(Jerusalem Post) Edward Bernard Glick - Events in both Israel and Iraq prove that the winning-hearts-and-minds approach to ending wars and insurrections has the same success rate as getting rain by praying for it. Islam does not look kindly upon infidels who lose. So the issue confronting Israel and the U.S. is how they can defeat their foes. The Ba'athists and the jihadists will not stop fighting the Great Satan because they have been made to like, respect, or fear the U.S. They will stop fighting only when they are convinced that America's Vietnam trauma is over and that America is once again willing and able to use crushing force. And Israel, the Little Satan, will prevail over its existential enemies only when it realizes that in order to survive it must fight by the rules of the neighborhood in which it lives. In short, America's and Israel's struggles will end favorably only if they follow Churchill's dictum: "Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival." The writer is professor emeritus of political science at Temple University.
2004-08-04 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive