Slapped Down, and Deservedly So

Everybody with sense is lining up to take a punch at the ISG Report, ranging from Frederick Kagan to Christopher Hitchens, Fred Kaplan to John Podhoretz.

They differ in some of the particulars of their criticisms -- but they agree that the report lacks seriousness, and that's a pretty damning charge given the time and media attention that's been lavished on it.

Some of those who have critiqued the report but who come at it from a less hawkish perspective -- like Kaplan, for example -- have highlighted the group's dire assessment of the situation in Iraq. No doubt it's serious. But the idea that the United States can't win in Iraq without the good offices of Iran and Syria is simply laughable, so long as our resolve remains strong.

On Pearl Harbor Day, Victor Davis Hanson explains some of the key differences between WWII and the war on terror, which explain why, this time, victory is taking longer to achieve.

What's worth pointing out is that it's no less achievable now than it was then; what's more, the struggle now is every bit as important -- a fact that too many of us seem too able either to overlook or to ignore.