Failing to Know the Enemy, And Ourselves

"'If you know the enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles,' Sun Tzu wrote. 'If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.'"

Third, the glee with which many in the Washington establishment -- particularly in journalism -- greeted the (glaringly obvious) finding that things are not going well in Iraq suggests an elite so insulated and out of touch that it sees no ill consequences flowing to themselves from a defeat being inflicted upon their country. The appropriate response of serious people would have been concern, perhaps anger. But an elite that sees a big setback in the war against Islamofascism chiefly in terms of its impact on domestic politics is not comprised of serious people.

Ordinary Americans sense this. A Gallup poll taken for USA Today over the weekend indicated that only one American in five has a "great deal" of trust that President Bush will do the right thing in Iraq.

Confidence in the Democrats is even lower. Only 14 percent think Congressional Democrats will chart the proper course.

We are not winning in Iraq. But we are not losing, either, though we surely shall if we do not soon know our enemy, and know ourselves. Our education should have begun on Sept. 11, 2001. But it's not too late -- yet -- for it to start.

I truely hope this author is right. Because I think Bush is exhusted, losing Rummy and Mustache man in the UN and bringing in Kurd Killer, Jew Hater Baker is heartbeaking to me.