In his 1984 speech, Rumsfeld said terrorism cannot be eliminated, but it can
be made to function at a "low level" that will allow governments to
function. He repeated that thought at lunch and added that the United States
is somewhat at a disadvantage because the terrorists don't have a media that
challenges their policies, they have no hierarchy and they "get to lie every
day with no accountability." Speculating again about the future, Rumsfeld
said, "there will be no conventional wars in the near future and no way the
military can win or lose a war."
I asked him what he meant. He replied, "We're socialized into believing the
American military can go find somebody and kick the hell out of them, or
find a battleship to sink, or an air force to shoot down. You can't do that
in the 21st century."
Noting the length of the Cold War, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff - who was also at the luncheon - agreed the terrorists can
be deterred "if the American people will just give us the time."
Later that day, I spoke with Haley Barbour, Mississippi governor and former
Republican National Committee chairman, about the apparently slim GOP
prospects in the coming election. Noting how the polls show Iraq has hurt
Republicans, Barbour said, "The public gets tired of long wars."
That is precisely what Osama bin Laden and his bloody associates are
counting on. Their plan for victory is to exhaust the United States.
In 1984, Rumsfeld recalled Winston Churchill's lesson from World War II that
weakness invites aggression. And he warned, "Ours is a dangerous world, a
world in transition."
We have now transitioned from dangerous to even more dangerous. If we grow
weary in this battle, we can be sure our enemies won't flag. They are
prepared for a long war. We'd better be, for to be unprepared and to lack
resolve means the war will come anyway, but with greater intensity and with
more American (and European) casualties.