Will my grandkids be fighting our 'forever war'?
I apologize for being dormant for such a period, but I have relocated (moved) and have spent the last four-plus months getting settled in.
Having said that, it is not that I haven’t been thinking, just haven’t been writing … and there has been much on my mind.
This will be a short take, and a politically incorrect one at that.
The author of the above link asks a question: Will my grandkids be fighting our 'forever war'?
Simple answer: Yes
But my reaction was more on the perception that our current “war” is a Westphalian “war” – that is a war between organized nation states. Westphalian wars are like the named wars in history, which basically were conflicts between two or more nation states over some political or economic objective. The Global War on Terrorism, or more accurately: The Global War on Islamic Jihadiis, is not a "Westphalian war".
The problem with Islamic Jihadiis is that they are not a nation-state and so drawing parallels with past wars against nation states – like World Wars I & II, Korea, Persian Gulf I, Iraq and most of the other wars in American history – really is trying to compare apples and oranges.
However, I feel there is a more apt parallel: the 300-year plus war fought against the Native American tribes in North America. Like the Indians, Jihadiis are more tribal than anything else and eschew controlling territory in favor of eliminating competitors.
Ok, simplistic view, I agree, but one that is more appropriate than viewing the current conflict through the 17th Century pact that ended one of the bloody endless wars in Europe and marked the dominance of the concept of nation-states (with capitals, and national armies and so forth).
What we are seeing now is more akin to the centuries of wars fought against the Indians … which, when you think about it, probably is much more representative of wars that have been fought throughout mankind’s history. Unfortunately, Americans (such as the author of the above referenced article) seem to demonstrate a real lack of understanding of not only the history of their country, but of history in general. I know it is a boring subject to most people, but to remain ignorant of it is to doom yourself to replicating earlier miscues. Trite cliché, I admit, but also very true. We must remember that experience is our best teacher.
So, using the Indian Wars as a template, the answer to the gentleman’s question is undoubtedly “yes”.
One must remember for this dedicated small slice of the realm called Islam, there is no second way; there is no compromise; there is no quarter to be given. It is surrender to our paradigm, or die.
