Our most visible doubters also reveal a peculiar lack of knowledge about history — and in particular political, diplomatic, and military history. Does their trepidation about this war perhaps reflect the reading and educational tastes of the last two decades, when history itself was deemed a construct, a mere reflection of the power machinations of a grasping few? In this present conflict, perusal of Tacitus, Ammianus Marcellinus, Bede, Machiavelli, Gibbon, Momsen, Oman, or Prescott — or any other classic narratives of political and military history — would offer far more prescience than would anthropologists, sociologists, gender-studies gurus, or even historians who "do" social history, such as analyses of women's underwear or the story of sitcoms.
A half-century of anthropology, after all, would suggest to us that burqas and clitoridectomies are just "different" or perhaps comparable (or even superior to) Western fashion and custom. Traditional history, on the other hand, argues that women across time and space, like men, struggle to be free, not mutilated, and treated as equals.
But many prominent Americans and Europeans also display an even more disturbing cynical attitude to what we are doing — which perhaps can be summed up as the arrogance of the Enlightenment. This is the idea that all man's sins, all nature's problems, and all the complexities of the cosmos can be alleviated by the god Reason that they have almost alone embraced. They assume that if Americans were just properly educated and trained, then we could insist on 100% excellence in this war — as if all wars are between absolute good and absolute evil, rather than a perennial struggle between the far better against the far worse in which brutality like Dresden, Hiroshima, or Tet is to be avoided but nevertheless is not uncommon.
There are plenty of dangers in this constant expression of self-doubt, along with our national obsession about the inconsequential coupled with unconcern for what is critical. We are engaged in multifaceted and completely unpredictable war. Ours is now a high-stakes contest that will change the make-up of the current world; it not only requires all our full attention to what is important, but also a degree of self-confidence in our ability and right to conduct the struggle itself. Our allies are looking to us to assure them we have a vision for the Middle East that is better — not perfect, but better — than the conditions there now that led to 3,000 dead in America. Our enemies wax when we hesitate, wane as we show confidence, power, and justice in our cause. And neutrals simply watch us, gauging the right moment either to join in or bail out, damn or praise us, and release or roundup terrorists.
So let us have some perspective, admit we are human, not divine, and show self-confidence in what we know from the past rather than foreboding about what is unknown in the future. [b]Should there be a thousand traitorous Johnny Walkers in detention, the minutiae of their cases should not warrant more concern than would the life of a single Marine; and if there should be 10,000 terrorists detained in Cuba, I would not care as much about all their beards being shaved off as the safety of a single American pilot[/b].
[url]http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson012502.shtml[/url]
Eric The(IToldYouItWouldBeTheBest)Hun[>]:)]