No guts, no glory:

Monday – March 21, 2011

No guts, no glory:

We have all heard the expression “No guts, no glory.” This is essentially an American theme. We expect players who play football, baseball, hockey, golf and even those who go 200 hundred miles per hour down the back stretch to display the courage and the guts to go for it. Coaches and owners of pro sports teams expect the players on the field to make that one sacrifice to win the game. No guts, no glory!

We expect our leaders to display good judgment along with the guts that make it possible to make that play work, so that we get the glory!

War requires smart players with a strong team and good leadership to win. A new coalition of players has started the process of implementing a no fly zone in Libya. Moammar Qadaffi presumably is on the run and in control, while his army is still fighting the rebels on the ground. Our president has given up the role of leadership in this fight. It was the French who made the first attacks by air. Our president went on record saying that the U.S. will not commit any ground troops and the attacks will be limited to the air by our allies who make up the coalition. The president said that the U.S. will contribute on the front end by our unique capabilities to ensure safety for the Libyan people. While this is honorable and demonstrates his compassion, he is giving up a tactical element of war, and that is the stated goal of defeating the enemy!

All the tyrants and all the dictators of the world recognize strength and weakness. Though the president might have the U.S. military behind him and he might have the coalition leaders on this side, Qadaffi doesn’t see it that way. Qadaffi will use the U.N. and the resolution that just passed to his strength.

Moammar Qadaffi has been on the scene for forty-one years. He has suppressed many uprisings and he has successfully eluded American strength. He is the Castro of the Mid East. Qadaffi has sent his loyalists to intermingle with the local townspeople. They will use the townspeople as human shields. He pays members of his military one thousand dollars a day and he has been known to hire mercenaries. Qadaffi is seen by some to be the weak one, I don’t he has everything on his side right now.

China has opposed the U.N. resolution against Qadaffi. Russia is supplying Qadaffi with military support in weapons and training. Our president does not want it to appear that the U.S. is leading this invasion from the air. The theory of the president is, that if we look like we are in the background, then the rest of the region and the world will have a more favorable opinion towards us. The Arab League of Nations, who favored the resolution, has not come forward with any support in the way of money or weapons. We will spend over five hundred million dollars in the next few days. So far we have launched 124 Tomahawk missiles at the cost of 1.5 million dollars from the back seat.

The French who led the airstrikes get their oil primarily from Libya. They do have a vested interest in the region. Though The United States is assuming the back seat, we are still driving the effort. This charade makes us look untrustworthy and will prove to be a detriment in the long run. The stated objective is to protect the people. If Qadaffi is allowed to stay, then his people are still at risk under his leadership.

It would have been easier to do something more direct a month ago or two months ago when the uprising started. It would have been easier to initiate a military plan then.

Reagan had the solution when he sent U.S. bombers to Qadaffi in April of 1986 and not the people of Libya. The attack was in response to a bombing of a disco in West Berlin.

That attack contained him, until he planned the downing of the Pan Am flight over Lockerbie. It was proven that he was responsible and the West did nothing. Qadaffi has been silent for over twenty years. He has been silent until now, because he knows that the president is no match to his experience, though ruthless as it may be. No guts, no glory is how Qadaffi sees it!

I am a strong advocate of using the military, when it’s necessary. I advocate creating a strong position through military strength in our foreign affairs. Wasn’t it Reagan that said “peace through strength?” There is no question Qadaffi must go. There is no question the world would have been a better place if Qadaffi never came to power. Today, he is still in power and the likely hood of him remaining is a strong possibility. He will do anything and he will use what ever means he has at his disposal to remain in power. The question is, will President Obama use whatever means he has to take Qadaffi down? The sure bet is that Qadaffi doesn’t think he will and that is the danger. The U.S. is seen as being the weak one, because we are hiding behind the allies. The U.S. is seen in that region of the world as having no guts, because we have had no glory in the way they define it!

In 1786, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson met with Arab diplomats from Tunis, who were conducting terror raids and piracy against American ships. History records them as the Barbary Pirates. In fact, they were blackmailing terrorists, hiding behind a self-serving interpretation of their Islamic faith by embracing select tracts and ignoring others. Borrowing from the Christian Crusades of centuries past, they used history as a mandate for doing the western world one better. The quisling European powers had been buying them off for years.

On March 28, 1786 Jefferson and Adams detailed what they saw as the main issue:
“We took the liberty to make some inquiries concerning the Grounds of their pretensions to make war upon a Nation who had done them no Injury, and observed that we considered all mankind as our Friends who had done us no wrong, nor had given us any provocation. The Ambassador answered us that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise.”

On this date, in 1790, Thomas Jefferson reported to President Washington in New York, as The first Secretary of State. One particular matter of concern was the Barbary Coast Pirates in the region of the world that we are now engaging with air strikes. Even then, Jefferson knew that these pirates had to met head on. When Jefferson became President, he launched his assault, the Barbary Coast War.

The "Marines' Hymn" is the official hymn of the United States Marine Corps. It is the oldest official song in the United States military. The line "To the shores of Tripoli" refers to the First Barbary War. Those early Marines knew what “no guts, no glory” meant! Unfortunately, our president does not look at it in the same way.

Hillary Clinton is this nation’s 67th Secretary of State. Just last week, she said she will not be Secretary of State in 2012. Say what you will about Hillary, I think she would have done things a lot differently, if she was allowed to do her job. There is great confusion on the part of our allies when they see and hear remarks like the one she made. I am sure that there is great confusion on the part of our allies when the president is not seen as having the guts for glory!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: As I wrote last Friday, it is easy to be a Monday morning quarter back. However, when I see the U.S. taking the back seat I fear for the future! Remember “no guts, no glory” is a purely an American theme. What other themes can you think of that have become distant memories?