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OPINION

Don’t repeat mistakes made in our past wars

Letter
Comments (20)

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

(Updated 3:00 am)

Generals always fight the previous war, it is said. That makes me picture the sad infantries of World War I charging through barb-wired fields against turreted machine-guns and well-bunkered armies just as mounted cavalries had charged against the lances and single shot rifles of the 19th century.

My fear in watching our troops charge into Afghanistan is that again the enemy has changed and is not what we expect. They don’t look like the fierce bearded men in those mountains but like the born- to-society David Headley in Chicago, or like Major Hasan, raised in Arlington and educated at Virginia Tech.

Armed most importantly with the Internet and driven by a common passion for their cause, they will remain largely off the radar as our attention, treasure and blood is spent occupying another country — fighting the previous war that ended at Tora Bora.

That is my fear, and I hope to God to be wrong.

Bill Yaner
Jamestown

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xeno10

December 9, 2009 - 6:46 am EST

And as you know, Mr. Yaner, we have been fighting "war as you describe it" in Iraq and Afghanistan longer than we faught in WW I and II -- combined! And I find it truly shameful that so few of those who vociferously support these wars are not willing themselves to enlist for the burden of sacrifice they claim is so fundamental to our national security. Seriously.

ghost from white oak

December 9, 2009 - 9:27 am EST

truman, you are not too bright are you? Seriously.

Sawdust

December 9, 2009 - 10:52 am EST

Has anyone tried to comment on the Tiger Woods letter lately?

Bert

December 9, 2009 - 11:25 am EST

I was just going to say how confusing and contradictory his point(s) seemed to me, but there was no button to do so. Maybe the gang at N&R agreed with me and shut it down.

Yvonne

December 9, 2009 - 7:48 am EST

Unfortunately, Bill, I think you are right.

Sawdust

December 9, 2009 - 10:50 am EST

Yes, right on target. Political correctness, not radical Islam, appears to be our greatest threat. Profiling is wrong, hurting the feelings of any minority group is not allowed. Multiculturalism is the word of the day. We do not believe that our culture is superior to any other, even though our culture has liberated millions of people from poverty and/or oppression, while the various cultures of Africa have produced a mixed bag, to say the least. Darfur, anyone, as your vacation travels? Probably not.

Bert

December 9, 2009 - 11:32 am EST

Yesterday there were some 120 deaths and 250 injuries to random civilian Muslims of all ages in Bagdad. I'm waiting for their leadership's outrage at those who openly admitted responsibility for this horror. But I'm not holding my breath. Everything I read and heard was their outrage at the GOVERNMENT for not detecting the suicide vehicles beforehand.

There's something wrong there..... just too much hatred of each other to move forward.

J D R

December 9, 2009 - 2:47 pm EST

" ... just too much hatred of each other to move forward."

Well it certainly makes it difficult ..

trabun

December 10, 2009 - 10:59 am EST

Whew... PC has always been a threat to society. Even now the PC crowd is in denial, like the appeaseniks before WW2 and during the Cold War. Appeasement = encouragement.
The Swiss have figured it out without getting themselves blown up. Why can't we? The truth is a significant portion of Muslims support murdering anyone in the name of Islam. If it truly were just a few, the funding sources of the Taleban and al Qaeda would dry up, but they never do. Who is funding them? I bet it's not the Buddhists, Taoists, Jews, or Christians. We need to WAKE UP. Hitler spelled out his plan in Mein Kampf and Islam has done the same thing. It's goal is the conquest or destruction of all non-muslims as clearly stated in all its documents.

J D R

December 9, 2009 - 9:59 am EST

" — fighting the previous war that [SHOULD HAVE] ended at Tora Bora."

Bert

December 9, 2009 - 10:38 am EST

Exactly what Yaner's saying: we fight the next war the way the previous one SHOULD HAVE been fought. Only now it's too late. Our enemy has changed their tatics while we have not.

J D R

December 9, 2009 - 2:46 pm EST

Not exactly what I meant, Bert. I meant we should have gone "all in" at Torah Borah .. everyone but Rummy knew that - and Rummy the Bleeding Heart Liberal - who [unlike his buddies] had been in the Service - but apparently forgot that Generals send relatively few men into battle in order to save the much larger count of peoples.

By funny coincidence (& found after I typed the above), The Swift boat Hero-or-Villain recently posted a OP-ED on this same subject:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870393940457456794174143278...

Yvonne

December 9, 2009 - 3:40 pm EST

Hindsight is beneficial only if the lesson is learned. Being able to acknowledge one is wrong is one of the hardest things for most people to do. That's the reason people keep doing the same things over and over expecting different results.

While I do not agree with any escalation of the war, I am not ready to crucify Obama. There was absolutely no way to make a decision that would satisfy everyone. So he went with the one his top adviser suggested.

J D R

December 9, 2009 - 3:58 pm EST

I'm not sure what you mean, Yvonne - but at the time I was deeply involved in the War on Terroism and remember sitting in front of the TV screen with FOXX and CNN and all of 'em detailing how we had that bastard bid Laden trapped in a few caves and we were bombing the hell of 'im and for sure we'd have a genuine mission accomplished .. only to learn the next day we had stopped and he had slipped out he back door ..

... any hindsight came a few day's later when we learned Rummy didn't want to risk American Troops .. so he delegated to the Afghans .. who have questionable loyalty at best...

... kinda like the Irish in Braveheart - scene at 2:12.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs8QKXtCN9w&feature=fvw

Yvonne

December 9, 2009 - 4:54 pm EST

My comment was in reference to Kerry's change of heart. From the article, I'm not sure if he is contradicting himself or has changed his mind. Either way, nothing is accomplished if we do not learn. My biggest problem with Bush is he never learned, never admitted to any mistake and kept doing the same things over and over expecting different results.

I just feel, in my heart, we are making a mistake because we seem to have learned nothing. I had the same kind of dread, and said so, before we attacked Iraq. There was absolutely no reasonable decisions made during that time, imho. I said then we should stay in Afghanistan. Most on this blog took exception with my concern, even to the point of indirectly saying I didn't know what I was talking about, insinuating it was my "hate" (although I did not hate the man) for Bush.

Well, things are different now and I have changed my mind about Afghanistan. I am hearing the same old political BS I heard in 2003. Nuclear weapons, crazy people, train the Afghan people, helping them build a democratic country and on and on. I honestly believe it is not worth sacrificing the lives of thousands based on supposition, no matter who says it is, the president or Kerry.

Bert

December 9, 2009 - 8:22 pm EST

Me too, Yvonne. I have wavered on this issue more than a saw blade in jug band. but I just don't think its worth it, that what we're doing is wrong, and that we have somehow once again shifted the strengths of our wonderful armed forces into fighting the wrong war.

J D R

December 10, 2009 - 1:40 am EST

I'm like Bert - back and forth on it .. but in Pakistan, Nuclear weapons are real, and at this point we're committed, so sign me up for a yellow magnet-ribbon.

Sawdust

December 10, 2009 - 9:27 am EST

Yvonne; it is not the duty of the President to make decisions "that will satisfy everyone". It is his duty to protect the country from all enemies. Trying to make a decision "that will satisfy everyone" is a major blunder, especially when it comes to decisions about radical Islam. It reveals weakness, a deadly error. But what else could we expect from Obama, he of the postage stamp-sized resume'? A little bit of experience would come in handy right now.

J D R

December 10, 2009 - 2:55 am EST

How to defeat the Taliban: http://www.stonesintoschools.com/

trabun

December 10, 2009 - 11:01 am EST

They blow up every school we build after killing anyone who attends them or sends their kids to one. Believe it as I have heard it from people who have been there and seen it.