Somalia, The Next Afghanistan?

This is a seriously great piece, read this symposium from National Review Online.

excerpts:

The way it looks now, it’s al Qaeda (e.g., Al Ittihad al Islami), the Taliban (e.g., Islamic Courts Union) and a bunch of ruthless warlords—all in one poor, lawless state that might, just might, become the next Afghanistan.

Heck, if I were Osama, I’d pull up tent stakes right now and head for safe haven in the Horn of Africa. It’s better than living on the Pakistani frontier, or taking on American GIs in Iraq or Afghanistan.

And that’s exactly the point: Somalia might just become the location of the next Taliban-al Qaeda partnership. Something—that even while we figure out what to do next—we know is unacceptable.

and.....

Although few realized it at the time, the U.S. retreat from Somalia in 1994 was a seminal event in the evolution of al Qaeda. It proved to them that the “paper tiger,” America, could be beaten. This is not mere conjecture; al Qaeda’s own internal discourses trumpet this point. For example, U.S. forces in Afghanistan seized a collection of al Qaeda’s letters written to members of its “African corps” shortly after President Clinton ordered the withdrawal of American forces. The U.S. retreat from Somalia was seen as a “Muslim victory,” which had “profound implications ideologically, politically, and psychologically that will require lengthy studies.” It proved “the spurious nature of American power and that it has not recovered from the Vietnam complex.” Furthermore, Americans feared “getting bogged down in a real war that would reveal its psychological collapse at the level of personnel and leadership.”

and....

Here’s what too many of us find difficult to grasp: Wars you don’t win, you lose. If you don’t achieve victory, you suffer defeat. There are no other “exit strategies.” And when you are defeated, you will be perceived as weak. And weakness invites aggression.

In World War II, the United States refused to accept anything less than unconditional surrender from our enemies. Today, Japan and Germany are American allies.

The next war was in Korea. We accepted what we thought was a draw. The consequence: half a century later we are still menaced by North Korea, more so than ever.

The war in Vietnam we lost. And that gave encouragement to Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini a quarter century ago. He tested us, and found us wanting. Khomeini’s heirs continue to test us and soon may do so with a combination of terrorism and nuclear devices.

A militant Islamist government in Somalia, giving refuge to terrorists, should be seen as unacceptable. Already, there are reports that three al Qaeda leaders indicted in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania are being sheltered by Mogadishu’s new rulers.

Both those terrorists and those who harbor them are our enemies. We will either defeat them or they will defeat us. There is no other option.

When will the liberals and see this? It is so apparent that the left is unable to distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil, which boils down to Islam, the MSM, the secular left waging a war against Judeo-Christian values.