We have to stop thinking about what to do now and concentrate on where we want to be 10 years from now.
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What does the old AoW really say about this?
(I.2):(war is) a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.
I do not have the faith in men who want to look at a road 10 years in the future and not see in front of them that there are men who saw off heads of old men, kill defenceless schoolchildren or slaughter thousands of office workers. Chamberlain tried to look ten years ahead for Hitler to believe in this grouphug stuff. Hitler never did. A lot of people had to die because Chamberlain did not recognize that his road of "Peace for our Times" was in fact the road to ruin, not safety.
(I.8):Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death.
further showing us all that not recognizing the nature of the danger facing us reduces our odds of survival. I cannot put the safety of my children and their children in the hands of those who do not recognize this danger, but speak of nuisance, as if it does not exist. I cannot respect a leader who would only wait to be attacked again before responding with a 'measured' response after awaiting a 'global test' by other men that also do not recognize what is happening.
(III):If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. 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.
Not understanding your enemy is the sure way to defeat. To assume that we can ignore what is in front and that things will right itself in 10 years is not only folly, it is a sure way to defeat. If the commander in chief knows not his own people or his own conviction, nor the true nature of the enemy of his people, such a commander will succumb in every battle. This I cannot support. If a commander in chief knows his enemy but not himself, that is not perfection but gives me a 50-50 chance of making it through alive. This I support unwillingly, but support I will.
(VI.1) Sun Tzu said: Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.
Not recognizing there is a battlefield is really why the US has to scramble today, the jihadis arrived at the battlefield first and had been planning for more than 20 years. To further go back to days when they are but nuisance and not to recognize them for what they are is to yield the field and is the ultimate in folly. |
