Wednesday, September 26, 2001
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Wednesday, September 26, 2001 |
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We need to be br'er Rabbit, not br'er Bear By DAVE HAMRICK I'm glad President Bush is talking tough. I'm even glad he's talking tough with a calm, soft voice. While he's talking softly, though, I hope he's carrying the proverbial big stick. He is? Are you sure? Think about it. For eight years we've been complaining about the dismantling of our military by one William Jefferson Clinton. Did we wake up yesterday with a Republican president and suddenly everything's OK? We're in the middle of a thorough review of our condition, our mission and strategy, remember? Bush didn't stroll into the White House and pull a lever that started money flowing into the military. That was to come later. But later came sooner, didn't it. Suddenly we have a mission that's crystal clear. We have to go into several hostile nations and root out entrenched terrorists who can vanish like roaches when you turn on the kitchen light. (I don't mind telling you, all the talk by pundits about what our strategy must be makes me very nervous. I can just see bin Laden's lieutenants watching CNN and taking notes.) So we have a clear mission. Do we also have a strategy? I certainly pray that there's more behind the president's promise that "the outcome is certain" than the mere belief that we're the strongest nation on earth. Yes, we are the strongest nation on earth. We also have the most courageous, most dedicated, most competent people in the world manning our guns. But this war requires something more than strength ... more than courage and dedication, too ... it requires cunning. From what I've read of Osama bin Laden and his followers, an all-out military commitment by the U.S. in the Middle East is exactly what they were hoping for. If they knew Uncle Remus, they would be congratulating themselves on having captured br'er Bear's attention, and would be mocking us with cries of: "Please don't throw us in that briar patch." We're going to have to figure out how not to be br'er Bear. We've got to outsmart a very smart foe. And it would be nice if we could do it without making enemies of our friends, or of the fence-sitters in the region. And I believe we have to do it without unnecessarily harming innocent people. And in fact if we're smart enough, we even have the opportunity to do it while increasing our influence in the region, possibly even worldwide. Wouldn't that be something? Those of you who are praying, please pray for that. One of the things that has happened in recent years is that seasoned veterans have left our armed services by the thousands, and one of the raps on the previous administration was that our forces were stretched so thin because of the number of missions they were asked to perform that there was little time for training. So while you're praying, pray that the people asked to carry out this mission will be the ones with the experience, the training and the cunning to pull it off. There is no rehearsal. We have one chance to do this right.
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