If the Iraqis put up as little resistance as we've seen so far, then this is going to end up being as big a humiliation for the Arabs, as their defeat in 1967 by Israel. And these are people for whom humiliation is, literally, worse than death.
The NeoCons think the Arabs will respond to this, with submission.
The Peace camp thinks violence begets violence, so the Arabs will respond with an Intifada against the U.S. There may be a brathing space, a "honeymoon", before the Iraqi Intifada gets hot. Or maybe not.
We are seeing the end of wars between nation-states. Rather, modern wars are between different memes, and support for each meme is spread across national boundaries. We have also seen the end of the concept of "battleground". There is no discrete local area of intense violence and destruction, that decides the fate of the larger non-battleground region. Instead, everywhere is battleground. Attacks are made, not mainly on the opponent's organized fighting forces (hard targets), but on your opponent's logistics/command/war-supporting ability (soft targets). The global PR battle controls military tactical and strategic decision-making. |
