Proportionate vs. Disproportionate Response
Posted on August 18, 2008
Filed Under War on Terror |
President Bush recently characterized Russia’s military incursion into South Ossetia as “disproportionate.” That got me thinking about this whole liberal idea on warfare: proportionality.
What is proportionate in warfare? You bomb one of our command and control facilities and we’ll bomb one of yours? Or you killed 2,000 of our citizens so we’re going to kill 2,000 of yours? Come on. War is not a game of tag.
Why don’t we look at what one of our greatest generals has to say about war:
War is simple, direct, and ruthless.
Those are the words of General George S. Patton. He’s exactly right. War isn’t neat, tidy, and proportionate–at least not if you want to survive and a send a message to the enemy.
I bring this up not because I support Russia’s aggression (anyone who has read this blog consistently should know that I have been warning about the dangers of Russia), but because I believe that Bush’s use of the term “disproportionate” response illuminates why we’re losing the War on Terror.
We have fought this war liberally and with a proportionate response mentality. This is precisely why we’re still in Iraq and al-Qaeda is regrouping in Pakistan. It’s also why Iran is defying the West at every turn.
Until our politicians posses the bravery of our servicemen and women, we’re going to be more concerned about offending the enemy and the World than we we are about not just defeating the enemy, but obliterating it.
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