Deceiving Ourselves?
2015-03-16 - by
Back when Navy Seals evened the score with Osama bin Laden, the Secretary of Defense proclaimed “defeating al-Qaeda” was within our grasp. Victory was at hand.
Then the wheel came off the cart.
And now up in Washington the Director of National Intelligence is telling Congress the threat of ‘terrorism is worse than at any point in history.’
How did we wind up in this train wreck?
The answer is harsh: We deceived ourselves.
We were never on the verge of victory.
And – no matter what we were promised when we invaded Iraq – there was never going to be a limited war with a quick and painless victory.
And after the fighting was done in Iraq we were never going to be able to quickly pack up and come home – because if we failed to lay a foundation for peace (with a successful occupation) we’d end up with… ISIS.
We’re also learning there’s no substitute for a leader (in the White House) who can explain the wickedness of ISIS. Politically-correct talk rationalizing beheadings (by saying they are the result of poverty or political alienation) doesn’t cut it – and neither do euphemisms (like calling ISIS simply a new kind of ‘Violent Extremism’) that infer ISIS selling infidel women as slaves has nothing to do with its peculiar version of Islam.
We’ve spent over a decade learning the hard way: One mistake at a time.
The American people are now (according to a new poll) ready to fight ISIS. And send troops into combat.
And what about the President? He says we can defeat ISIS with one more quick, painless, limited war.
Deceiving Ourselves?
2015-03-16/
Back when Navy Seals evened the score with Osama bin Laden, the Secretary of Defense proclaimed “defeating al-Qaeda” was within our grasp. Victory was at hand.
Then the wheel came off the cart.
And now up in Washington the Director of National Intelligence is telling Congress the threat of ‘terrorism is worse than at any point in history.’
How did we wind up in this train wreck?
The answer is harsh: We deceived ourselves.
We were never on the verge of victory.
And – no matter what we were promised when we invaded Iraq – there was never going to be a limited war with a quick and painless victory.
And after the fighting was done in Iraq we were never going to be able to quickly pack up and come home – because if we failed to lay a foundation for peace (with a successful occupation) we’d end up with… ISIS.
We’re also learning there’s no substitute for a leader (in the White House) who can explain the wickedness of ISIS. Politically-correct talk rationalizing beheadings (by saying they are the result of poverty or political alienation) doesn’t cut it – and neither do euphemisms (like calling ISIS simply a new kind of ‘Violent Extremism’) that infer ISIS selling infidel women as slaves has nothing to do with its peculiar version of Islam.
We’ve spent over a decade learning the hard way: One mistake at a time.
The American people are now (according to a new poll) ready to fight ISIS. And send troops into combat.
And what about the President? He says we can defeat ISIS with one more quick, painless, limited war.