Is it possible that George W. Bush is doing to the Islamic terrorists what Ronald Reagan did to the USSR? Soviet adventurism in the 1970’s can be attributed to Soviet perceptions of U.S. weaknesses. They were wrong. Remember Grenada? This small oparation had an effect on the Brezhnev Doctrine. The roll-back started, and the Soviet economy was targeted: Reagan’s Grand Strategy had a serious economic component. Owens argues that the Islamic terrorists may have made the same mistake the Sovs did: They thought the "correlation of forces" was on their side in the 1990’s; we backed away at each of their thrusts, from Somalia to the first World Trade Center bombing, etc. But 9/11, instead of driving us out of the region, galvanized us, and not only militarily. No great uprisings on the streets of Arab countries; Pakistan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, et al, have made many diplomatic concessions.
Mackubin T. Owens argues that it is hard not to be optimistic. Get a good cup of coffee and let him walk you through it.
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