Casey R. Johnston – 3/25/07

This page was last updated on March 25, 2007.

War is an extension of politics; Casey R. Johnston; Beaver County Times; March 25, 2007.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“This letter is in response to Larry Mason’s letter to the editor on Wednesday (‘Win the war militarily’).

“If Mason would read ‘On War’ by the brilliant strategist Carl von Clausewitz, he would know that all wars ‘are an extension of politics by other means.’”

[RWC] For those of you like me who never heard of Mr. von Clausewitz, he was a Prussian who lived from 1780 to 1831.

“The fact that Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the military commanders are willing to admit this is a giant step in the right direction.”

[RWC] I hate to break the news to Mr. Johnston, but the requirement for a political solution is nothing new for “Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the military commanders.” Unless you’re prepared to reduce a country to rubble and kill everyone in sight, all wars have a political component.

“The only thing left for Iraq is a political solution. Tactically speaking, the United States is winning the war every day. Strategically speaking, it is losing this war just as it has lost every war after World War II.

“The ball is now in the Iraqis’ court. Unless Iraq finds its own political solution, whether it be national reconciliation or three-region breakup, it will not achieve anything.”

[RWC] Mr. Johnston appears to believe that what’s going on in Iraq is a civil war. Not exactly. All the al-Qaida and Iranian operatives in Iraq would tend to contradict that assessment. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not claiming there’s no Shiite on Sunni violence and vice versa. It’s just my position the major antagonists are from outside Iraq.