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My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2006-08-19

Spot On, Couldn't Be More Right, Gotta Read

This is one of the best pieces of writing I've I've seen in a while. Both eloquent and brilliant, it is a must-read for everybody serious and concerned about the survival of the West. Courtesy of Hugh Hewitt.

The thesis:

The near panic which gripped Teheran and Damascus in the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom was not the result of the fear that America had found new weapons -- the lethality of those weapons were already known -- but that it had found unexpected the will to use them. Today even better weapons are there yet the American force in Iraq is regarded as having become totally impotent, not because it has become militarily weaker; through fixed airbases, experience, new weapons it has become immeasurably stronger than it was in 2003. But it's impotence is due entirely to the perception that it's will has drained away -- that it cannot use its power. That leaves American power weaker than had it never been used. As Tom Schelling taught commitments that are repudiated -- such as by those politicians who now say they were against OIF even before they voted for it -- destroy not only the current commitments but the possibility of future commitments.

Oh, yeah--did I forget to mention that it's not an essay to cheer you up about the prospect of survival of the West. It actually fits my recent mood quite well.
Posted by: Michael / 8/19/2006 12:04:00 AM

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