When the Chinese are caught selling defective or unhealthy products to the US, their spokespeople invariably allege that the Americans, "Have a Cold War mentality."
The same charge is made when their military or intelligence agencies are caught with spying hands in our electronic cookie jars.
At the same time, American academics and others of a similar ilk churn out gobs of verbiage alleging that the blame for the Cold War rests squarely and solely on Uncle Sam's shoulders. The same Blame America First bunch stridently maintains that all the unpleasant features of the Cold War including the arms race and the hot wars of Korea and Vietnam were made in America along with the undeniably domestic product known as McCarthyism.
The Geek wants to know, "What's wrong with the Cold War mentality?"
The simple truth remains that we, the US and its allies, won the Cold War. We're still here. The Soviet Union is one with Nineveh and Tyre.
Leaving aside the resurgence of Russia which has been facilitated by the inept and relentlessly non-realpolitik policies of the neo-con ninnies in the current administration (as detailed in a previous post), the Geek would like to get to his main point.
Six years ago today, the Geek and Geekess were still in bed as the first reports of the events of 9/11 came over the radio. (We live too far out in the mountains for television and were spared the flood of images to which most Americans were immediately exposed.)
The Geek's gut clenched. He felt an instant, bottomless void in the pit of his stomach. The stunning words on the radio meant much more than a deadly event, an act of war--they meant the world had been changed in a few split seconds in a new and unpredictable direction.
He turned to the Geekess and said, "Our world will never be the same again."
As the words of tragedy and heroism flowed by his ears almost unheard, the Geek reached to the archives of his mind searching for analogies. Two came almost at once.
The first was the most obvious. Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941. Peace shattered over the radio. Shockwaves running through the American public. War declared. War waged. Long, bloody battles. Savage combat in remote hells. Victory.
9/11 like 12/7 would be a "day that shall live in infamy." Of that the Geek had no doubt. But what about the rest of the sequel? What of war declared, war waged, battle long and bloody? What of victory?
The Geek was certain that the US would make a military response. He even compiled a target list. Two actually. One of show targets and the other of substance targets. Only one country headed both lists: Afghanistan. (For the sake of historical completeness, Iraq didn't show up on either of the lists. The Geek confesses that the neo-con nuts know-nothings got him there.)
Expecting a several month lead time as regional "allies" were recruited (read "bribed" or "coerced" or "cozened") and ground forces deployed, the Geek was shocked by the speed of the operation but not awed by the low number of troops committed to the invasion of Afghanistan and the search for bin Laden and the rest of the al-Qaeda crew.
The Geek will skip his reaction to the follow-on invasion of Iraq. Instead he will look at the second message from history that came to him a few hours after the Twin Towers fell.
The Berlin Airlift.
The what?
You read it right, bucko, the Berlin Airlift.
In microcosm, the Berlin Airlift represents the Cold War. In roughly eighteen months the US in conjunction with the UK and France demonstrated political will, civic resolve, military competence, and strategic imagination. Without a single bomb falling, without a single tank rolling, and at low cost in lives, the Americans and their partners drew a line in the sand and with a combination of presence, persistence, and patience gave the Kremlin no choice except backing down.
As the brilliant diplomat and historian, George Kennan, advised in his famed "Long Telegram," all the US and its allies needed to do was draw a line with firmness and resolve and contain the Soviet Union until the in-built inefficiencies, injustices, and inconsistencies of Marxism-Leninism drained the faith and political will of the Communists. That is precisely what we did with the Berlin Airlift.
It's what we did in Korea. We drew the line and held it at Pusan. We drew the line and held it at Pork Chop Hill. We did not win in Korea. More importantly--we did not lose.
Did you get that Senator Clinton? How about you, Senator Obama? And you, ex-senator Edwards? If not, here it is again. We did not lose.
By not losing in Korea the US kept open the chance of ultimately winning if enough patience and persistence could be employed. We the People found the necessary strength, resolve, and dedication to keep on keeping on, year after frustrating year. Decade after indecisive decade. We kept on keeping on even through our blunders and losses such as in Vietnam.
Just as the men flying in the Berlin Airlift kept the planes coming despite fog, through rain, over the burning wrecks of the aircraft that didn't make it, we kept on keeping on.
That's why we're here. And the Soviet Union isn't.
That's the Cold War mentality in action.
The current administration made a critical mistake right off the mark nearly six years ago. The neo-con wolf pack opted for the wrong lesson of history. They remembered the "day of infamy" and forgot the Cold War.
Ironic isn't it?
The neo-con crew should have had the right mindset to remember who won the Cold War. They should have been equipped to put the lessons of that victory at work against the new enemy. They didn't. Instead they seemed to feel the decks of battleships quiver with bomb bursts under their feet.
They ached to strike back. They wanted to destroy the enemy. They seemed to feel Osama bin Laden's throat between their teeth.
The current administration did not contain statesmen. It did not contain strategists. No. It contained a bunch of comic book junkies who had read too many "Sergeant Rock of Easy Company" and not enough history.
Get a grip on this. Not only did the current administration not remember how the Cold War was won. They didn't even know who the real enemy was.
The real enemy is not terrorism qua terrorism. Not at all. The real enemy is and was the Islamist ideology and those who practice it.
The Cold War demonstrates that hostility prevails across a wide spectrum. It ranges from shooting and bombing to espionage and subversion to the recruitment of apologists and others of the sort Lenin bluntly termed, "Useful fools." Terrorism is just one tactic to be used by an enemy.
To wage war against a tactic is foolish. Foolishness is a great way to lose.
The Islamist ideology like that of Marxism-Leninism is directed at the accomplishment of a range of political, economic, social, and cultural goals. The Islamist ideology springs from a specific reading of a single religious creed. Marxism-Leninism might have been rigorously secular with only disparaging references to the presumed deity, but it also was based on a specific reading of history.
The Islamist might believe he has Allah on his side. The Marxist-Leninist believed he had history on his. Islamism and Marxism are rigidly teleological. They are both goal oriented. Believers in either are convinced that the ends justify any means.
The Cold War mentality combines resolve, patience, persistence, and firmness. It is oriented to the defensive. At the same time, it acknowledges that a successful defense can be as good as an offense. By keeping on keeping on, the opposition is forever challenged wherever he turns.
The enemy is countered regardless of the tactic he uses. He is hemmed in. He is allowed, no, encouraged to stew away in his own juices of hatred and frustration.
A good defense over time assures that the inefficiencies, injustices, inequities of the enemy's ideology, his system of government, his economic structures, his need for unending repression of his own people will breed dry rot and decay. Ultimately, he will fall without invasion, without bombing, without even the slightest pressure.
The current administration forgot our history. Congress might do so as well. It's up to We the People.
Can we find it in us to keep on keeping on? Regardless of failure, regardless of folly, can we draw a line in the sand and maintain it for decades?
Perhaps.
If we get a Cold War mentality.
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