One hundred sixteen years is a long time to fight a war. But England and France did it from 1337 until 1453, misnamed in history as the ‘Hundred Years War’. It’s a pretty good bet that the citizens of those two countries were awfully tired of fighting by the time there was a cessation of hostilities and peace was eventually declared.
For all intents and purposes the war ended after the Battle of Castillon in 1453. However, the war technically lasted for another 20 years though no more major battles were fought. Eventually England withdrew, much more concerned about troubles at home than they were about the troublesome French.
By comparison, U.S. forces have been fighting in Afghanistan from 2001 until the present day, 14 years and counting. With American soldiers still engaged in an effort to defeat the fundamentalist and brutal Taliban and bring stability to that Southwest Asian nation.
We spent another eight years from 2003 until 2011 with our soldiers fighting and dying in Iraq, trying to rebuild that nation following our invasion to oust the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Eight years fighting a difficult and challenging insurgency responsible for the deaths of over 4,000 American service people.
Vowing to end the war in Iraq during his first campaign for the White House, Barack Obama unceremoniously withdrew all combat forces from Iraq in 2011. Abandoning the Iraqi people to the ISIS savages who are committing horrendous atrocities and depredations against Iraqi Christians, and who are also terrorizing Muslims who aren’t quite Muslim enough to suit the ISIS leadership.
American Special Operations Forces have also been engaged in other shorter term combat operations at a number of other ‘hot spot’ locations around the world, and Special Operators most likely will again be called upon to engage our enemies whenever the need arises.
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I can vividly recall former President George W. Bush standing on a pile of smoldering rubble in New York City back in 2001, telling us at the time that we were engaged in a war unlike any other war we have fought in our nation’s history. He also told us that our enemy was committed to our defeat, and willing to do anything to wreak havoc and destruction on America.
When Barack Obama embarked on his ‘apology tour’ apparently the thought within his inner circle was that once he groveled before the world on behalf of all Americans, our enemies would beat their weapons into plowshares and then the president could devote all of his attentions towards his domestic agenda. His “fundamental transformation” of the United States of America.
Unfortunately for the Obama Administration, reality has a tendency to kick one right in the teeth at times, and Russian leader Vladimir Putin assessed that Barack Obama was weak and uncommitted to defending America and our allies, nor willing to fully support our historical alliances. With that in mind Putin decided the time was ripe to begin his efforts to rebuild the Russian empire, and to rub a little American nose in the dirt while doing it.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, at war with the United States since 1979, also received the same message from Barack Obama and has since doubled their efforts to achieve a nuclear weapon, and to further their support of terrorism around the world. Continuing their goal of achieving the complete destruction of Israel as well as the United States.
Sadly for Americans our enemies aren’t going to go away simply based on the power of the Obama personality, as he had hoped. As much as the president might wish away our enemies, lessons from history have shown that weakness only begets aggression. The world has become a much more dangerous place because of America’s abdication of our leadership role.
Certainly no one wants to see America in a continual state of war, endlessly losing our sons and daughters on foreign soil. But Americans need to understand that the choice for war was forced upon the United States by our enemies. It was their choice to attack us, and they have never wavered from their goal of eventually defeating and subjugating America to their will.
We have but two choices in response. One taking a path towards appeasement and surrender, sadly one we appear to have embarked upon under the presidency of Barack Obama.
Or showing the strength and leadership America has always exhibited, which God willing will be displayed once again after Barack Obama leaves office in 2017.
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