Michael Goodwin’s take on the current state of the War on Terror is a must read:
Last week’s headlines prove the point: North Korea fires missiles, Iran talks of nukes again, Iraq carnage continues, Israel invades Gaza, England observes one-year anniversary of subway bombing. And, oh, yes, the feds stop a plot to blow up tunnels under the Hudson River.World War III has begun.
It’s not perfectly clear when it started. Perhaps it was after the Berlin Wall fell and the Cold War ended. Perhaps it was the first bombing of the World Trade Center, in 1993.
What is clear is that this war has a long fuse and, while we are not in the full-scale combat phase that marked World Wars I and II, we seem to be heading there. The expanding hostilities mean it’s time to give this conflict a name, one that focuses the mind and clarifies the big picture.
The war on terror, or the war of terror, has tentacles that reach much of the globe. It is a world war.
While that’s not exactly news to people who follow the war closely this realization does seem to be gaining some ground. I’m not sure how long this uneasy holding pattern will last but I do believe than a significant expansion of hostilities, a full world war, is probably inevitable. Any number of events, in hot spots around the globe, could take us there virtually overnight. It’s still 1939 all over again.
July 9th, 2006 at 9:48 pm
New York terror plot is foiled, FBI says
WASHINGTON — The FBI in recent months foiled a terrorist plot to blow up transit tunnels leading in
July 9th, 2006 at 11:23 pm
Thanks for linking to the article. I’ve linked to you here: http://consul-at-arms.blogspot.com/2006/07/re-welcome-to-wwiii.html
July 10th, 2006 at 1:45 am
Excellent post. Full of fear, truth. The “what ifs” about WWIII are no longer so. They have become the “what now?”.
I believe it’s coming (WWIII).
July 11th, 2006 at 6:14 am
Michael Goodwin’s column was pretty good but it got two things decidedly wrong. First, this is not World War 3.
This is World War 4.
To prove that point, I would recommend Norman Podhoretz’s fine piece in Commentary in Sept. 2004: “World War IV: How It Started, What It Means, and Why We Have to Win.” http://www.commentarymagazine.com/podhoretz.htm
Is Bush out of ideas? I disagree with Goodwin on this point, too. In cases such as North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and – yes – Iraq, it’s not a matter of having a good idea or a bad idea. It’s a matter of choosing among options that are all bad, in one way or another.
Say what you will about Bush, he at least knows who he is and what he believes in. He calls evil by its right name. That’s imperative in a world that looks a lot like 1938 AND 1984.
July 11th, 2006 at 6:20 pm
Dear Sir,
I my opinion i think that the WWIII has begun on 11 september. I am agree with the following hypothese: The third world an specilly the radical muslims wants to stop the development of the first world using terrorist and indiscrimitated attacks against the countries where the religion is different or worse, against the countries tahat have troops on Irak, Afganistan or Chechenia.On the other hand we have a pontetial danger with the nuclear weapons developement in Iran and the fires of missiles in North Korea.
July 12th, 2006 at 9:42 am
Dear Joaquim Yaniz Lascurain:
There no proofs that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, and is a more potential danger the 10000 nuclear weapons that have US or Russia.
Muslim terrorist attack US because it’s symbol of capitalism, because at the 70-80’s they created Bin Laden to fight russians, and give 3 million dollar to him every year till 2001. So US invades Afganistan to make a pipe line. Then invade Iraq to controle Iraqi petrol. And they want to invade Iran. It’s normal that terrorist, or people don’t want foreign troops in your country, what you do if a foreign country invades your country, destroy buildings, kill yours parents? Nothing?
July 22nd, 2006 at 3:50 am
GWOT… Milked?
ThePeacockReport.com, July 20, 2006
War is a racket, as the title of USMC Major General Smedley Butler’s historic antiwar treatise proclaimed decades ago. Similarly, a close look at how U.S. Commerce Department efforts to steer contracts to U.S.-based firms to rebuild of Afghanistan’s Kandahar Airport is but one indicator that the racket of war — embodied in the so-called Global War on Terror (GWOT) — continues in full force.
To read the full text of this commentary, visit ThePeacockReport.com.