I will give credit to the president’s speech-writers for comparing
the current global war on terrorists to the great sacrifice of historical
meaning in World War II. Our struggle
against those who wish to change the face of Islam, harm countries that are
dependent on Middle East Oil, and try to demonstrate to the world that the
United States is a paper tiger must be similar in scope to the herculean
conflict waged against the Fascism and Militarism that threatened the world
more than half a century ago. We are in
a war of ideas, a war of sacrifice, and a war not of our choosing. How we fight this war will determine whether
or not future generations will look back and realize we were just in our cause,
right in our means, and honorable in our victory.
What draws the most distinct contrast between our current
war and the one referenced by our leadership is the lack of four key components
that, if incorporated into the conflict, will lead us to victory. First, we must know what we are fighting
for. Second, we must have a strategy to
achieve our war aims. Third, every
citizen must be a part of this war effort.
And, finally, we have to know what our measures of success will be. Without these four key criteria our battles
will expend untold resources, cost the lives of countless American and foreign
citizens, and yet we will never prevail.
We must know what we are fighting for. Since the attacks on September 11, 2001 we have been in a
war of ideas. The world woke up that day
to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East to
realize that as a community we cannot allow this region to continue to feed
hatred, intolerance, and injustice to the rest of the world, while holding it
hostage to energy resources. What this
means for our goals in the war effort are difficult to distill from these vague
notions of regional animosity, energy dependency, and religious fervor. As a first step in flushing out our objectives,
the leaders of countries willing to participate and sacrifice in this struggle
should come together and sign a charter outlining our war aims. Much like the Atlantic Charter signed between
President Roosevelt and Prime-Minister Churchill in 1942, an international
charter that outlines what we intend to achieve from our actions would be a
significant first step towards realizing victory.
We need a strategy.
Since this is a World War, those countries fighting it must agree on how
it will be conducted. So far there has
been little coordination of effort between the Columbian army fighting
narco-terrorists in the jungles of Latin America, the Philippine army
countering religious and political rebels on the southern islands of that
nation, US forces straining to hold the
status quo in Afghanistan and bring some sense of normalcy to Iraq, and Israeli
military units hunting suicide bombers in Palestine. These are all areas where the international
community has invested militarily and monetarily in operations it claims to be
part of the Global War on Terror.
Setting aside the particularities of each of these smaller conflicts and
whether they actually qualify as counter-terrorism operations, what we can all
see that is missing is a strategy that pulls our military, diplomatic,
economic, and cultural efforts abroad into a coherent whole to achieve our
political aims. Once our goals for this
war are chartered, it behooves all the nations participating to set a broad
strategic outline of how to achieve those goals. Again, until this is done our military
actions will continue flailing against what our political leaders point out is
an organized worldwide terrorist campaign.
We have to be at least as organized as the terrorist in order to defeat
them. As of yet, we are not.
Every citizen must be a part of this war. Since we are indeed in a World War, we must
act as if we are in a World War. As one
of the primary driving forces behind the animosity felt toward the US in the Middle East, our dependency on oil has to be reduced and
eventually eliminated. If we can
overcome what is so clearly a drug addiction for our nation then we will have
come a long way toward ending our reliance on other countries for our economic
future. An imperative of every American,
starting with our leadership, should be to advocate, institute, and abide by
oil reduction policies immediately. Our
nation must realize that as long as we drive our SUV’s, commute vast distances
to and from work, spend unrealistic amounts heating our oversized homes, and gorge
ourselves on our addiction to oil, we will continue to be beholden to those who
hate us. The extra size of our cars,
houses, and waistlines are not worth the cost of American civilians killed in
terrorist attacks or American soldiers who die to defend our right to have
these things.
We need measures of success.
During World War II we knew we won when the countries against whom we
were fighting signed surrender agreements that then led to peace treaties. We can never hope to see a surrender
agreement with Al-Queda, nor should we ever be willing to sign one. What we can use to decide that our war is
over really depends on our war goals set out in a charter of all nations who
will actively contribute to the war effort.
Our measures of success should be written into every document and
incorporated into our overarching strategy of how we will conduct this
war. We must have measurable markers by
which we can determine we have achieved our mission. Only at that point, when we really know that
our war is won, can our leadership, whoever it may be, unequivocally stand in
front of a banner declaring “Mission Accomplished.” Until that time, our mission will continue to
be ongoing and perilous.
World War II was fought by a generation of Americans we can
honor not just by providing them with memorials or inspiring speeches on
national holidays, but by continuing their struggle for the four freedoms so
eloquently spelled out by Franklin Roosevelt and drawn up by Norman
Rockwell: Freedom from Fear, Freedom
from Want, Freedom of Religion, and Freedom of Speech. These should be the guiding principles behind
which we endeavor to create a charter for our current war. As we honor those who sacrificed for us in
the past and prepare to fight our battles in the future, we must hold ourselves
true to what it means to be American and honor everyone who has paid the
ultimate price to bring us to where we are today. Yes, this war is much like World War II, so
let us treat it as such.
