Should we be surprised that we have been out played at nearly every turn on their home turf? Chess came out of India and Persia sometime around the 6th century. It is only our technology and firepower that keep us in the game at all. I've always held to the assertion that Bush and company won the Iran/Iraq war for Iran.

Its mental midgets in America that keep us from winning in Iraq and Afghan. We can win this stupid war in one week. But our politicians are to gutless and stupid to let the military do their job. Black Jack Pershing beat Muslim terrorist it was easy. Take the terrorists out shoot them and bury them with pigs blood. But we have become to weak and whimpy hence we will lose this war on terror.

mar1976cus:

Take the terrorists out shoot them and bury them with pigs blood. But we have become to weak and whimpy hence we will lose this war on terror.

oh, you mean war OF terror. yeah, sounds like fun, you go and i'll catch up.

mar1978cus. Wow are you tough and macho. I bet it never occurred to you that all governments since the beginning of the civilized world depended on people like you to do their dirty work while they grabbed the spoils.

It's a good thing you enjoy killing. If I ruled the world I would put all the AL Quada and other terrorist groups on an island with the Nazi's and nationalists and people like you.

I bet you all would have a lot of fun fighting while the rest of us could go about our lives.

do you want to win the war or not? Sorry to be harsh but reality slaps liberals in the face so much that you've grown numb. Wars are won by killing the other side's soldiers. Wars are lost when the losing side fails to do that. Hence people with your attitude will lead to the West losing the war on terror.

Your attitude is fine for playing Halo, but not so much for international politics. I'm afraid reality is a bit more complicated than video games.

Have you ever heard the phrase, "winning hearts and minds"? In the War on Terror (and in counterinsurgency in general), that is infinitely more important than merely killing people. Killing people might be part of the equation, and it helps to be good at it, but if you fail to win the hearts and minds of everyone you're not killing, then you will end up creating enemies faster than you can kill them. This is a fact. Your blustering diatribe will not change that.

The War on Terror is, always has been and ever shall be a cultural struggle. What we need to do is prove to the vast majority of Middle Easterners that they are better off being our friends. That requires the use of both carrots and sticks, as well as diplomatic engagement with as many other players as possible on as many issues as possible. Right now, we're only using sticks and not engaging diplomatically with anyone. It is therefore no surprise that we're not getting anywhere. It's sad, because we used to be really good at this game.

And just to give you a little bit of background so you know where I'm coming from, I'm an active duty military officer with a political science degree and two OIF deployments (so far). I'm not speaking from bleeding heart sentimentality, but rather my university education and seven subsequent years spent mostly overseas serving in the profession of arms.

You might do well to study these matters in more depth. You may gain a greater understanding of the capabilities and limitations of using force to accomplish national goals.

mar1976cus:

do you want to win the war or not? .

still waiting to hear what "win the war" actually means. bin laden comes out in pakistan and says he gives up? we kill every arab who does not say the pledge of allegiance to the US? terrorism stops all over the world forever? so far, the only answer i've heard is that if we leave "they" win, so we have to stay forever, then we win. not sure if that is what i want, in fact.

quillsinister:

What we need to do is prove to the vast majority of Middle Easterners that they are better off being our friends. That requires the use of both carrots and sticks, as well as diplomatic engagement with as many other players as possible on as many issues as possible. Right now, we're only using sticks and not engaging diplomatically with anyone. It is therefore no surprise that we're not getting anywhere. It's sad, because we used to be really good at this game.

yeah, i remember those days. before we got stupid, smug, and insular. now we've become the hamhanded fist in the tinfoil glove.

You are right this is a cultural struggle. This is a struggle between Shiites and Sunnis. The Sunnis were able to bribe/lobby our congress/politicians to support them so they wouldn't have to fight.

Carrot and stick - I agree, but when we have captured the bad guys we don't let them go. We shoot them just like we did the werewolves of post WWII. 12 year old kid caught shooting a pro allied, German mayor, we shot him! Now we catch and release terrorists and they are hired by Reuters and AP to do anti-American stories about pissing on Korans and such. It’s rather simple you catch a bad guy you shoot them.

A little back ground on me. I've lived half of my life overseas, served as an 11B, and have a PhD along with several grad degrees, speak several languages and have a great time.

Yes I'm extreme and radical sometimes, but when you are dealing with extremists you have to fight them on their own terms. Failing to do that means we will waste of lot of money and lives while the threat grows. And when you put the military in a situation where they are not allowed to fire back at terrorists you may as well pull them out and let the locals handle the problem.

Radical branches of Islam often rise up and the only way to deal with them is to destroy them. And as we are already there we may as well win the war or we better pull out. If we fail to do either we'll create more problems by allowing radical branches of Islam to fester and gain strength. Just like the Sadr’s army, Hizballah, Taliban and Hamas IF the US is going the have a presence in the region we'd better destroy them or get out of the way and let the moderate Sunnis deal with them. Currently our policy of protecting them is only prolonging the struggle and leading to destabilize the region. And yes by tying Israel’s’ hand and not allowing them to have a victory we are only helping terrorists.

By the way, Force is just another branch of diplomacy. One that is used more often as it is illegal for the US to use the other parts of diplomacy; assassinations and bribing. Also I would suggest you read up on the radical Islamists of the past. Learn how other nations dealt with them as well as what gave rise to Shiism. I’ll give you a hint it was the same force that destroyed a radical Islamic band that tried to assassinate the Chingiz Khan (Genghis Khan) and then the established the il’khanids.

We either need to destroy the terrorists or pull out and let the locals do it. That is winning the war. As opposed to prolonging it.

"A little back ground on me. I've lived half of my life overseas, served as an 11B, and have a PhD along with several grad degrees, speak several languages and have a great time."

I hope you'll understand if I'm a bit skeptical about this claim. Nothing personal, but I've met a few too many people here claiming to have a big stack of postgraduate degrees to really take much notice. If it's true, then you're a few years ahead of me. My own PhD has to wait until I'm out of the military, and I'm having too much fun at present to resign. A few more years overseas and in uniform for me. I'm still young. Academia can wait a bit. :-)

I don't agree with everything you've said. Frankly I think the current administration has botched literally everything they've touched. I like your little plug for Clausewitz (he's one of my favorites), but you have to recognize that the kind of operational totality he preached--where force, economics and diplomacy all work in harmony within a grand strategy--is exactly what hasn't been happening on Bush's watch.

As for the Middle East, I interpret their current troubles as the reactionary backlash to the general trand of modernization taking place. The West went through it, too. It was ugly and brutal but it will pass. The less we directly participate, the faster this process will occur. There is nothing to be gained here and there is no need for panic responses like preemptive invasions. The sky is not falling. And there is certainly no need to cripple our military and economy in pursuit of goals which aren't much more than a fantasy. I do not favor isolationism, but can't see any earthly reason why we're squandering so much blood and treasure on essentially meaningless brush fires. This course is unsustainable, and that will be brought home to us at some point soon in ways we cannot ignore. I suspect that this process will rather suck.

I say we have better things to do.

It is good to be skeptical. You need to question everything you read and hear. If you can accept that as reality, your work on your PhD will be much easier. I do research, everything I read day in and day out I question, because quite frankly good research is hard to find. In fact most research just down right sucks. Personally I think any report which references a study, should provide a link so that people can read the study for themselves. But that is neither here nor there.

I agree GWB has botched a lot of stuff. To make matters worse congress has gone along with nearly everything. What has it been twice he’s used the veto? I was no fan of his when he came into office. But I could not believe the sheer incompetency of the opposition, it was almost as bad as his stupidity. Right after 9/11 when he had America behind him, he started blowing it. He didn’t listen to Powell; he didn’t go into Iraq with a clearer idea of the situation both in terms of locally and regionally. Iraq / Saddam for all their faults kept Iran in check. Sadly the gene pool for presidents has shrunk even farther. I honestly think if GWB could run for a 3rd term that he would win. Good talent is simply not applying for the job, which should give every American reason to be concerned.

If you want a better understanding of the Middle East I suggest you read Janet Abu-Lughod’s book, ”Before European Hegemony” and Judith Kolbas, “The Mongols in Iran Chingiz khan to Uljaytu 1220-1309”. Both give interesting insights to the world back then and why it is today the way it is. Kolbas from the stand point of the rise of splinter groups in Islam. Then Abu sees the world as an interactive economic unit. From a non academic standpoint though, Hugh Kennedy is one of the leading experts on Islam and Middle East History

You are right about the Middle East, but this is a Muslim issue. Not one which the US needs to or should be involved. Let them sort it out. However because of good lobbying efforts our congress is for hire to the highest bidder. Hence we are servants of Saudi Arabia.

I'll add those to my list, thanks.

As for your last paragraph, I agree completely. However, weren't you defending our intervention? Did I misread you?

Forgive the briefness of this. There is so much to address and so little time that I’ll attempt to highlight a few of the main points.

I support the war. That is if we are going to fight it. Currently we are not allowed to fight the war. Troops are not allowed to return fire, Troops are not allowed to control the border with Iran or Syria, we are not allowed to interrogate detainees, our media hires convicted terrorists to report the war, our media leaks military secrets out, and this is sheer insanity. At any other time in the history of the USA, if the media leaked that we had broken the code of the enemy, there would have been a group of reporters hung for treason. Yet the wimp GWB does nothing.

The State Department was put in charge of Iraq. Major mistake these clowns are truly incompetent to the nth degree. Most are spoiled rich kids who are looking for an easy job, living overseas and doing little or no work. Yes that is why we often have foreign policy issues as our State Department has no clue what is going on.

Currently we have a renegade Supreme Court that is doing whatever it wants. They have stepped beyond their authority on numerous occasions yet the president and/or congress has done nothing to them.

As we have liberals who are undermining the war effort and we do not have a leader in power that has the back bone to enforce the law. Bring the troops home. At least Americans will not be getting killed for nothing and the US tax payer will not be paying trillions in the up coming decades of occupation.