“Day by day, fix your eyes upon the greatness of Athens, until you become filled with the love of her; and when you are impressed by the spectacle of her glory, reflect that this empire has been acquired by men who knew their duty and had the courage to do it.” - Thucydides, The Funeral Speech for Pericles

Well, look what happened…sitting in my hooch in the Panamanian jungle, I never would have thought that this former NCO and Officer would someday be here with the likes of Jed and Hugh debating the most important topic of our day.

I agree with a lot of what both Hugh and Jed offer up to you all.  And some of it, I disagree with.

Before the start of the war in Iraq, and often in interviews and on Blackfive, I’ve stated that I thought we needed to activate the entire force (Guard, Reserves, IRR, and retirees as needed) for the duration of the war, plus six months.

That kind of go-to-war mentality was what we used during WWII.  This threat to our freedom – heck, the WORLD’S freedom – is no different.

While Hugh is correct in that not much will come from criticizing the President at this point in his tenure, I believe that it’s important to point out that the administration has wasted the opportunity to get our country on a war footing time and time again.  If it’s too late for President Bush to get that message, maybe the next President will get it…

Next, Jed is absolutely correct in that we must take on the nations that sponsor terror.  This doesn’t mean invasion, or even a military solution, but it does mean that there must be a price extracted from those behind terror – and that price must be so absolutely dear that they either foreswear terror or are replaced by those who will.  We can influence them in other ways, too.

Pro ejemplo, we could send China a telegram:

Hi, China. STOP

It’s been awhile.  STOP

Hey, last time I was in Bejing I noticed a lot of Audi A6s.  STOP

We would like Iran to end activities with regards to Iraq.  STOP

We know that you have an interest in Iran.  STOP

Because, um, we’re about to drop a nuke on the Iranian oil fields.  STOP

Just thought you should know.  STOP

Hope the wife and kids are good. STOP

Don’t be a stranger.  STOP

That process must be combined with a strategy in order to defeat the radical Islamic ideology.  We might have been able to argue about our superiority to Soviet-style Communism, but we beat them economically, not militarily (at least, not by force).  In many cases, I’m not sure that we can break the hold of radical Islam without some serious nation building efforts. 

Of course, I think each sponsor of terror will have to be handled differently. Economics will play better in some areas than others.  We dropped the ball economically in Iraq.  When farmer Omar makes more from a market or a subsidy than he does from AQ for planting an IED, we’ll make progress.

Victory to me will be the defeat of the sponsors of terror.

While there will be some states throughout our future that will find a way to sponsor terror, they will be severely diminished to the point where our children won’t grow up fearing it.

Of course, we can't really begin to proceed to a real victory until, like our soldiers,  the majority of our politicians know their duty and have the courage to do it.