メイの「アフガニスタン=心理戦」論 |
以下はネオコン側のクリフォード・メイの意見ですが、アフガニスタンがアメリカにとっての「必要な戦い」であり、心理面での戦いを仕掛けられているという、やや感情的ですがなかなか興味深い指摘をしております。
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Why Afghanistan matters
The long war goes on -- whether we fight or retreat
(中略)
I would stress this: Afghanistan is not a war. It is one battle in what -- I'm not the first to deduce -- is going to be a long war, a global conflict to defend America and the West against an insidiously dangerous enemy.
We are fighting over ideas as much as land. In fact, as real estate, Afghanistan is of minimal value. But what happens there will help determine how we -- and our enemies and the millions of people around the world who have not taken sides - understand what this struggle is about and who is likely to prevail.
"It was the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan that laid much of the imaginative groundwork for 9/11," Wall Street Journal columnist Bret Stephens points out. "If one superpower could be brought down, why not the other?"
It is a fact of life that generals who win victories attract recruits; losing generals end up alone. Anytime infidels flee, declaring "This is a war that can't be won!" the radical jihadis gain. By contrast, anytime jihadis flee because they can't stand up to "the strongest tribe," they lose more than an engagement and lines on a map.
If this struggle is too much for the present generation, we will deserve what comes in its place. Americans used to say that freedom is not free, that it must be earned by generation after generation. That sounds hokey to 21st-century ears, I know. That doesn't make it less true.
Our enemies believe history and God are on their side. They are eager to fight for victory, which they define as bringing death, destruction and humiliation to you and your children. They say this plainly in their speeches and sermons. They are not seriously attempting to delude anyone. Rather, they are counting on us to delude ourselves. Eight years after Sept. 11, with many on both the left and the right arguing for retreat and a president who doesn't appear to know his own mind, can anyone say with confidence that they are wrong?
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この人はよくメディアに出てくる人ですが、マイケル・グリーンをやや明るい顔にして、意見をタカ派にした感じといえばおわかりいただけるでしょうか。
アフガニスタンでの戦いを「心理戦」であると解釈しているわけで、「我々はアイディアと土地をめぐって戦っているんだ」と言っており、これは地政学的にもかなり興味深い指摘です。
一番最後の「彼ら(イスラムテロ組織=アメリカの敵)は我々が判断を誤るのを期待している」と言うのは、「テロとの戦い」で「何が戦われているのか」を考える上で参考になりますね。