The Empire Strikes Back
If the United States is going to be accused of being an Imperialistic country, it should at least have the luxury of acting like one upon occasion. Especially when it is in the country’s best interest to do so. The US is most definitely not interested in becoming an Empire. If it were, the War would look much differently than it does today. However, the Fifth Columnists inside and the anti-Americans outside of the country insist that building an empire is what the “war on terrorism” is all about. If only…
Empires are built on overwhelming military force, not on capturing “hearts and minds”. Grab people by the balls, and their hearts and minds will follow. The war effort that saw the United States dropping food and blankets by parachute in Afghanistan, before the Taliban fell and building schools and power plants in Iraq, before the insurgency ended, is not the model followed by prior empires. If we really invaded Iraq for its oil, why am I still paying $2.50 a gallon for gasoline?
I don’t know if the new plan for Iraq is going to work. I suspect that it won’t. An additional 20k troops, with expanded rules of engagement, will indeed make an impact, but I don’t know if it’s enough to “win” the hearts and minds of the Iraqis. The cool part is…I don’t give a shit. I want us to win, but I don’t think we will ever win in the traditional sense. The world may think that we “lost” or more likely, fought to a stalemate, but that doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that we take advantage of the opportunity that is sitting in front of us.
The Arab world has a low standard of military victory. President Nasser of Egypt was a hero after the Israelis kicked Egypt’s ass in the Six Day War, even though Egypt lost the entire Sinai Peninsula. Anwar Sadat was a greater hero after the Yom Kippur War, even though Egypt made minimal gains and lost over half of its military combat power. Iraq and Iran both claimed victory after their horrendous 8 year war in the 1980’s. Saddam claimed victory again after Gulf War I because he was still in power. Hezbollah celebrated victory over Israel last summer because they weren’t annihilated, as many analysts expected. The Sunnis currently claim victory in Iraq, because they are still “resisting”. Even if resisting means killing other Iraqis, even fellow Sunnis, instead of the evil “occupiers”, the Americans.
The only thing that would constitute a defeat in the Arab hearts and minds, would be a total nuclear annihilation of a country. And even then, I’m not so sure they would admit defeat. They would probably praise the “martyrs” who went to their reward (at 72 virgins per martyr, shouldn’t Allah be running out by now? Unless he meant goats). Anyways…the Arab mindset will never admit defeat. This is why they blame the Jews for all of their societal problems. Arab pride and Islamic arrogance will never allow them to admit to a mistake.
The political battle for the Arab world is a waste of time. These people only respect force. Anything else is seen as weakness and an opportunity for further expansion of the Islamic caliphate.
The surge in American forces proposed by President Bush will put pressure on the Iraqi resistance. The bulk of this force will focus on the areas surrounding Baghdad. The resistance forces in Baghdad are not only primarily Shia, they are sponsored by the Iranian regime. Iran has invested everything in the United States’ defeat in Iraq. Including Iran’s own future.
The United States is doing more than just increasing the combat power in Iraq by 20,000 soldiers. It has sent an additional aircraft carrier fleet into the Persian Gulf and a 2nd amphibious assault group (in addition to the one already there) just within the last few weeks. The US is putting the pieces in place for an invasion of Iran.
Whether Tehran responds militarily or rhetorically, the United States is in position to do what it should have done in 1979. As Iran is the primary sponsor of global terrorism and the key instigator of civil war in Iraq (supporting both the Shias and the Sunnis), may Allah prepare a lot more goats for his incoming martyrs.
The capital of the real war, the one that brought al-Qaeda to the streets of New York, lies in Tehran. The United States is in a position to defeat the real enemy. While Iranian President Ahmadinejad blusters about Iran’s nuclear program and the eventual annihilation of Israel and a world without the United States, Iran does not currently have the ability to back up his words. I only hope that we take advantage of this opportunity before it’s too late.
Empires are built on overwhelming military force, not on capturing “hearts and minds”. Grab people by the balls, and their hearts and minds will follow. The war effort that saw the United States dropping food and blankets by parachute in Afghanistan, before the Taliban fell and building schools and power plants in Iraq, before the insurgency ended, is not the model followed by prior empires. If we really invaded Iraq for its oil, why am I still paying $2.50 a gallon for gasoline?
I don’t know if the new plan for Iraq is going to work. I suspect that it won’t. An additional 20k troops, with expanded rules of engagement, will indeed make an impact, but I don’t know if it’s enough to “win” the hearts and minds of the Iraqis. The cool part is…I don’t give a shit. I want us to win, but I don’t think we will ever win in the traditional sense. The world may think that we “lost” or more likely, fought to a stalemate, but that doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that we take advantage of the opportunity that is sitting in front of us.
The Arab world has a low standard of military victory. President Nasser of Egypt was a hero after the Israelis kicked Egypt’s ass in the Six Day War, even though Egypt lost the entire Sinai Peninsula. Anwar Sadat was a greater hero after the Yom Kippur War, even though Egypt made minimal gains and lost over half of its military combat power. Iraq and Iran both claimed victory after their horrendous 8 year war in the 1980’s. Saddam claimed victory again after Gulf War I because he was still in power. Hezbollah celebrated victory over Israel last summer because they weren’t annihilated, as many analysts expected. The Sunnis currently claim victory in Iraq, because they are still “resisting”. Even if resisting means killing other Iraqis, even fellow Sunnis, instead of the evil “occupiers”, the Americans.
The only thing that would constitute a defeat in the Arab hearts and minds, would be a total nuclear annihilation of a country. And even then, I’m not so sure they would admit defeat. They would probably praise the “martyrs” who went to their reward (at 72 virgins per martyr, shouldn’t Allah be running out by now? Unless he meant goats). Anyways…the Arab mindset will never admit defeat. This is why they blame the Jews for all of their societal problems. Arab pride and Islamic arrogance will never allow them to admit to a mistake.
The political battle for the Arab world is a waste of time. These people only respect force. Anything else is seen as weakness and an opportunity for further expansion of the Islamic caliphate.
The surge in American forces proposed by President Bush will put pressure on the Iraqi resistance. The bulk of this force will focus on the areas surrounding Baghdad. The resistance forces in Baghdad are not only primarily Shia, they are sponsored by the Iranian regime. Iran has invested everything in the United States’ defeat in Iraq. Including Iran’s own future.
The United States is doing more than just increasing the combat power in Iraq by 20,000 soldiers. It has sent an additional aircraft carrier fleet into the Persian Gulf and a 2nd amphibious assault group (in addition to the one already there) just within the last few weeks. The US is putting the pieces in place for an invasion of Iran.
Whether Tehran responds militarily or rhetorically, the United States is in position to do what it should have done in 1979. As Iran is the primary sponsor of global terrorism and the key instigator of civil war in Iraq (supporting both the Shias and the Sunnis), may Allah prepare a lot more goats for his incoming martyrs.
The capital of the real war, the one that brought al-Qaeda to the streets of New York, lies in Tehran. The United States is in a position to defeat the real enemy. While Iranian President Ahmadinejad blusters about Iran’s nuclear program and the eventual annihilation of Israel and a world without the United States, Iran does not currently have the ability to back up his words. I only hope that we take advantage of this opportunity before it’s too late.
posted by BoiseJag at 9:41 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home