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ChatterSince the World Trade Center towers came down not quite six years ago, this phase in the War on Terror has been a grinding clash of wills: The purely kinetic and military outcome of traditional nation state conflict was never in doubt, the imbalance of power was always too high. In an asymmetric conflict though, the battlefield is not won or lost in bridge spans dropped, ground purchased or body counts, but in the ebbs and flows of national will. How much pain will the West tolerate in its attempt to fundamentally alter the political calculus of the East – a calculus that had resulted in nearly 3000 innocent deaths on a single morning in the early autumn of 2001? How much pain can the forces of intolerance, illiberalism and revanchism inflict upon our forces and their own people before domestic opinion recoils in horror? If we put aside both the least and most noble threads of our foreign policy to focus on “realism” in our world view – if we leave aside in other words both seamy domestic political considerations and any moral concern about the ultimate fate of the Iraqi people – there are two main assumptions fundamental to national security which influence our thinking on the war as it is now being fought. They are of course in direct competition: 1) That the presence of our troops in Iraq is counter-productive to our national security, that it is costing too much relative to any potential gains and is encouraging terrorist actions – that we in effect, create terror by fighting it. 2) That our national security demands that these terrorists must be hunted and killed where they are found – these are men who have shown that no bonds of shared humanity restrict their bloodlust more than the constraints of the technology that they can fashion to their purposes. Since they are nowhere on earth found more prominently than in Iraq that is where we must fight them, even as we attempt to nudge the societies that nurtured their inveterate malice towards the kind of liberalism and modernity that will finally draw their poison: A venemous ideology engendered by the local nexus of secular dissatisfaction, societal failure and Islamist resentment. Quite horrible things have been happening in Iraq on a more or less daily basis, but in the West – apart from the dramatic subway blasts engineered by homegrown malcontents in London, and the quickly rewarded slaughter of innocents in Madrid prior to the last national election in Spain – there have been no further successful large scale attacks. If in fact it is true, as so many partisans have asserted, that the war on terror has made us less safe at home, the burden of proor should fall on them – so far it has been inconclusive, to say the least: Merely averring that the threat has increased does not make it so. But absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. The violent and radical Islamist threat is clearly focusing most of its effort on uprooting those tender seeds of democracy which were planted in the Arab back yard – seeds that have been distressingly slow to take root. It is also true that the terror masters – far smarter than those they dupe to do their will – must have carefully been balancing the risk of further attacks on the US homeland against potential benefits. Would it be tremendous propaganda victory in their ongoing information operations campaign, draw more cheering allies to their side and become the last straw that breaks our national will? Or would such a campaign instead unite us again, as 9/11 did – however briefly – to such terrible effect for their cause? It may be that we are on the brink of discovering the answer. Not from intel sources, but from the open press:
And:
I don’t think anyone really knows how we would react to a renewed campaign of terror at home, and I hope we don’t find out but this kind of chatter is unwelcome. After a pair of stunning gains that stubbornly resist consolodation, the war has become something that happens “over there,” in dark and violent corners of the world, in places that we increasingly want to forget. We grow tired of this, want to change the channel, we want to talk about something else. We want to get our 1990’s back. Whatever else is likely to happen that, at least, is not. 12 comments to Chatter |
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Lex, as a smart guy like you once said, the best defense is a good offense. But, if the left can weaken the national will, the bad guys will bring the war here again. When that happens, both the left and the Islamists will have overplayed their hand. We’re a nation that is slow to anger, but ferocious in response.
Well said, Lex.
I fear, more so even having seen the reaction to the NJ six who were just prevented from their attack, that we shall have to suffer another terrible loss to rally us to do what is necessary. That it is so easy for us to hide our heads in our grassy suburban lawns and our busy schedules, to deny reality, that we’ve nearly forgotten what 9/11 really felt like, and that we’re so sure it could NEVER happen again, that we can just bow to the politicians who lead us down the garden path of “the war is lost” until we’re bloodily brought face to face with reality again.
I fear it.
d
…”We want get our 1990’s back…”
http://www.airsafe.com/events/nycarea.htm
Everyone seems to forget the 1996 explosion of that 747 taking off from Kennedy. Loosely blamed on a fuel tank. Sounds good to me.
Then there was the 31 Oct 99 loss of the Egyptaire 767 that was from “unknown” causes. Allegedly there was a recording of someone praying, and a struggle for control. Probably nothing.
The religion of “piece” is in it for the long haul. Whether we can keep our eyes wide shut and keep our collective identity as a freedom loving nation is another question.
That worn out Trotsky quote comes to mind.
[...] has composed a fine piece, “Chatter,” putting some thoughts he has to the ‘net regarding the current state of our foreign [...]
For my lowly opinion, I think it would do the bad guys well, looking at it from a purely strategic view point, to hunker down, at the minimum until after Jan 20 something in 2009. At best, put the chocks and chains in place for a few more years.
If “they” get it, the best tactics right now are to crawl into their spiderholes in the sand, and, if “caught in the open” be unarmed and politely disarming. Make all the violence go away.
Just what does that do? It gives a way out now, to both “sides” of the equation. One says “Mission Accomplished, we don’t need no mo’ money!” and the other says “Mission Accomplished, we’re cutting off all funds!”
Dang! I’m moving this to the blog…I haven’t written anything today!
Take the jump!
Except, it seems to me that the 90’s weren’t all that great either… what with the first attack on the towers, the Cole, and other various attacks that went unanswered.
Jim
“…that we?
But we should never forget. This argument is the main reason I carry. I am not so concerned about the common criminal, looking to rob you: you can do many things while unarmed to deter crime against yourself (like don’t walk around downtown Detroit at 0230). No, I carry because I want to be able to do something should the opportunity present itself. I hope it never does, but in these times, to this VMI man, it sure seems both possible and probable.
Bullnav, it seems the same way to this old USMC Hue veteran. Glock M21, M30 or M36, depending on location and circumstances.
Hiram – Sig P220 or Ruger GP100 (the .357Magnum version)…
Kris
I would say its shame on any citizen of the world who forgets 9/11. Some may disagree on what the best response was/is, but the idea that we can all sit down, chat and make nice …??
I just flash back in my mind to the pictures of the buildings crumbling and KNOW that ain’t ever going to work.
Michelle – I agree. But to me any citizen of THIS country who forgets…(well this is a polite blog and I don’t want to be banned by our host, so I’ll keep the rest of that thought to myself.)
When dealing with these kinds of fanatics, there isn’t any “Rodney King style” response that will work.
As Lex and others have said before – Bring it and bring it hard. Now. Sometimes I do wonder what the hell we are waiting for…