One of the things we often forget about World War II is how little people like us really knew about what was going on. The D-Day landing took us all by surprise, for example. Oh sure, we knew it was coming, but we had no idea where it would be, how big it would be or how successful it would be. Why should we have? The Germans didn't know that stuff either.
It was a big, confusing mess. We've been spending the decades afterward figuring out what happened. It'll be the same way with this war. All we know is that a number of Americans died on this particular date. There's no way of telling whether this "shock and awe" strategy will work in the end because if it goes as planned, it's going to take a lot longer than a few days. In the meantime, we'll only be hearing about the number of deaths and what cities have been taken.
We all generally agree now that World War II turned out more or less the right way. I wonder if somebody back in the day would have come to the same conclusion looking at the flattened rubble that used to be cities and the enormous death count.
I don't know what this war will look like in the final analysis. Neither do you. We only know a few things. One is that the war is happening and that nothing will stop it. Another is that Saddam Hussein will be out of power one way or another. Instead of talking about justifications and past mistakes, I suggest that we start worrying about the future.
|