West can defeat radical Islam
Reader comment on item: President Bush Replies to My Iraq Critique

Submitted by C Smith (United States), Dec 31, 2006 at 23:31

In your segment regarding Pacifism, you ask "What were the defeats of the Axis, the U.S. in Vietnam, or the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, if not military solutions?"

The answer was not a pure military solution but the underlying psychological resolve of the victors to beat back the forces that were attempting to come in and change their way of life. I believe we are seeing the same thing in Iraq. A refusal of people with strong convictions, whether religious, sectarian, or something else that we as educated Westerners cannot put our finger on, who do not want or see the world as we do. Based on that along, military solutions will never prevail no matter how sophisticated.

Secondly, in your segment on Complacency you are stating that Democrats, especially John Kerry, has a disdain of Islamic military capabilities but I think this current Repubilcan Administration had the same disdain considering how we have fought this war. I don't think this attitude to be divided along American political party lines. What we must realize is that the human spirit is difficult to defeat no matter how sophisticated our military solutions may be. We as Westerners fail to realize that everyone does not see the world as we do and are not interested in participating in our way of life.

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