The expression "World War IV" surfaced just after Sept. 11th, 2001. It came from Eliot Cohen, of the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins. It has been most effectively used, as a concept, by R. James Woolsey, the man who quit in frustration as President Bill Clinton's CIA director, and who should have been re-appointed to that post after George Tenet quit, by President George W. Bush.
The idea is, to make people appreciate that wars don't necessarily have conventional front lines and trenches. The "Cold War" with Soviet Communism -- which was won finally by Reaganite America about 1989 -- was as much a planetary confrontation as the previous fight with the Axis Powers, with even more at stake. And it wasn't bloodless: more than 100,000 American soldiers died on Korean, Vietnamese, and other remote battlefields, together with innumerable allies and proxies, in the prosecution of that war. Let us therefore call it "World War III".
And as the conditions for World War II did not begin with the invasion of Poland, but with Adolf Hitler's ascension to power in 1933, or perhaps, as many argue, with the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, so also "World War IV" began long before 9/11. The attacks on New York and Washington came, literally, out of the blue, and yet for decades Americans and U.S. interests had been targeted by Jihadists -- many of them enjoying the patronage of up to half-a-dozen rogue states. The only new thing was that, after 9/11, America resolved to strike back.
Norman Podhoretz has now used the phrase. He for many years edited Commentary Magazine in New York, and is a grandfather to what are colloquially called the "neoconservatives" -- those old-fashioned liberals, many of them prominent Jewish intellectuals, who began calling themselves "conservative" when they realized that the word "liberal" had been appropriated by the enemies of liberty. He did this in a long essay that first appeared a fortnight ago, entitled, "World War IV: How It Started, What It Means, and Why We Have to Win". Any reader who aspires to be well-informed, regardless of political persuasion, will read that essay (easily Google-searched).
Mr. Podhoretz, whom I should say is one of my intellectual heroes, draws out the comparison between World Wars IV and III. He compares the "Bush Doctrine", first enunciated in the President's famous speech of Sept. 20th, 2001, and the "Truman Doctrine" of 1947, which announced that the U.S. would stand up to the challenge of Soviet expansionism. The policy of "containment" followed; the creation of NATO; and almost immediately, a series of murky skirmishes in which Communist takeovers of Greece, Turkey, and other countries were averted. (We forget today that, in the chaos and misery after World War II, France and Italy were also near falling to Communist parties whose allegiance to Stalin's Soviet Union was unconcealed.)
Mr. Podhoretz spells out, for those who have not yet got it, how completely the pre-2001 foreign policy of the U.S. has been changed by Mr. Bush; as much as the pre-1947 policy was changed by Truman, once he fully realized that the Soviets were no longer war allies, but deadly enemies of the free world. The surprise in both cases was huge, and in neither case was it clear from the beginning that the new Doctrine would hold. For want of space, I leave to Mr. Podhoretz his full, masterly description of the four pillars of the Bush Doctrine, which are 1. the repudiation of moral relativism; 2. the repudiation of all psychologizing or "victim" explanations for the growth of Islamic fanaticism; 3. the need for pre-emption of future threats; and most controversially, 4. the resumption of America's pro-active role in spreading constitutional democracy and political liberty.
The essay is optimistic, by the standards of the current discussion. It reminds us how many setbacks we experienced through World War III. It worries that the same elite intellectual forces of anti-Americanism, appeasement, and defeatism, which took more than a decade to assemble against the Vietnam War, were able to re-assemble after 9/11 almost instantaneously. He prays that America has the stamina for the long fight ahead.
My own fear is on the flip side: that the arguments against appeasement and defeatism are not being effectively articulated, and that the deeply religious nature of the enemy is not being spelled out, except by a few unpopular hacks in the newspapers. For the enemy we face in World War IV truly does not resemble any that we defeated in World Wars I, II, or III.
David Warren
Posted by: tipper ||
08/23/2004 2:16:36 AM ||
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EFL RTWT
The situation in Najaf is evolving and devolving faster and more frequently than a wire reporter's updates. One moment, the battle between joint American-Iraqi forces and radical Shiite leader Moqtada al Sadr's Mahdi army appear to be coming to a close. Less than 30 minutes later, broken agreements and a renewal of sharp rhetoric spike the fighting. It's been this way for months.
The possibility that al Sadr might have been yielding to U.S. and Iraqi military pressure was an obvious attempt to buy more time. It wasn't his first such ploy, and he knows his days are numbered. Still, months of battling U.S. Army and Marine forces have taken its toll on the Mahdi army. Most of al Sadr's front-line combatants are now dead. His current crop of fighters are mostly disenfranchised, newly recruited youths who are certainly capable of firing off a few rounds or launching a rocket-propelled grenade, but they often break and run when U.S. Marines and Army cavalry troopers move against them. "It appears to me that in April and May we killed the best and brightest [of the Mahdi army]," 1st Lt. Brian Suits of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division in Najaf, said during a radio interview with talk-radio host Kirby Wilbur on Seattle's KVI radio, last Thursday. "What al Sadr is doing now is sending in the guys who are left behind to make a statement. He's running out of guys. The guys he has are frankly running out of motivation. There are ill-prepared and ill-trained. They are beginning to question their authority. I think they're saying 'wait a minute, you told us that God was going to guide our bullets, but we haven't killed one American soldier in our area and we are dying left and right here.'"
The past 24 hours have seen U.S. warplanes and helicopter gunships pounding Mahdi positions. Fighting continues on the ground in various sectors of the city, and the consensus among U.S. military personnel is that the insurgency is weakening. The latter is due in large measure to an increase in solid intelligence, a more formidable Iraqi national military force, and positive developing relationships between U.S. forces and Iraqi civilians. Not good for al Sadr. "Two nights ago on a patrol from midnight to 3 A.M., we actually saw Iraqis sitting out on rugs watching and listening to the Coalition aircraft doing their work in the cemetery," 1st Lt. Jeremy T. Sellars — a platoon commander with Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment — told National Review Online on Saturday. "Despite the obvious level of destruction they were inflicting, I watched Iraqis cheer every time the aircraft fired."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/23/2004 12:07:27 PM ||
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#1
Jarines & Cav - Bringing new meaning to the term "Reduction in Force"...
"Despite the obvious level of destruction they were inflicting, I watched Iraqis cheer every time the aircraft fired."
Puff, Spectre, and Spooky are, indeed, an inspiring sight and something other-worldly to behold, heh.
#4
eLarson - Link - "The AC-130H's call sign is "Spectre." The AC-130U's call sign is "Spooky. " The U-model is the third generation of C-130 gunships. All gunships evolutionized from the first operational gunship, the AC-47." Which was called Puff the Magic Dragon by some... Link
#6
Puff, Spectre, and Spooky are, indeed, an inspiring sight and something other-worldly to behold, heh.
I just luuuv that minigun. The thought of that little machine raining bullets onto the target makes me think of splintered tree trunks, pockmarked walls, and torn and shattered enemy flesh.
#11
Two nights ago on a patrol from midnight to 3 A.M., we actually saw Iraqis sitting out on rugs watching and listening to the Coalition aircraft doing their work in the cemetery," 1st Lt. Jeremy T. Sellars â a platoon commander with Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment â told National Review Online on Saturday. "Despite the obvious level of destruction they were inflicting, I watched Iraqis cheer every time the aircraft fired."
"fatima, the AC 130s are coming, make more hummus!!"
"make your own hummus this time Mahmud, i want to watch too"
#13
According to Suits, the vast majority of the Arabic-language news outlets in Iraq, "except Al Jazeera," are making the point that al Sadr is hiding behind the American respect for Shia Islam. Iraqis, now granted never-before-realized freedoms, are refusing to buy into the propaganda of the past.
"Asked if Iraqi national military forces and police are measuring up to their U.S. and British allies on the battlefield, Suits said, "I've been in combat with these guys over the last couple of days, and I was as wary as anyone else. I saw their performance in the first Gulf War, but they have since coalesced into an effective force. I'm not lying. I'm not propagandizing. I'm not delivering a message someone else said. I have confidence in them being on my left or my right. They will go forward. They will close with the enemy. They will fix him. And they will kill him. They do not retreat. They do not cower. They support each other. They drag their wounded out of the line of fire. And I have confidence that these guys will be able to defend their country because they are doing it now."
#17
Zen - Lol! I guess this is the product of one of those "when artists go bad" moments, heh. Gotta be a Larson Far Side toon about it somewhere...
Hey, General Lucky (Army of the Very Lucky) - you're an artist, right? Can you scope these out for inspiration and produce something apropos for RB? Something that embodies the fist-fight of the current logo, but updates it, gives it some uuumph! I think RB deserves something snazzy and fiesty - with the feel of Pirates! Yarrrr! Lol!
#20
Bwa-ha-ha! Great patches! I love the "Jane Fonda-Traitor" one! I can't find a matching "John Kerry-Traitor" patch, though...?
Posted by: Dar ||
08/23/2004 17:41 Comments ||
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#21
"I think theyâre saying âwait a minute, you told us that God was going to guide our bullets, but we havenât killed one American soldier in our area and we are dying left and right here.â"
The problem was they didn't ask him exactly where God was going to guide the bullets. Sometimes it is the little things that count...
#22
The only thing Sadr has on his side are a ho' lotta twinkies
Posted by: Comment Top ||
08/23/2004 19:07 Comments ||
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#23
How long before the Blackhat Mullahs decide he's done? Soone or later, he becomes a liability showing their weakness
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/23/2004 19:33 Comments ||
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#24
"It appears to me that in April and May we killed the best and brightest [of the Mahdi army]"
I'm not there, and he is, so I hate to quibble, but I don't believe Sad Sack's bunch ever had any "best" or "brightest."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/23/2004 22:45 Comments ||
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#25
Guys, I told you this was the best thing we could do: Discredit Tater by letting him leave his "troops" hung out to dry while he runs like a rat.
We will never change the minds of the fanatics, but the "regular Joes" (or should that be the "regular Habib's") in Iraq, this is causing Sadr to lose traction (and more importantly, funding).
Sooner or later the support will erode to where one of the senior clearics will issue a Fatwa against Sadr - if for no other reason than the little bastard has shown how he deals with rivals (he has them killed), and sooner or later he is going to be [literally] gunning for thier jobs as Ayatollah.
The Madhi Army composed of fanatics, gullible children, and increasingly drawn from released criminals: they let em loose from the jail to get them to join - why else do you think police stations are thier favorite targets?
As for "best and brightest" of the Madhi Army - considering the composition of their forces, I think thats setting the bar pretty low.
#26
Old Spook, German TV showed some of the people Sadr had brought as human shields into the "holy site"... they showed a woman, sick and over 80 who could barely walk out alone...
Sorry sights...but certainly no good for Sadr. Exposing him for what he is sounds like a good idea to me.
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