It was Vince Lombardi who famously intoned that “winning is not everything, it’s the only thing.” And he was just talking about football! Of course, more and more all the time we learn of the excesses that have accompanied that kind of zealotry in the world of sports, and even the great Lombardi is known to have been pretty cagey with the rules on occasion in pursuit of “the only thing,” but it’s not football that’s on my mind today, it’s war.
There is an inexplicable proclivity on the part of liberals to want some kind of “timeline”—I guess to make them feel better in their tummies—whenever it becomes necessary for us to take up arms in the defense of allies or our own interest.
Gary Varvel’s wonderful cartoon, penned during the first days of the last Gulf War wherein he depicts President Bush driving a military jeep full of squawking reports who are jostling around in the back seat is instructive. He looks frustrated as the numerous whiners are demanding ARE WE THERE YET—ARE WE THEIR YET—ARE WE THERE YET?!?! And I think that was about day three. And even though the vast majority of Democrats in both houses of the Congress had just voted in support of the offensive that would in a couple days take Baghdad, it wasn’t a month before they were all clamoring for the President and the Pentagon to identify a date certain by which we would be pulling out of Iraq. Really, no joke, less than a month.
Eventually Bush, at least partially, capitulated and provided some target dates, while the scholars in the Congress and the media (Brian Williams was not among them, being himself engaged in evading death at the hands of the enemy on the ground in that war zone—oh wait—oops, lost my head) never would get the point. Announcing to the world that on “x” date you will pull out, sends word not just to the world but also to the enemy. Can’t you just hear the conversation in the enemy tents in and around Iraq?: “Ok, they pull out in 5 months. Cool, let’s pull back, save ammo, recruit some more barbarians to the cause, then as soon as they’re gone, we come back and finish the job.”
Or almost as stupid as declaring the date or dates upon which we will tuck tail is the insistence of the present administration on telling the evil bastards of ISIS all the things we most certainly won’t do to them and all the weapons we most certainly will not employ against them. No boots on the ground, no strategic bombers, no nukes, and clearly never anything like a real invasion. If you’re the enemy, you go “Whew, that’s a relief!” And off you go in further gleeful bloody pursuit of mayhem. Beheadings, burying children alive, and burning folks alive as well.
It would be like having one coach in the Super Bowl holding a press conference to advise all that there would certainly be no reverses, no flee flickers, and absolutely no blitzing all through the game. Imagine Bill Belichick with that advantage. Hell, he wouldn’t have to cheat—even just a little with the balls! But that’s what the Leftist/pacifist/anti-military/America-hating administrations and their palace guard media insist on. President Obama has done all of that, to include announcing a pullout from Afghanistan, one from Iraq, and a cosmic anticipatory capitulation in the Middle East regarding all the things we would not do to take out the bad guys. As for the pullouts, as soon as it was announced, our casualties began to mount, especially after a significant portion of the forces in place were removed, leaving the rest in exposed peril. In his haste to demonstrate his incompetency but in furtherance of his total misunderstanding of the enemy, he let those horrific and murderous goons in ISIS know just how little the United States would do to resist them.
It’s pretty simple; as in football, you never let the opposition know your game plan, your tools, or your tactics. In war, if I’m calling the shots—I know, pretty scary, huh?—Here’s the deal: “nothing is off the table, pal—no weapons, no strategies, and no tactics. Worry about everything, because if it means turning you all into glass dust, we just might. We may invade in multi-division force, may limber up the B-52s, and there is no end to the ways in which we may enlist the help of those around you. All bets off Hagii, all options open, Ali, bend over and kiss your center of gravity goodbye.”
Don’t you see, they have to fear us, wonder just how crazy we may be, and just how much of our super-human power we might decide to use on the enemy. Surrender or we will kill you all. That’s why they call it war.