Defining Victory Then, and Now
This is Steven Petrick posting.
Today, as most of you are aware, is the 70th anniversary of the incident which brought the United States of America fully into World War II.
It is not the day that the first Americans died in that war, or the first day that Americans returned fire against our then enemies.
I can use word here, names in fact, that will have no meaning to most of you.
The USS Panay in the Pacific theater.
The USS Reuben James in the Atlantic theater.
Americans were dying in the war even before Pearl Harbor.
It was not any different leading up to 9/11/01.
Al Qaida was killing Americans long before they commandeered four jet liners to kill more Americans in a single day than died at Pearl Harbor.
We actually defeated our enemies in World War II, albeit with a lot of help (the truth is that the German ground forces were ultimately ground up and destroyed in the Soviet Union, at a terrible cost in lives to the people of the then Russian empire). Even if, even then, we settled for less than our stated goal of total victory (Hirohito got to remain on the throne and was not tried for his actual involvement in getting the ball rolling).
In this modern time we are "declaring victory" and pulling out of the war zones. As might be expected, the numbers of attacks by our real enemies picked up in those war zones so that they can also "declare victory."
The meme in the muslim world will not be that the United States, or the West in General, defeated Al Qaida or the Taliban, but that the Holy Warriors proved unconquerable and the United States blinked in the face of their dauntless courage and fled.
That it took more than a decade for victory to be awarded to Al Qaida and the Taliban will be seen as irrelevant.
That it may take them another decade before they can launch attacks in the West and against the United States is irrelevant.
God is on their side (just ask them), and the infidels are already in retreat.
Today, as most of you are aware, is the 70th anniversary of the incident which brought the United States of America fully into World War II.
It is not the day that the first Americans died in that war, or the first day that Americans returned fire against our then enemies.
I can use word here, names in fact, that will have no meaning to most of you.
The USS Panay in the Pacific theater.
The USS Reuben James in the Atlantic theater.
Americans were dying in the war even before Pearl Harbor.
It was not any different leading up to 9/11/01.
Al Qaida was killing Americans long before they commandeered four jet liners to kill more Americans in a single day than died at Pearl Harbor.
We actually defeated our enemies in World War II, albeit with a lot of help (the truth is that the German ground forces were ultimately ground up and destroyed in the Soviet Union, at a terrible cost in lives to the people of the then Russian empire). Even if, even then, we settled for less than our stated goal of total victory (Hirohito got to remain on the throne and was not tried for his actual involvement in getting the ball rolling).
In this modern time we are "declaring victory" and pulling out of the war zones. As might be expected, the numbers of attacks by our real enemies picked up in those war zones so that they can also "declare victory."
The meme in the muslim world will not be that the United States, or the West in General, defeated Al Qaida or the Taliban, but that the Holy Warriors proved unconquerable and the United States blinked in the face of their dauntless courage and fled.
That it took more than a decade for victory to be awarded to Al Qaida and the Taliban will be seen as irrelevant.
That it may take them another decade before they can launch attacks in the West and against the United States is irrelevant.
God is on their side (just ask them), and the infidels are already in retreat.
posted by Federation Commander at 11:33 AM
<< Home