No Surrender

Ask people who were alive in 1939 how they felt about Hitler. They will tell you he was such an awful man that there was no possibility of surrender under any circumstances. I submit the people of Afghanistan and Iraq feel the same way about the Americans. Surrender is unthinkable. Why would they feel this way?

If you live in the USA, you will probably disagree with some of the items on that list. But that is irrelevant when figuring out how much opposition to expect from the Afghans and Iraqis. People outside the USA have a much dimmer view of America’s behaviour than Americans have of themselves. What counts is what the Afghans and Iraqis think in determining how likely they are to surrender.

Hitler did some pretty nasty stuff, but his list is considerably shorter. No wonder the Afghans and Iraqis refuse to surrender! Further the victims of America’s invasions have been previously toughened by living under the domination of Saddam and the Russians. They have suffered far too much to give up now. As Napoléon said How many things apparently impossible have nevertheless been performed by resolute men who had no alternative but death.

~ Roedy (1948-02-04 age:70)