The GWOT ain't the Second World War

The so-called global war on terrorism (GWOT), and the Iraq War that was sold as part of it, have been decorated all along with endless comparisons to the Second World War. Most of them range from fatuous to frivolous. The champion of this kind of hackery, of course, is "Bush's favorite historian", Victor Davis Hanson.

Well, since it's time for my usually-weekly quote from Gene Lyons, I'm happy to see that this week he's reminding his readers that Not every conflict is World War II Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 04/19/06

So how is Iran like Nazi Germany? Well, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad makes screwy anti-Semitic pronouncements. But he’s no dictator. Iran’s elected president serves at the pleasure of the ayatollahs, who also command the nation’s armed forces.

Otherwise, the comparison is ludicrous. Iran has expressed no territorial ambitions; history records that the Persians [Lyons uses "Persians" to clearly distinguish Iran from Iraq] haven't launched an aggressive war since the 16 th century. While both sides hype Iran’s modest nuclear experiments, what may be the best intelligence suggests that the capacity to make a nuclear weapon is five to 10 years off. Military strategists doubt a bombing campaign could do anything but delay the Iranians a bit. Meanwhile, we’ve got them surrounded. There are U. S. bases in every country bordering Iran: Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Saudi Arabia. More than twice the size of Texas (and five times larger than Iraq), Persia would be difficult to invade, impossible to occupy. Meanwhile, here’s what a "pre-emptive" tactical nuclear attack against a purely hypothetical threat would do: According to the National Academy of Sciences, it would incinerate over a million Iranian men, women and children, and spread cancer-causing fallout across the region. And on the day it happened, America, as we have known it, would cease to exist. (my emphasis)

But who will tell Victor Davis Hanson the news that it just ain't the Second World War? He'll be heartbroken.

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