[Grovenet] 9/11

[Dean madeoneup]

Well Mike I agree wholehardedly,  The US is certainly undermaned  as well as undercommitted for what lies ahead.  Until America  realizes that the boys lives were losing are as important as the  toppings on  our Starbucks in the morning faulure is all I  see......

"Steele, Mike" <steelem at pacificu.edu> wrote:  Now that we're in the 6th year of a war that could last a century or
more, it strikes me that the US is just beginning to sense what this
means.  We've been at this longer than we were involved in the Civil
War, WWI, or WWII.  A truism in warfare is that the winner never gets to
declare victory first; the first move is for the losing side to quit,
capitulate, crumble, or ask for surrender terms.  For that side to do
such means that there is a certain degree of social and governmental
control still operating, with recognized leadership, a hierarchy, clear
lines of communication (often to third parties), etc.  Well, virtually
all of that is missing in this case.  There is no government, no
structure, indeed, no armies in the field.  We're seeing asymmetrical
warfare.  The enemy is amorphous, hard to detect, hard to find, and
quite willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.  The scale of values is
asymmetrical.  US commanders in the field are not of the opinion that
their soldiers' lives are best used when ended.  The enemy offers
eternal rewards and incentives for self-sacrifice.  We have perhaps
165,000 combatants in two Muslim countries; I hear that terrorists can
muster 65,000 or so...but they can also grow them about as fast as they
sacrifice themselves, and the potential population base is over 1
billion.  They come from all quarters and have countless schools that
teach them the values they live and die with.  So, they aren't going to
disappear any time soon.  

The whole scenario reminds me of Lebanon two decades ago...a quagmire
with uncontrollable violence, well-armed militias, and deep animosities
among the various groups.  As Colin Powell said, "You break it, you own
it." 

It'll be interesting to see what sort of endgame comes about.
Meanwhile, we grieve.

--Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] On
Behalf Of Eric Canon
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 7:43 PM
To: Ed Davie; Forest Grove local interests list
Subject: Re: [Grovenet] 9/11

That is powerful stuff Ed. Thanks for sharing it
with us.

This third paragraph from Joe Volk's memo I found
especially plausible:

# Weaken the Extremists by Ending the War on
Terror. When you declared a "war on terror," you
handed Osama bin Laden and others like him the
victory they sought. You did exactly what they
wanted and needed to build their movement. Take
their victory away now. You have made the
extremists, people like Osama bin Laden, 10 feet
tall and made them your equal on the world stage.
Because you have given them the war with the "one
remaining superpower" that they wanted, you have
given them the strategic advantage. In the eyes
of the public they are seeking to reach, they are
David fighting Goliath. This is a strategic
blunder of historic proportion. Your "war on
terror" frames the struggle so that any time a
terror attack kills civilians, the U.S. suffers a
defeat and the extremists take another victory.
You can strategically weaken the extremists by
ending the "war on terror," by demoting the
extremists to the level of criminals, and by
calling on all nations to join the U.S. in a law
enforcement project of bring these criminals to
account under the rule of law.

--- Ed Davie  wrote:

> Joe Volk
> Executive Secretary, FCNL
> 
> Letter response to President Bush's speech, 
> yesterday.
> 
>
http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=2051&issue_id=35
> 
> Ed 
> _______________________________________________
> GroveNet mailing list
> GroveNet at rdrop.com
> http://www.rdrop.com/mailman/listinfo/grovenet
> 

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