKing]

Thucydides wrote of a single, long Peloponnesian War.

Great to see the big picture. This is what I have been explaining to neighbors, co-workers, etc. The problem is that the Hollywood/media/Democrate crowd are working overtime with their mantras to disseminate this big-picture in keeping with their own to win in '04. Good to have the historical perspective too - lest we be doomed to repeat it.

[livius]

Since 1979 we have been caught in a classic bellum interuptum that could not be resolved through mediation and appeasement...

Excellent article.

There's some truth to Will's point, though, which is that Islam has always been gunning for the West. However, I think it took one of those horrible moments of convergence (as Hanson points out, like Mussolini, Hitler and Japan) for the Islamics to become a real threat in modern times.

This time around, they've converged with the left (Marxist/anarchist) and it can no longer be denied that this is a war of civilizations. Appeasement, as the Greeks knew, doesn't work for that kind of war.

[Lyford]

Historical brilliance bump

This is a perspective that is not only good, but important...

[AZLiberty]

Since 1979 we have been caught in a classic bellum interuptum that could not be resolved through mediation and appeasement, but only -- as we saw in 9/11 -- made worse. Wars do not end with truces nor do they start because of accidents or miscommunications. They break out when one side has aggressive aims and advances grievances -- whether real or perceived -- and feels there is nothing to deter it. And conflicts end for good with either victory or defeat. Although we may not see it now, we really are in one war against one enemy -- and since we started fighting it on September 12 we are, in fact, winning and will soon be nearing the end.

Rush calls this the "Limbaugh Doctrine". Wars don't end until one side wins and and the other side loses.