Historical Perspective

Robert Kagan uses a baseball analogy to make a very important point about the Iraq war.

And so for the past few months it has become common wisdom that the war in Iraq is lost, based on what any historian will tell you is far too little evidence to make such a final judgment. Not only that, but the entire approach to foreign policy that has been called the "Bush doctrine" is, therefore, finished.

This is a point that Victor Hanson has previously made - namely, that the people reporting on this war, and making judgments about its success completely lack a historical perspective. It doesn't take much in terms of knowledge to become a journalist, and most seem to lack a knowledge of history. Their knowledge of military actions seem to go back only as far as VietNam, and therefore all current reporting is colored by that. Most also do not recognize the nature of the war we are fighting, seeing problems now and instantly declaring failure. This war is truly World War IV, and will most likely last as long as the Cold War. A little patience is needed; an ability to step back and see that more has been accomplished in 1 1/2 years in Iraq than had been accomplished in pretty much any other US military venture.