Patriotism/War

The article linked to above was written 3 days after Sept. 11, 2001. The gist is that Americans need to be committed to supporting the War on Terror, because if we dismiss the terrorists, they will win. They are extremely committed to destroying America, and they have lots of time to plan attacks. They will drag the fight out until they win if we fail to do anything (or, now that the war has started, continue the fight).

This war will be won or lost by the American citizens, not diplomats, politicians or soldiers. Let me briefly explain. In spite of what the media, and even our own government is telling us, this act was not committed by a group of mentally deranged fanatics. To dismiss them as such would be among the gravest of mistakes. This attack was committed by a ferocious, intelligent and dedicated adversary....

These men hate the United States with all of their being, and we must not underestimate the power of their moral commitment.

Aside from this, I found another point made in the article to be very interesting.

For the most part, our military is still in the process of redefining itself and is presided over by men and women who grew up with - and were promoted because they excelled in - Cold War doctrine, strategy and tactics. This will not be linear warfare, there will be no clear centers of gravity to strike with high technology weapons. Our vast technological edge will certainly be helpful, but it will not be decisive.

I am wondering how quickly our military has been able to adapt to the new fighting style (I know the process is not over, it's still happening). Obviously, Cold War tactics do not work against terrorist groups. The military is such a massive entity that it must be incredibly difficult to implement changes on a large scale.


In any case, "Just keep faith in America, and continue to support your President and military, and the outcome is certain. If we fail to do so, the outcome is equally certain."

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Word of the Day: Moil