It Is Coming
I have a friend who reports on the defense industry. Nice Jewish boy.
He says via e-mail that it is no use wasting your time trying to convince idiots of the obvious (morally it is sound though).
He says a big war is coming. BIG war. Like Pearl Harbor it will unite us. He says it is a waste of time trying to talk to the idiots. He used to blog a lot on the subject. Now he doesn't bother. He says events are the best convincers. Why does it feel like October 1939 all over again? The period of the "Phony War".
Which reminded me of this piece by Herbert E. Meyer at the American Thinker.
For better or worse, it's part of the American character to wait until the last possible moment - even to wait a bit beyond the last possible moment - before kicking into high gear and getting the job done. It's in our genes; just think of how many times you've ground enamel off your teeth watching your own kid waste an entire weekend, only to start writing a book report at 10:30 Sunday night that, when you find it on the breakfast table Monday morning is by some miracle a minor masterpiece.That would be my assessment as well. In my opinion once Bush took on Iraq and then won the 2004 election the die was cast. What ever political winds were blowing after that the die was cast.
However horrific it may be, the knockout punch won't knock us out. Instead, it will shift us from playing defense back to offense - and this time we won't hold back. The president will ask Congress for a declaration of war and he, or she, will get it. We'll bring back the draft, send our troops into battle without one hand tied behind their backs by lawyers, and we won't waste time and energy pussyfooting with the United Nations. And if we've closed GITMO by this time - we'll reopen it and even double its size because we're going to pack it. All of this will take longer to organize, and cost more, than if we'd done it right in the aftermath of 9-11. That's unfortunate, but that's the way we Americans tend to do things. And when we do finally start fighting for real -- we'll win.
H/T Reliapundit who got me to thinking about this subject with his reports of recent terror alerts.
Cross Posted at Classical Values and at The Astute Bloggers
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8 comments:
Simon,
Your post reminded me of another from last November at AT, this one by J.R. Dunne:
Republican ineptness, Democratic ideology, George W. Bush’s inability to ignite a fire, and something contemptible in the American character have combined to bring us to this point. We will not see our way past it without blood, flames, and grief. There are people—there is no discreet way to put this—who pulled the lever last Tuesday that began the process of their own deaths.
Some of what Meyer says is accurate but I wonder about this statement:
"The president will ask Congress for a declaration of war and he, or she, will get it. We'll bring back the draft, send our troops into battle"
A declaration of war against who, the Ummah? Or just the nation or two which are most obviously involved in whatever the jihad throws our way? Or just any tyranny, one at a time? If this is done, tyrannies and tyrannies in training like China and Russia and such could very well enter the dance.
And given how hard it would be for todays professional American military to encompass draftees I suspect that that would only happen under extreme conditions with the troops of most of the rest of the world preparing to launch an invasion of the USA.
I suspect that military funding, recruitment and even the creation of "American foreign legion" units would be seen and America would undertake more regime changes (without reconstruction efforts as such) but I can not see a mass conversion of Truthers and peace-and-appeasement types even after a homeland nuke or a nuclear holocaust in Israel. Some would see the truth but humans are really good at being insane. Lots of practice.
baron,
Some would see the truth but humans are really good at being insane. Lots of practice.
Yes.
Yeah, the US Military doesn't want conscripts. Volunteers are far more valuable, far more effective.
But an unequivocal declaration by Congress, that makes it clear that the US is at war, and therefore that aiding the enemy is treason, and will no longer be tolerated, that would be useful.
As for who it would be against, jihadism would be accurate enough, I think.
Simon,
My intuition says your friend is correct, but my intellect can't see it. War with whom, and to what purpose? Warring against the rotten edifice of Middle Eastern governments is like pumping bird shot into a decaying log. Is your fried at all specific?
Neil
Simon,
My intuition says your friend is correct, but my intellect can't see it. War with whom, and to what purpose? Warring against the rotten edifice of Middle Eastern governments is like pumping bird shot into a decaying log. Is your friend at all specific?
Neil
neil,
My friend was not specific.
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