Re-fighting Vietnam
Iraq is Vietnam, has been said again and again by the left for the last few years and I have always disagreed. The facts on the ground are totally different. But I now have to admit that I was wrong. The facts on the ground are the same. The only ground that matters in any war is what happens in the United States.
Every war the US fights from now on will be the same. About 50% of the country will support it, about 50% will be against it. Depending on the actions on the ground in the US that 50/50 will switch to 52/48 and in those small changes Victory or Defeat will be determined.
In the end I believe one fact on the ground will secure our victory in Iraq and Afghanistan and in future wars to close the Gap. That fact is the end of the draft. With the end of military slavery our future wars will be fought by volunteers. Today we are not having any problem meeting our recruiting goals because the 50% of America that supports the war has enough people willing to fight it. In fact we have been so successful that the left has had to start counter recruiting.
The reason we lost Vietnam was because we used slaves (conscripts) to fight the war. That was the same reason why the Soviet Union lost in Afghanistan. First conscripts are bad soldiers, but fighting a war with conscripts is morally wrong. We can only lose wars through moral failing. Moral failing will change the 50/50 to 40/50 and make us lose. Without the colossal moral failure of conscription for the anti-war activist to use as a weapon they have to use a battery of less effective weapons like counter recruiting. We almost lost the war with Abu Ghraib. It was the turning point against the Iraq theater of the war. Fortunately the left overreached and tired to say Guantanamo's controlled prison was equivalent to that out of control situation and over time things went back to 50/50.
We are and will continue to re-fight Vietnam probably till the end of time, and its a good thing. This war in America forces us to be morally superior to our foes. Which is needed when anger at watching children being killed by car bombs makes you want to just strike out and go Dresden on Fallujah.
In reality America is not fighting these wars. 1/2 of America is fighting the war in Iraq. The 1/2 of America that is fighting in Iraq must realize that its a two front war. The first and most important front is in Washington DC the second and least important front is in Iraq.
As long as we stay away from large moral failings like military slavery and officially sanctioned mass barbarism we will win in the end and create a better world. Being moral is the only way we will win the next 10 - 20 Vietnams.
Every war the US fights from now on will be the same. About 50% of the country will support it, about 50% will be against it. Depending on the actions on the ground in the US that 50/50 will switch to 52/48 and in those small changes Victory or Defeat will be determined.
In the end I believe one fact on the ground will secure our victory in Iraq and Afghanistan and in future wars to close the Gap. That fact is the end of the draft. With the end of military slavery our future wars will be fought by volunteers. Today we are not having any problem meeting our recruiting goals because the 50% of America that supports the war has enough people willing to fight it. In fact we have been so successful that the left has had to start counter recruiting.
The reason we lost Vietnam was because we used slaves (conscripts) to fight the war. That was the same reason why the Soviet Union lost in Afghanistan. First conscripts are bad soldiers, but fighting a war with conscripts is morally wrong. We can only lose wars through moral failing. Moral failing will change the 50/50 to 40/50 and make us lose. Without the colossal moral failure of conscription for the anti-war activist to use as a weapon they have to use a battery of less effective weapons like counter recruiting. We almost lost the war with Abu Ghraib. It was the turning point against the Iraq theater of the war. Fortunately the left overreached and tired to say Guantanamo's controlled prison was equivalent to that out of control situation and over time things went back to 50/50.
We are and will continue to re-fight Vietnam probably till the end of time, and its a good thing. This war in America forces us to be morally superior to our foes. Which is needed when anger at watching children being killed by car bombs makes you want to just strike out and go Dresden on Fallujah.
In reality America is not fighting these wars. 1/2 of America is fighting the war in Iraq. The 1/2 of America that is fighting in Iraq must realize that its a two front war. The first and most important front is in Washington DC the second and least important front is in Iraq.
As long as we stay away from large moral failings like military slavery and officially sanctioned mass barbarism we will win in the end and create a better world. Being moral is the only way we will win the next 10 - 20 Vietnams.
posted by Scott at 9:43 AM
1 Comments:
Hi Scott,
You make some interesting points, but I must disagree with one of them. In a place like Iraq, it doesn't really take 50% US support to win, it took bigger guns, and more destruction of enemy supply lines.
If we had used the appropriate level of "overwhelming force" and we had (and still can) stopped the supplies from being replenished for the enemy fighters, their fight would be more short lived.
You also mention Dresdan in the same breath as Fallujah, but as I understand it (which ain't saying much) Dresdan was targeted to illicit a cry of "Uncle" or to demoralize the population of Germany. It was not a significantly military tartet. Fallujah, on the other hand was a place where the enemy had gathered and were taking over. It was territory that we were losing, and when we went there our goal was to take it from the enemy.
I would also add that I've got to get some more detail on that concept of "re-fighting" Vietnam. I don't understand how that could make sense. We lost ground on that Cold War Battfield by letting politicians decide our tactics, and by quitting before we were done. There are lessons to be learned from Vietnam, but I don't think we should ever try to repeat that cluster----. (Clusterbomb, what else could I have meant?)
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