Defining victory seems to have gotten complicated in these modern times. For instance instead of winning wars we send signals and obviously if the public buys into that nonsense well then it makes it very easy for politicians to declare victory. Witness President Bush attempting to describe the Israeli retreat as a Victory against Hezb’Allah. Hezbollah started the crisis, and Hezbollah suffered a defeat in this crisis. And the reason why is, is that first, there is a new — there’s going to be a new power in the south of Lebanon, and that’s going to be a Lebanese force with a robust international force to help them seize control of the country, that part of the country.
For fairness and clarity probably ought to include this quote as well from Lebanon: According to Lebanon’s defense minister, Elias Murr ,
“There will be no other weapons or military presence other than the army” after Lebanese troops move south of the Litani. However, he then contradicted himself by saying the army would not ask Hizbullah to hand over its weapons.
Yea that sounds like a crushing defeat doesn’t it.
In case you are a former member of the Bush administration here is more evidence of the inability of the Bush administration to understand victory or recognize defeat. Sec of State Rice: .
“SECRETARY RICE: First of all, this resolution has an arms embargo within it, and a responsibility of the Lebanese government to make sure that illegal arms are not coming into the country. then this… “I don’t think there is an expectation that this (U.N.) force is going to physically disarm Hezbollah,” Rice said. “I think it’s a little bit of a misreading about how you disarm a militia. You have to have a plan, first of all, for the disarmament of the militia, and then the hope is that some people lay down their arms voluntarily.” If Hezbollah resists international demands to disarm, Rice said, “one would have to assume that there will be others who are willing to call Hezbollah what we are willing to call it, which is a terrorist organization.
Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt…sheesh. Oh my we are going for a consensus that Hezb’allah is a terrorist outfit? Then what? Harsh words?
Does the Bush administration really think that everyone not appointed to some office inside of the Bush administration is that dumb or worse disinterested? They call that retreat “victory”? Hezb’allah has been killing Americans and Israelis for 23 years, look here for a detailed record. Until 9/11 they managed to hold the record for most Americans killed in a single day. The Marines recognize that record as being the most Marines killed in a single day since Iwo Jima. We ended up making the Japanese pay dearly for the killing of Marines, witness the photo below of Nagasaki. 23 years after the murder of 241 Marines sent in as a peacekeeping force our government is playing word games regarding Hezb’allah and trying to build a consensus that they are terrorists…hold on while I beat my head into the wall. And while I am staunching the flow of blood remember also that Iran at this very goddamn moment is sending arms and terrorists into Iraq to AGAIN kill US armed forces. Not our war, indeed!
Thought it might be a good idea to review some images showing some of the differences between victory and defeat and that cold dark space between.
Here the Germans are surrendering. Notice who is smiling and who isn’t? It is not evident in this picture but the Germans were not on International Radio the next day declaring victory nor were they telling the allies that they would keep their arms. Probably because at this point their will to win was crushed and their armies were destroyed. The only signal we sent was this memorable quote from FDR at the beginning of the war, he spoke tough words then carried them out, even though he was a chickenhawk: No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. (which naturally was part of his speech after Pearl Harbor but if you have any doubt whatsoever it went for the Germans as well this picture should cure you)
So in both of these pictures you see both vivid images of both victory and defeat. Can there be any mistaking which of the parties in these shots are defeated? Any doubt about who the Victors are? Do we need endless commentary telling us who won and who lost? Let’s make a rule, Pierre’s rule on victory.
“If you have to be told you won, keep your powder dry.”
Here the Japanese humbly present themselves to surrender to allied forces on the Missouri Battleship. They too were not heard on the Radio the next day declaring victory and setting terms for their behavior. Again probably because instead of sending hollow signals, talking smack in today’s vernacular, we sent total war up to and including this:
That sort of event concentrates the mind. After seeing that cloud and the destruction and death left behind do you believe the Japanese had any idea that they could prevail? No doubt the destructiveness of the weapon was the primary reason the Japanese surrendered but can there be any doubt that the fact we were willing to use such a weapon spoke to them in no uncertain terms what we were willing to do to win? Our will to win was such that they understood they could not withstand it. Nagasaki was a tangible “signal” not a signal that had to be explained to the enemy and it was also an attempt to build consensus…but consensus on our terms. You surrender, we win, you lose, we come in and run your government until we are sure you can play nice with the rest of us. Victory. Didn’t need anyone to argue about whether it was a victory or not. It was clear.
These guys are not beaten. Do they look beaten? Instead they are issuing claims of victory over what used to be considered the most powerful army in the Middle East, the Israeli armed forces. Naturally their claims of victory don’t hold much water since the Israelis still exist and both of these monsters have promised their respective populations to eliminate the Jews from Israel. But far from being in the cold dark space of neither victory nor defeat that we in the west find ourselves as we await more attacks, they being the attackers against far greater powers, the US and Israel, they can legitimately claim to have won since they have the opportunity to attack again.
Victory against these monsters means they do not have the ability to attack again. Some try to respond to that by saying Hezb’allah is a stateless band of thugs. They are hoping that we are all stupid enough to believe their weapons materialize out of thin air but we are not. We know that Iran supplies Hezb’allah with the training, weapons, money and orders. If you want to stop the Hezb’allah you bring the State of Iran crashing down on its head.
Even if you accept the concept that terrorism is committed by a roving band of stateless thugs who have no state allegiances, which is on the face of it absurd, you should still want to shut down all sources of funding for them. Why haven’t we done that yet? Why have we allowed Hezb’allah to continue nearly 3 decades after murdering so many of our fellow citizens? Why have we allowed Iran to continue to threaten this country?
Some say that we cannot do anything because our armed forces are stretched to the breaking point. I wonder why that is when candidate Bush acknowledged the armed forces needed to be rebuilt in his debates with Vice President Gore. Since he has been in office, as a percentage of GDP, our spending on armed forces has been under nearly all the years of Clinton. How is that possible? Here is a snippet from another post I am working on right now.
Lets simply note that military spending as a percentage of GDP has not shown any great increase, indeed it remains at or near the lowest level it achieved during President Clinton’s term. The facts show the story of a nation unwilling to dedicate the same percentage of funds towards its own defense as it did when a substantially more rational enemy was faced across the Rubicon. (1990=5.6, 1991=5.0, 1992=5.2, 1993=4.8, 1994=4.3, 1995=4.0, 1996=3.7, 1997=3.5, 1998=3.3, 1999=3.3) Defense spending in 2003 remained at 3.3% of GDP a level that marked the lowest point of the Clinton years and which we were led to believe by Candidate Bush was too low.
I am no fan of President Clinton indeed I believe that both he and Former President Jimmy Carter must shoulder a tremendous amount of the blame for 9/11. But how can a Candidate who acknowledged our military needed to be rebuilt not get it done? How is it that a nation able to fight two simultaneous wars against world powers directly after a massive depression cannot muster enough will to marshall the forces required to fight what amounts to a bunch of teenage thugs? Not only that but we have been experiencing some of the best economic times in this nations history if not the best. And we cannot afford to spend more than 4% on our Military in a time of war?
Our will to win is not where it should be. That is not the President’s fault. It is our fault. We are all adults with a responsibility to understand the world around us. We should be holding our legislators responsible for not preparing our military as it should have been prepared. Sure some can point the finger of blame towards the President, I know I have, but I have been wrong. After all I don’t claim to be a god looking at the war on Islamic Terror, I claim to be a common man looking at it. Common men make mistakes.
This President has taken the fight to the enemy. Has this fight been conducted perfectly? No, but no fight ever is conducted perfectly. One only has to read the history to know that huge mistakes are made even in victory. But it is time that we buck up this President and let him know that he does not have to claim victory where there is none. He does not have to soften the blows when they land on our collective heads. We are adults with as much responsibility to defend this nation as him.
We have wanted this war to be fought by our military and our government allowing us to move on with our lives. To continue to chat idly, sip coffee mindlessly and to do the things that do not further the defense of our homes. We have moved so far away from the idea of common defense that we believe it is someone else’s responsibility to be alarmed. Someone else’s responsibility to die. Someone else’s responsibility to sneak into terrifying situations to discern the intentions of an enemy who would kill us all. But it is not, it is all of our responsibilities. It is well past time that we start to stand up and be counted. The enemy is at the gates of our common village shaking our gates…rise up and at least make a commitment to understand what is needed to win.
Over at Right Wing News John Hawkins has information you could use to understand our main enemy, Iran. I disagree that we can get the people to overthow the government of Iran but it is still very good reading.
Tags: BlogDesk, Cheney, Hamas, Hesballah, Hezballah, Hezbollah, Iran, Iraq, Islam, Israel, Khomeni, Muslim, Pajama Media, President Bush, Saddam, Syria, terrorism, terrorist, WMD
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