<<I could not have expected this administration to win the "HeartsandMind" Contest in the Islamic world.>>
Then there is no way to win the war. Even if we strong-arm the governments of Islamic countries into allowing us access to their territory, guerrilla forces can never be defeated if they have a large sympathetic civilian population. We'll never find them, and they can replace their losses indefinitely.
Plus, when government policy and public opinion is so sharply different, and there is no method for peaceful change of policy, then there will be violent revolutions. We could conquer Iraq, and soon thereafter lose (to Iranian-style revolutiions), Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, even Turkey. Every time we bully those governments into doing something that is deeply unpopular, we increase the risk of this.
I don't worry about W. Europe, because we don't need them. Russia is our natural ally in the war against Islamic fundamentalism, and can replace NATO as our principal ally in Europe. Russia can provide us access, more usefully than France or Germany can. |
