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What were we expecting? Surprise! There's a War On.By Rick Horowitz
If you're the kind of person who enjoys being nervous, these are your glory days; there's enough unsettling news at home and abroad to make your twitchy little heart skip a beat every hour or two. You've got your latest anthrax outbreaks, your new terrorism alerts, your bombing errors, your discontented coalition partners, your -- You can write your own list. But for my money, one of the scariest bits over the past few days wasn't really even news. It was simply a comment, offered up in the course of a briefing by a man named John D. Stufflebeem. John D. Stufflebeem -- Rear Adm. John D. Stufflebeem to you -- is a senior official with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He's been one of the people putting out the word about our military operations in Afghanistan. And the word he put out the other day was "surprised." As in, "I am a bit surprised at how doggedly they're hanging on to their -- to power." Adm. Stufflebeem was talking about the Taliban. "Do you see the Taliban any differently now," a reporter had asked, "than you did before the campaign began?" "Well, that's a good question," the admiral said, and then he tried to answer it. "They are proven to be tough warriors," he said. "We're in an environment they, obviously, are experts in, and it is extremely harsh. I am a bit surprised at how doggedly they're hanging on to their -- to power; I think that's the way to put it. For Mullah Omar to not see the inevitability of what will happen surprises me." And for Adm. Stufflebeem to say what he said surprises me. Stuns me, actually. Let's stipulate, before we utter another syllable, that the admiral is a gentleman, a patriot and a man whose military expertise is vastly superior to that of the average syndicated columnist. (And even "vastlier" superior to mine.) And now that we've stipulated, let's get agitated. "Huh?" Or to put it in layman's terms, "Why in heaven's name is he surprised?" I mean, the Afghans have been fending off foreigners for centuries. Many of the people we're trying to hunt down today played hide-and-seek with the Soviet army for a decade. And despite all that, Adm. Stufflebeem is surprised that they haven't thrown in the towel after a few measly weeks? In the full sweep of Afghan history, that's not even a bathroom break. Let's be fair here: The admiral did go on to say that "we are prepared to take however long is required to bring the Taliban down" and that "we definitely need to have patience." But you still have to wonder: Does his "surprise" mirror the mindset of the Pentagon strategists and their civilian bosses when they first mapped out this campaign? Despite their constant reminders that "it's a marathon, not a sprint," did they really go into this thing expecting a quick and easy victory? And even if they did, is there really any benefit to announcing our poor judgment to the world? Aside, that is, from emboldening our enemies and dispiriting our friends -- and ourselves? Here are the names of some famous wars: "The Thirty Years' War." "The Hundred Years' War." Do you see a pattern here? (I know, I know: There was also something called "The Six-Day War" as recently as 1967. Have you noticed that they're still fighting that one?) Most wars last longer than most mini-series; we shouldn't expect it to be any different this time around. It's a war. There'll be mistakes along the way, and in a 24/7 news world, each mistake will be reported, repeated and magnified. There'll be setbacks, and when even the bad guys have uplinks, we'll see them far more quickly and far more vividly than we ever used to. It's a war. It'll take time, and it could be difficult. Nervous? Sure? Surprised? You shouldn't be. Posted 10/30/01.
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Rick Horowitz
