I got this from two sources, both military.
Since one of them was my father, who *was* bayoneted in Korea (his attacker did not survive the experience, as in the classic sense, he "brought a knife to a gun fight," I'll credit him...
Mark Steyn:
...If you're used to smart bombs, unmanned drones and doing it all by computer back at HQ, you're probably wondering why a modern Western army is still running around with bayonets at the end of their rifles. The answer is that it's a very basic form of psychological warfare.''If you're defending a position and you see someone advancing with a bayonet, you may be more inclined to surrender,'' Col. Ed Brown told the British newspaper the Guardian. ''I've never been bayoneted, but I can imagine it's pretty gruesome.'' Or as Cpl. Jones, veteran of the Sudan, used to say every week on the ancient BBC sitcom ''Dad's Army'': ''They don't like it up 'em.''
By comparison, a Cruise missile, an unmanned drone, even a bullet are all antiseptic forms of warfare. When a chap's charging at you with a bayonet, he's telling you he's personally willing to run you through with cold steel. The bullet may get you first, but, if it doesn't, he'll do it himself. To the average British squaddie in the 21st century, the bayonet's main practical purpose is for opening tinned food. But when you need it on the battlefield, it's still a powerful signal of your resolve, your will.
Steyn's big point is this: Militarily, we have the gumption to fix bayonets.
Politically and diplomatically, the Sadr-ites and their ilk are betting we don't have the gumption to metaphorically 'fix bayonets'.
I think this President does. But I do not think his State Department does, nor a significant chunk of the political class. Which is odd - because the Dems fight that way politically all the time. The Republicans? They're like the Artillery - always trying to "lend dignity to what is otherwise a vulgar brawl" - and if you allow them to close, infantry just about always disembowels the artillery.
In this regard, Republicans are idiots, and don't fight for what they believe in.
Democrats may sometimes seemingly only believe in power for power's sake - but by gosh, they'll fight for it. Now if we could only turn some of that energy to Iraq. But therein lies the paradox, eh? The Dems will just turn Iraq over to the UN and run.
That worked before, right? Well, Kofi's son thinks so, anyway!
The rest is here.
