Victor Davis Hanson has yet another brilliant piece that debunks many of the myths on the war on terrorism:
While we may be in various stages of bellicosity with differing states, the fact is that after September 11 we will either accept defeat and stay within our borders to fight a defensive war of hosing down fires, bulldozing rubble, arresting terrorist cells, and hoping to appease or buy off our enemies abroad — or we will eventually have to confront Syria, Lebanon’s Bekka Valley, Saudi Arabia, and Iran with a clear request to change and come over to civilization, or join the Taliban and Saddam Hussein.
VDH is one of the most clear-minded pundits out there, which is unsurprising as he has spent nearly his entire life studying the history of warfare. Only those who have never understood the carnage of Antietam, Gettysburg, Omaha Beach, Stalingrad, or Cannae could even consider Iraq to be a quagmire. Only those unfamiliar with the years of painful reconstruction needed to rebuild an utterly shattered Europe after World War II, including years of terrorism against US soldiers by Third Reich holdouts, would call the reconstruction of Iraq a failure. Only those who have never understood the real meanings of words like jihad, dhimmi, hudna, and intifada would argue that Islamic fascists armed with deadly weapons pose no threat to the world.
Those who have failed to understand the past should hardly be considered competent to understand the future.
Yep. US Army occupied post WW2 Germany for over a decade.