10/27/2004 10:04:21 PM|||Nathan Moore|||

Patton in Iraq and beyond, per VDH.


As far as encouraging allies to go along, again, Patton always talked more in terms of a fait accompli: The general's job is to create favorable conditions on the ground that his politicians can deal with from a position of strength, rather than vice versa - an American army that achieves victory will have more allies than it knows what to do with. Go to Berlin if Berlin is the problem. Confront the Soviets if the Soviets are the problem. Don't refuse to take Berlin and then try to negotiate with the Soviets over Berlin. Hesitancy does not earn advantage.

I especially like that last line, "Hesitancy does not earn advantage". This we learned as we dawdled in the United Nations for over a year before deposing Saddam Hussein. This whole flap about missing weapons stems from a hesitancy to act - if we hadn't give Hussein a 12 month warning of our intentions, things may have been different. The failed outcome of the diplomatic effort, at least from my perspective, seemed to be a foregone conclusion. Decisiveness earns advantage - even if you're wrong when you act, you then prospectively operate from a dynamic position, making others react to you. You control the flow of the events by being an active participant. And you craft those events by your own design when others know that you will act. Credible "talk", which is so favored by the chattering classes in America and the foolhardy elites in Europe, comes only from force.

If talk was all that mattered, every nation would be equal in importance and effect in global events. That is an uninformed conclusion - reality demands another analysis.

|||109893326146020712|||Good Read