Vietnam, Somalia, and Iraq.

Quite often on this blog I have argued we need to avoid another Somalia. By that I mean an retreat in shame in fear of the Islamists. That is why we have to see the job through to the end in Iraq. Many may say (and convincingly so) who gives a rat's @$$, if retreat is the right thing then do it and to perfidy what the Islamists think.

Well, Powerline Blog has the answer to those folks.

The Muslim victory in Somalia over the America has profound implications ideologically, politically, and psychologically that will require lengthy studies. You have the duty to record notes about these implications and keep them until it is time to study them in depth. Just the same, there is an important observation that we must not ignore, which is that the Americans were not defeated militarily in Somalia. Effective human and economic losses were not inflicted on them. All that happened was that the Somali battle revealed many of their psychological, political, and perhaps military weaknesses.

The Somali experience confirmed the spurious nature of American power and that it has not recovered from the Vietnam complex. It fears getting bogged down in a real war that would reveal its psychological collapse at the level of personnel and leadership. Since Vietnam America has been seeking easy battles that are completely guaranteed.

Source: Powerline Blog - The Lessons al Qaeda Learned From Somalia That is from a translated letter captured from the terrorists.

Here is how Powerline finishes their blog:

Like it or not, that's what the terrorists think when we cut and run. And, of course, the jury is still out on whether their diagnosis of American power will turn out to be accurate.

Source: Powerline Blog - The Lessons al Qaeda Learned From Somalia That is it does make a difference, the retreat from Somalia convinced the terrorists we were weak and would capitulate when things got tough. Unfortunately, they may be correct.