March 29, 2007
Algeria, Vietnam, and Iraq Posted by John Steele Gordon at 05:20 PM EST Arthur Herman, a well-known historian (his latest book is To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World, has written what I think is a most interesting and perceptive essay comparing the Algerian War of the late 1950s and early ’60s, the Vietnam War, and the current struggle in Iraq. He looks at the tactics that proved highly successful against insurgents (and that now, having been adopted very late in the game, seem to be showing good results in Iraq) and yet how the first two wars were nonetheless lost on the home front, thanks to an intelligentsia and media that were only too willing to put moral posturing above reality and forgive the enemy every atrocity while forgiving the Western power nothing. The results, in the cases of Algeria and Southeast Asia, were horrendous for the people of those areas and disastrous for the cause of freedom everywhere. It is well worth reading, even if you find yourself disagreeing with parts (or all) of it. Originally published in Commentary, it can be found here.
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