The War is NOT over

Madison Wisconsin is known to be a liberal town. So I asked a brother who lives in the area what people are talking about in town. The economy is just about everything in conversation. I asked about the war and the reply was that it was not even coming up. I am guessing that the view is that the war will be pretty much over after we leave Iraq.

This view would understand that by taking the U.S. military out of the direct fighting, the war would wind down to a much, much lower level. Play good defense, like during the Cold War. ‘Soft’ power would dominate and eventually help bring about reconciliation. Wars are won by bringing down the violence level. When we aren’t killing civilians, many people who are against our ‘occupation’ will become more moderate in their views of our position and us. Forgiveness and healing could begin. It will take a long time. For humanity’s sake, it is the best way. One of many problems that come to mind is that this view does not consider our enemy.

The first rule of warfare is "to know thy enemy". It only takes one side to start a war and only one side to keep a war going. The view that the war will wind down and eventually die off does not take into account who our enemy is and why they hate us. Our enemy hated us long before 9/11. Long before the invasion of Iraq. The issues that our enemy is fighting for and against us is every bit as important as slavery and loyalty to the state over the federal government that were two of the primary reasons for the U.S. Civil War. The point here that the reasons for warfare today are every bit as valid as both North and South in 1861. This is NOT going to go away. Our enemy will not allow it to.