Phase Three?

The enemy is growing desperate.

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

After the first two conventional military victories in Afghanistan of November 2001 and this spring in Iraq, the recent bombings suggest that we are now entering a third phase: A desperate last-ditch war of attrition in which our enemies feel that bombing, suicide murdering, assassination, and general terrorism against Westerners the world over might still achieve what conventional military operations did not. Continue reading “Phase Three?”

The Awakening

We need a clean slate in the postbellum world.

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

What is a base? Is it something lke the facility in Saudi Arabia that enrages the local population, provides a rallying cry for unhinged Islamists, protects a medieval monarchy from an emerging consensual society in Iraq, and can’t be used fully in a time of war? Continue reading “The Awakening”

How We Collapse

The home front is more worrisome than the battlefield.

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

Democratic critics keep deconstructing federal reports about intelligence lapses that might have led to the tragedy of September 11. While they fault the administration — in some cases correctly — for an apparent lack of vigilance, they do not dare explore the real heart of the disaster. Continue reading “How We Collapse”

Our Summer of Discontent?

Looking for symptoms of defeat

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

The forces that win or lose wars are insidious, cumulative, and often hard to discern. Continue reading “Our Summer of Discontent?”

War Folklore

Don’t listen to the latest groupspeak.

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

Just as we migrate from Scott Peterson to Kobe Bryant and back to Jessica Lynch, so too did the snowy peaks of Afghanistan bow out to the sandstorm-induced pause in Iraq and that in turn to 16 words of the president’s speech. Continue reading “War Folklore”

The Corrections

Our rocky return to a much-needed balance in foreign policy.

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

The Greeks were fascinated with the need to adhere to the mean (to meson). The idea became commonplace that there was a sort of natural equilibrium in things that tended to pull events, emotions, and people themselves back to the center, away from both hubris and inaction. Continue reading “The Corrections”

War’s Bitter Laws

The rules of war existed long before we entered Iraq.

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

Here at the millennium, the conditions under which war must be waged by Western states appear to be like none other in the history of conflict. Continue reading “War’s Bitter Laws”

Old and in the Way

The American Street has sized up best the new paradoxes of foreign policy.

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

The events following 9/11 created an “empire” industry — millions of words written by pundits claiming that by intervening in Afghanistan and Iraq America was now a hegemon. Continue reading “Old and in the Way”

The Surreal World of Iraq

Let us thank our soldiers on this Independence Day.

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

That are we to make of the last four months? In 21 days at a cost of less than 200 fatalities, the United States military ended the 24-year reign of one of the most odious dictators in recent memory and freed their people. Continue reading “The Surreal World of Iraq”

Winning After All

Despair is not an option amid the present chaos.

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

For about ten weeks now, the headlines of our major newspapers blare out something like the following: “Iraq Attacks Hamper U.S. Reconstruction” or “Increasing Resistance to U.S. Efforts in Iraq. Continue reading “Winning After All”