In keeping with the theme of what the old folks remember

Arnold Ahlert has an opinion piece in the New York Post.  I agree with him.  I hadn't seen this when I wrote Remember Pearl Harbor, Remember 9/11 if I had I would have posted his column, he says and expands on the theme.

What Our Grandparents Knew

Dec. 7 and Sept. 11 are iconic American anniver saries. Both days represent our greatest failures to understand the true nature of evil. And while each day will be treated with a similar veneration reserved for national tragedies, there is one aspect that truly divides them: resolution.

The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. Four years later, they surrendered unconditionally. If one posits that the war against radical Islam began in 2001 (at least for us), we are in the midst of a nine-year-old conflict that shows no signs of resolution.

How is this possible? In terms of manpower and machinery, Japan was a far more formidable foe than the various umbrella groups that make up Islamic jihadism. Why are we having more trouble defeating them?

Because we've "sanitized" warfare. The same nation that detonated two atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki no longer believes in victory, if such victory requires too much "collateral damage," a k a civilian casualties.

Sounds enlightened, does it not? Who could possibly prefer relentless onslaught and destruction over "winning hearts and minds" and "nation-building?"

Yet consider how out of phase such thinking is. How do you win hearts and minds or nation-build before the enemy is defeated? How do you convince Afghans during the day to risk their lives siding with us, when the Taliban kills them at night -- because they still can?

How do you maintain the morale and well-being of American men and women in harm's way by purposefully prolonging war?

How many lives would be saved by military ruthlessness?

War is ostensibly a last-resort option. It's supposed to be something so dreadful that it should be avoided at all costs. Do Americans ever wonder how far Islamic jihadists would continue to go if their every provocation were met with an annihilating response? Our grandparents knew the answer to that question.

Dec. 7 is a day of remembrance. Sept. 11 is an open wound -- courtesy of Politically Correct Warfare.

atahlert@comcast.net