Monday, July 28, 2008 <http://theneinblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/american-leadership-at-risk.html> American Leadership at Risk <http://bp0.blogger.com/_Qz101zzXO8E/SI3cDiHH8hI/AAAAAAAAAHE/AOH32_EHvIU/s16 00-h/A+World+without+US.bmp> 28 JULY 2008: In the current issue of Parameters, the U.S. Army War College Quarterly, an article appears from Secretary of Defense Robert Gates entitled " <http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/08summer/gates.htm> Reflections in Leadership". According to Parameters the article is based upon remarks made by SECDEF Gates at the U.S. Military Academy (West Point) on 21 April 2008. Much is being made of a specific idea within the text of Gates' "Reflections" article and it revolves around Iran and the potential for preemptive strikes against Irainian nuclear ambitions by the US, Israel other NATO allies. In setting up the preconditions and quasi-doctrinal basis for a potential strike, SECDEF Gates informs us of the lessons imparted upon America's greatest WWII and Cold War generals, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and General George Marshall. Their "tutor and mentor" was the largely unheralded General Fox Conner, who Marshall knew from his WWI staff assignment with General "Black Jack" Pershing, and Eisenhower knew from his 1920s staff position under General Conner in the Panama Canal Zone. Conner's Axiom's The three basic axioms of how a democracy should wage war are as follows: * Never fight unless you have to. * Never fight alone. * Never fight for long. Within this context emanates the crux of SECDEF Gates' statement: "All things being equal, these principles are pretty straightforward and strategically sound. We have heard variants of them in the decades since, captured perhaps most recently in the Powell Doctrine. Of course, all things are not equal, particularly considering the range and complexity of the threats facing America today, from the wars we are currently in to the conflicts we are most likely to fight. So I would like to suggest how we should think about applying Fox Conner's three axioms to the security challenges of the twenty-first century." Gates' continued... "Conner's axiom-never fight unless you have to-looms over policy discussions today regarding rogue nations like Iran that support terrorism; that is a destabilizing force throughout the Middle East and Southwest Asia and, in my judgment, is hell-bent on acquiring nuclear weapons. Another war in the Middle East is the last thing we need. In fact, I believe it would be disastrous on a number of levels. The military option must be kept on the table, given the destabilizing policies of the regime and the risks inherent in a future Iranian nuclear threat, either directly or through nuclear proliferation." It is SECDEF Gates' two sentences following the bold emphasis above that is the darling of the liberal media this morning, as well as one that I do not currently understand within all of the context that SECDEF provided before it. Again for emphasis, "Another war in the Middle East is the last thing we need. In fact, I believe it would be disastrous on a number of levels." How is a preemptive strike and potential war with Iran "another war" in the Middle East? The war we are now fighting, sans any coherent threat model or comprehensive warfighting doctrinal template, is versus the Sunni Islamists of Al Qaeda and all their ideological brethren world-wide, including 5th columnists within this country and our allies countries. This enemy is being supported not-quite-so-clandestinely by the Islamic Republic of Iran and is responsible for the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of U.S., Iraqi, Afghan and Coalition troops. Mister Secretary, you know this in expotentially far greater detail than I do. The Ayatollah, his Shi'ite mullahs, his sock-puppet President Ahamdi-Nejad, his Revolutionary Guard Corps, Qods Force, Heabollah and local Basiji all have similar if not identical goals coordinated and based upon their religious doctrine, namely the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization, the destruction of Israel, and the imposition of a g lobal Islamist Caliphate. They intend to achieve these goals with the weapons they are currently building - unless we stop them. Another war? No sir, Mister Secretary, I beg to differ. This is all the same mis-nomeclatured "Global War On Terror" that is being fought. And there is no more urgent necessity to fight Iran than to halt their "hell bent" acquisition of nuclear weaponry for the sake of our Constitutional Republic and the democracies of our allies around the world. What "Reflections in Leadership" will exist in the near future if the United States of America fails to lead the world in preventing this new Hilter and Nazi war machine of our time from possessing nuclear weapons? I suspect Winston Chruchill and Ronald Reagan might have an additional message or two in support of the axioms you cite from General Conner. Sean Associate Director Northeast Intelligence Network http://www.homelandsecurityus.com -- non sibi, sed patriae [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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