CONFUSION REIGNS (AND RAINS)
Rumsfeld: "You go to war with the army you have." (And also the level of understanding you have, he might have added).
"Winging it and filling body bags as we sort out what works reminds us of the moral dictates and the cost of incompetence in our profession." ---Marine Gen. Mattis, a commander in Iraq quoted by Tom Ricks in Fiasco.
It is said that generals are always "fighting the last war." Some of us however want to go back 65 years to WW II, a war between nation-states fought over territory. In that kind of war, when you take and hold land, you win. Both Japan and Germany had the decency, once beaten, to quit fighting and cooperate in rebuilding.
That model doesn't fit our present situation in any way. We are now involved in four wars at once, none of them primarily territorial, or between nation-states. In addition to our battle with insurgents and jihadists, two more of these wars are within Islam, and would have little to do with us, had we not chosen to jump in and remove the existing restraint (Saddam).
One of these is the Sunni-Shia struggle for supremacy not only in Iraq, but throughout the Middle East. We are being attacked by both sides. At the same time, we are supporting both sides. We are training and arming a basically Shia army and police that represent and will be controlled by, the Shia majority. But we are also supporting Sunni demands for a share in the government and the oil revenues. That's not going well.
The other war raging in Islam is between those who seek religious rule over the 1.4 billion Muslims world-wide (these are the Islamists), and those (the majority) who prefer secular rule.
This divide splits both the Shia and the Sunni. At the moment though, the Islamists seem to dominate in both Iraq Shia, and in Iran. But the Islamists in turn are divided between those who advocate and practice violence to achieve their ends (the jihadists), and the anti-violence ones who seek change by democratic means.
Our disregard (contempt, actually) for Muslim feelings and opinions is increasingly making it difficult for moderate Muslims to be heard and heeded. "Kicking in doors, knocking down buildings, burning orchards, and firing artillery into civilain neighborhoods was bound to be counterproductive in the long run," a Marine colonel wrote in the New York Times.
Guantanamo and the torture of prisoners harm us immeasurably in the Muslim world, and have unrecognized costs as well. It helps and drives the extremists. Cheney's advocacy for water-boarding, for instance, has a direct cost in G. I.s killed by snipers in Iraq. It's called the law of unintended consequences. Our treatment of prisoners is a big recruiting tool for the
jihadists. They love it! It violates Christian "just war" doctrine, the Geneva Conventions, and Muslim just war doctrine. And common sense. Immorality is always stupid.
Stop me if I'm wrong! jgoodwin004@centurytel.net
Rumsfeld: "You go to war with the army you have." (And also the level of understanding you have, he might have added).
"Winging it and filling body bags as we sort out what works reminds us of the moral dictates and the cost of incompetence in our profession." ---Marine Gen. Mattis, a commander in Iraq quoted by Tom Ricks in Fiasco.
It is said that generals are always "fighting the last war." Some of us however want to go back 65 years to WW II, a war between nation-states fought over territory. In that kind of war, when you take and hold land, you win. Both Japan and Germany had the decency, once beaten, to quit fighting and cooperate in rebuilding.
That model doesn't fit our present situation in any way. We are now involved in four wars at once, none of them primarily territorial, or between nation-states. In addition to our battle with insurgents and jihadists, two more of these wars are within Islam, and would have little to do with us, had we not chosen to jump in and remove the existing restraint (Saddam).
One of these is the Sunni-Shia struggle for supremacy not only in Iraq, but throughout the Middle East. We are being attacked by both sides. At the same time, we are supporting both sides. We are training and arming a basically Shia army and police that represent and will be controlled by, the Shia majority. But we are also supporting Sunni demands for a share in the government and the oil revenues. That's not going well.
The other war raging in Islam is between those who seek religious rule over the 1.4 billion Muslims world-wide (these are the Islamists), and those (the majority) who prefer secular rule.
This divide splits both the Shia and the Sunni. At the moment though, the Islamists seem to dominate in both Iraq Shia, and in Iran. But the Islamists in turn are divided between those who advocate and practice violence to achieve their ends (the jihadists), and the anti-violence ones who seek change by democratic means.
Our disregard (contempt, actually) for Muslim feelings and opinions is increasingly making it difficult for moderate Muslims to be heard and heeded. "Kicking in doors, knocking down buildings, burning orchards, and firing artillery into civilain neighborhoods was bound to be counterproductive in the long run," a Marine colonel wrote in the New York Times.
Guantanamo and the torture of prisoners harm us immeasurably in the Muslim world, and have unrecognized costs as well. It helps and drives the extremists. Cheney's advocacy for water-boarding, for instance, has a direct cost in G. I.s killed by snipers in Iraq. It's called the law of unintended consequences. Our treatment of prisoners is a big recruiting tool for the
jihadists. They love it! It violates Christian "just war" doctrine, the Geneva Conventions, and Muslim just war doctrine. And common sense. Immorality is always stupid.
Stop me if I'm wrong! jgoodwin004@centurytel.net
posted by John Goodwin at
9:42 AM
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