Posted by
Silvio Canto, Jr. on Friday, August 11, 2006 9:59:34 AM
George P. Shultz was Pres. Reagan's secretary of state from 1982 to 1989. He recently spoke at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.
Like many of us, Shultz sees the big picture, i.e. we are at war with people who want to blow up our cities and kill our children! As we learned on Thursday morning, they are creative and determined!
Shultz's "Sustaining Our Resolve" is more relevant today than ever:
"During the first phase of this war, going back certainly to the 1970s, we were essentially passive. We were hit by increasing numbers of terrorist acts, but, though there was a gradual buildup of concern, we did nothing significant in response to these attacks.
Then September 11 woke America up. We reacted powerfully, putting in place a different philosophy and taking a great variety of actions to implement that philosophy."
No one is saying that the military option is the only option. We need to win the hearts and minds of people in the Middle East. However, you cannot win the hearts and minds of people who blow up airplanes.
Some people refer to this as World War 3. I agree with that because of the international battlefield. However, this war is more like the Cold War because it will last for many years.
The Cold War started with Truman and ended with the first Bush. This war started with Bush and will go for several presidencies.
At this point, it is critical that we hang in and keep our resolve.