The failure of the US, Israel and the rest of the West to win decisive military victories is a product of a defective view of war and human relations.
John Kerry liked to fashion himself as a war hero for his service in Vietnam. Famously, his fellow “Swift Boat” operators gave a different view of the man who then went on to lose the race for the presidency to George W. Bush. When he was confronted over his anti-Vietnam protest that included throwing his war medals over the White House fence, he responded that he only threw the ribbons but not the actual medals. His answer was right out of the Bill Clinton “I smoked marijuana but did not inhale” playbook.
In 2014, John Kerry, then the secretary of state in the Obama White House, made an extraordinary statement. In response to Russian moves to take parts of Ukraine including Crimea, Kerry stated that Vladimir Putin’s move was “in a 19th century fashion”. Kerry’s statement revealed a mindset in which we 21st century people were supposedly well past the crudity of war. We were now so sophisticated that the sending of tanks, airplanes and troops into deadly combat was considered passe. Don’t those Russians keep up with the times?
The problem with Kerry’s statement and worldview was ultimately that Vladimir Putin understood—and still understands—how the world works, while Kerry, Obama and their Davos friends think that mankind is in a state well removed from and above nature. Donald Trump’s blasting Iran’s General Suleimani to smithereens sent a message that the US also knows how to play in the dirt. The Iranians were shocked by the show of force after years of payoffs and willful failures to respond to Iranian aggression. American sailors were taken prisoner and national humiliation ensued. Americans have been taken hostage, with multi-billion dollar payments to the mullahs to follow.
What John Kerry said gives an insight into why the West cannot win wars any longer. Picture a football team playing by strict NFL rules. Their competitor is not bound by the same and at times has 13 men on the field, uses six downs to get a first down, and is allowed to hold and move offsides without penalty. Even if the second team is by all statistics inferior, they will probably win due to the massive advantages they enjoy by being free from the rules limiting their competitor.
By this analogy, we have Western armies straitjacketed by rules of engagement that terror groups or small powers are not held to. Tony Blinken just sent to Congress a report on Israel’s use of American arms and whether Israel was acting according to international law. Was there a companion report on Hamas’ use of weapons and behavior? No. Israel is constantly nudged by the present administration on its battle plans, its need to bring in thousands of food trucks, most of which are hijacked by Hamas, and the need to protect civilians, something that the US was far less concerned with when it was a combatant. Mark Milley and others have stated categorically that Israel is doing far more than any other country has ever done to protect Palestinian civilians. And the results are that it is much harder for Israel to win.
Hamas actually built its 10/7 plans with reliance on the Kerry Syndrome. I imagine that when they planned their barbaric assault on southern Israel, they banked on Israel being limited to a few weeks of warfare before being forced to stop. Pressure from the US, the International Criminal Court, Europe, NGOs and of course the press would make Israel stop fighting after enough Gazan civilians had been killed and pictures of homeless Gazans filled social media. That the war has continued for over seven months may be one of the few miscalculations that Hamas has made.
While weapons and tactics have changed over the years, the basic role of war in human affairs has not. Hamas attacked Israel to advance its goal of destroying the Jewish state and its inhabitants. It killed Arab and Druze civilians who were, as they say, in the wrong place at the wrong time during the killing spree. There is nothing to suggest that they pulled any punches or followed any accepted protocols of war and engagement with an enemy. Other than a stray story or two about terrorists letting somebody go on 10/7, terrorists as well as Palestinian citizens killed, brutalized, tortured, stole and kidnapped to their heart’s content. They fought to win; they did not care about conventions or protocols.
When Israel began its air campaign and later sent in its ground forces, it was hounded by the US, the UN, Europeans, and multiple NGOs that it could not kill civilians, though Hamas was hiding behind them. Hamas invented numbers of dead that of late have magically been reduced by the UN. In short, Israel was expected to fight on a short leash. When it was accused falsely of having bombed a Gazan hospital, all sides jumped on Israel to claim that it was not fighting properly. Even after it was shown without a doubt that the errant projectile was fired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Rep. Rashida Tlaib has continued to blame Israel for an attack it did not make.
If the West wants to win wars, it needs to fight exactly as its enemy does. Enough of the emphasis on being a super moral army. In World War II, when the Nazis did not use poison gas, the Allies did not either. But when the SS killed American commandos, the US also killed some of the SS soldiers caught in battle. Stop with the “it’s so 19th century” rubbish and fight to win. If they hide in urban areas, destroy their turf completely. There is no obligation to provide food, water and electricity to the enemy during a shooting war—so don’t. One should not target civilians, but one should not let civilian shields interfere with the destruction of legitimate military targets. The Allies unintentionally killed upwards of 60,000 Frenchmen in their bombing of German targets in France. Forget about a higher standard. There is no higher standard than winning. Winning means that the enemy cannot fight any longer or will think long and hard about starting up again with a Western power. Better weapons and better trained soldiers mean nothing if you hold back on their use for one-sided moral considerations. After you have won, be as moral as you want in the post-war arrangements. MacArthur crushed the Japanese and then as viceroy he rebuilt Japan into the modern country it is today.
If the West wants to win wars and deter future ones, it would be wise to stop harping on Israel in its current existential conflict. Let Israel win. Stop kvetching about Hamas-loving civilians and if they received enough hamburgers today. Let Israel destroy its enemies—this is the only language that Iran understands. Being prudes or fighting with one hand tied behind the back only encourages future attacks from enemies not bound by modern concepts of warfighting.
Is it any surprise that Tony Blinken, who on a daily basis chides Israel on its prosecution of the war but rarely mentions Hamas and its holding US citizens hostages, was an undersecretary to John Kerry?