Nothing Less Than Victory

Last night I finished reading John David Lewis's excellent book Nothing Less Than Victory. I posted the following review at amazon:

John David Lewis takes the reader through the important steps of six separate wars in ancient and modern times ranging from the Greeks and Romans to the U.S. Civil War and World War II. In each case he illustrates in detail the importance of moral ideas as the necessary motivating factors in a decisive defeat of an enemy. Only a consistent, principled commitment to the rightness of one's cause and therefore a willingness to take the fight to the "center of gravity" of the enemy will result in the enemy's permanent surrender. The rightness of one's cause should not be arbitrary but be based on a rational, fact-based recognition of the moral superiority of one's civilization. Highly recommended!

One hopes that today and tomorrow's policy makers will read this book as well as Elan Journo's Winning the Unwinnable War: America's Self-Crippled Response to Islamic Totalitarianism.

A question on killing civilians in war

Someone identified as "Curious" has posted a comment asking for my comment on an article by Justin Raimondo which is entitled "The Objectivist Death Cult". I'm afraid the limits of my tolerance do not extend to analyzing articles that refer to Objectivists as a "cult," never mind a "death cult."

However, I realize the specific issue that he asks about is not obvious. I recommend you take a look at the Morality of War section at the Ayn Rand Institute which has a wealth of analysis and explanation. I also highly recommend Elan Journo's new book Winning the Unwinnable War.

Let me add that I also struggled with this issue immediately after 9/11. When I first heard Peikoff speak on O'Reilly, I was not at all convinced he was right. Frankly, perhaps I had gotten too used to the way war is portrayed in movies with the good guys always taking care not to harm any civilians. However, I became more and more convinced that Peikoff was right as I watched how we fought both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and how both efforts were severely hampered by an excessive regard for the enemy nation. It also helps to remember the details of how World War II was fought and won. The point is the primary consideration ought to be what is necessary to achieve quick and complete victory (which would also require a much more exact identification of the enemy to be defeated). Crucially this means crushing the will of the enemy to fight.

Morally, when a nation goes to war, it should value the lives of its citizens, including its soldiers, above the lives of the enemy civilians, and of course soldiers. War is a collective endeavor -- nations go to war and each side must treat the other as the enemy until hostilities cease or one side wins. To the extent that the enemy population is opposed to the enemy regime, then of course, the rebels (assuming not also directly hostile to us) should be encouraged and it would be counterproductive to attack forces that are potentially allied with us. However, to the extent that the population is united behind the regime or neutral or opposed to us as well then their deaths may be necessary to destroy our enemies and thus win the war.

Unfortunately, all wars result in truly innocent persons such as children getting killed. The moral blame lies with the initiator of force and those who made him possible. The nation engaged in defense ought to fight to defeat the enemy as quickly and as convincingly as possible so that there is no mistaking who is the victor. Only then can the killing stop and the rebuilding begin.

Lewis on Codevilla's War

Historian John David Lewis has released an excellent review of the second edition of War: Ends and Means by Angelo Codevilla and the late Paul Seabury in the Michigan War Studies Review. I had read the first edition many years ago and enjoyed it -- it lays out some important truths in this difficult topic, truths that even most of today's intellectuals, both left and right, do not get. Here's the first paragraph of Dr. Lewis's review:

Angelo Codevilla and Paul Seabury are clear about their purpose: "This book was written to open contemporary minds to the essential truths of war, lest those truths intrude of their own accord" (1). Americans, residents of the "magic kingdom," know little of war because it little impacts their lives. After 9/11, "The inhabitants knew enough to be frightened, but not enough to understand." This new edition of the 1989 original has been edited by Codevilla (Seabury died in 1991) and updated with an expanded treatment of "victory," as well as new chapters on "Indirect Warfare and Terror," post-Cold War conflicts, and the two wars in Iraq. The book is a valuable and comprehensive primer on basic issues in warfare for its targeted non-professional readers. The writing is lucid, without jargon, and can be read in sections. At every step, War offers multiple examples to support its conclusions, while foregrounding questions that free people must understand.

State of the War

A useful survey of the condition of the various war theaters, written by noted journalist Bill Roggio, can be found here. The survey begins with this paragraph:

The US and her allies in Europe, the Middle East, and beyond have witnessed both stunning successes and dramatic setbacks in the Long War during 2007. Pakistan has continued its slide towards a failed state, with the government having relinquished control over additional territory to the Taliban and, thus, al Qaeda. Suicide bombings and attacks on all segments of the state plagued Pakistan as the Taliban and al Qaeda cemented their new safe havens. Iraq, which seemed all but lost at the end of 2006 as the US appeared to lose the all-important political will, has turned around with the change in counterinsurgency plan and the surge of troops US and Iraqi troops. Al Qaeda and the Iranian-backed Shia terrorists are losing ground and local support in Iraq. Afghanistan has seen its worst year of violence since the Taliban was defeated in late 2001; suicide bombings and IED attacks skyrocketed due to the problems in Pakistan.

Read the whole thing; it's quite instructive. I'm still of the opinion that if we had taken this conflict a lot more seriously to begin with, along the lines described by John David Lewis here, we would have wrapped it up a long time ago.