Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Generational War
Brig. Gen. Mark O. Schissler of the USAF foresees a war against Islamist terrorism lasting fifty to one hundred years. He says that the war must be fought in both the military and ideological arenas. Money quote:
Anyone who visits this site regularly knows that I regard radical Islamists as an existential threat to our society, and that we must be serious about meeting that threat or our grandchildren or great-grandchildren will be praying five times a day while facing Mecca.
Osama bin Laden has spoken of the "tragedy of al-Andalus," referring to the expulsion of the Moors from Spain in 1492. These Islamofascist guys have long memories, and as such have a distinct advantage over Americans brought up on TV, where the typical crisis is resolved in an hour or two, or maybe, if it's really awful, 24.
So far, we've been fighting a war without making any sacrifices in our greater society. Certainly our military and their families have made great sacrifices, and for that they have my eternal respect and gratitude. But what I'm referring to is the sense within society as a whole that there's a real threat out there, and that it requires our continuing attention. I hope it doesn't take a repeat of 9/11 or worse to wake us up, but I have a nagging uneasy feeling that something like that is exactly what it will take.
"I don't care about the politics. I care about people understanding the facts of what's (sic) our enemy is thinking about, what's our strategy to defeat them, and for [Americans] to understand that it will take a long fight, mostly because our enemy is committed to the long fight," he said. "They're absolutely committed to the 50-, 100-year plan."It's good to see that someone in a position to recommend policy recognizes the nature of the struggle Western society faces, and it's even better that he's saying so publicly. More, please.
"One of my concerns is how to maintain the American will, the public will over that duration," he said.
Anyone who visits this site regularly knows that I regard radical Islamists as an existential threat to our society, and that we must be serious about meeting that threat or our grandchildren or great-grandchildren will be praying five times a day while facing Mecca.
Osama bin Laden has spoken of the "tragedy of al-Andalus," referring to the expulsion of the Moors from Spain in 1492. These Islamofascist guys have long memories, and as such have a distinct advantage over Americans brought up on TV, where the typical crisis is resolved in an hour or two, or maybe, if it's really awful, 24.
So far, we've been fighting a war without making any sacrifices in our greater society. Certainly our military and their families have made great sacrifices, and for that they have my eternal respect and gratitude. But what I'm referring to is the sense within society as a whole that there's a real threat out there, and that it requires our continuing attention. I hope it doesn't take a repeat of 9/11 or worse to wake us up, but I have a nagging uneasy feeling that something like that is exactly what it will take.
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