Corn wrote:
......Time, in all its manifestations — duration, sequencing, timing, tempo, but also memory25 — has been the single most neglected strategic dimension of the Bush administration......
Neglected seems to be the wrong word! Corn's use of that word smacks of euphemism.
The trouble was and still is that Bush and his neocons, like their predecessors in past US Administrations, have been so overly optimistic about achieving quick victories (get that victory-is-a-cinch idea?) that they never thought about the Time and chronopolitical stuff so bombastically compiled by Corn.
To be sure, Bush and his elite team now realize their optimism and utter lack of respect for the enemy's capabilities were entirely unfounded. But hubris is preventing Bush (just as hubris had prevented Johnson and Nixon with regard to the Vietnam War) from admitting his mistakes and changing his course of action.
But what action is essential? In a word, it is the DELEGITIMIZATION of the Jihadists' cause. As action speaks louder than words, the US will do well to stop aggressively attacking the Jihadists and Moslem innocents while, of course, protecting its own butt, and then effect a phased withdrawal. By doing so, the US will very likely win back respect and cooperation from the world at large. This is very essential as after Bush's post 9/11 proclamation, "You are with us or against us", the US lost support and sympathy worldwide.
BTW, in a rather conciliatory message just prior to the presidential elections in 2004, Osama, in effect, said, "To the extent you attack and oppress us, we shall retaliate in kind."
Will the US back off from the Middle East? Never unless, as len has pointed out, the American people rise up to the occasion (I mean as they did during the Vietnam War). But, unfortunately, the American people have been too dumbed down to act anytime soon. Meanwhile, oil and hubris will continue to keep the US hobbled by Iraq and Afghanistan and Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah all over the world. Too bad the "victory" scenario was nothing more than a mirage in the desert of Iraq.
. |
