This war in Afghanistan was the only reasonable response to 9-11. It is also true that people particularly Arabs respect winners and respond submissively to successful military power. Our success in Afghanistan will enhance our ability to control events in the Islamic world. However it should also be clear that had we stumbled in Afghanistan then the anti-American / pro-ObL demonstrations in Pakistan, Indonesia, etc. would probably have gotten out-of-hand. There was a very real scenario of a domino effect where religous zealotry could have taken over in Pakistan or Saudi Arabia with neighboring countries following suit. Our military is manned by skilled professionals. The leadership shown in both the Persian Gulf war and the current war has been outstanding. However history is filled with examples of two armies facing each other where one side was out-manned, out-gunned, out-generaled and on unfavorable ground but despite everything still won through blind luck. War should only be used as a tool of last resort. Should we stumble in front of the Arabs, et al, I believe they would jump on us like a herd of hyenas on a wounded lion. We need to keep our foreign policy as deterministic as possible and stay away from rolling dice.

Gary