Demosophia

The Fogs of War

Both Wretchard and Den Beste have highly illuminating posts on the "fog of war."

A key graf from Wretchard:

The deliberate penetration of the press by Jihadists, a process long perfected in Lebanon and the West Bank, inevitably means counter-penetration by antiterrorist forces. Intelligence and counterintelligence go together like Heckel and Jeckel, and one is inconceivable without the other. The Press, which holds that it is loftily above the fray, may soon become a murky sewer of intrigue.

And from Steven:

We won't be able to really learn what is happening there for quite a while, by watching long term trends. The press is doing its damndest to turn this into a rerun of the Tet Offensive, and as strange as it may seem, that's the biggest danger we now face. Recently, Victor sent me the following email:

Do you think it is possible that the US can lose the war that were are now engaged in, with the Islamic fanatics? If so, how?

Sure we can lose, and by far the most likely way for us to lose is for us to give up. In the last 30 years we are perceived to have done a lot of that, and our enemies have watched carefully. They know they have no hope of defeating us militarily but they don't think they have to.

Posted by Demosophist at April 11, 2004 01:13 AM | TrackBack