When I was a kid, I lived for a year in Germany. This was 1960 - 61. My dad was not military, but there I was anyway living in post-war Munich, not speaking any German (at first) and listening all the time to the Armed Forces Network because it was the only English language radio I could find.
The Bay of Pigs invasion happened while I was there, so I heard the official version of events on AFN. It went like this: There's an amazing invasion of Cuba... the brave partisans are sweeping the wretched Commies away... Castro's troops are deserting en masse... the noble Cuban exiles are moving on Havana! ... oh wait ... the invaders have been crushed, the remnants are scrambling back to Miami ... now we return to our regular music programming. Never a word of explanation about the previous several days of bogus "information". Just back to the program.
But I was just a kid, so I didn't think too much about the Cuba thing, or the coverage on AFN.
Even though I was just a kid, I kind of knew about WW2. Besides, there were reminders all over the place. Not as in huge swathes of war devastation--the Germans had cleaned all that up by then--but here and there monuments to the war which consisted of a town hall or a cathedral that had been reduced to rubble by Allied bombs, and just left that way, a big heap of bricks plus a wall fragment or two still standing. Consciously left that way, as a reminder of what war is.
Anyhow, I was just this kid and I knew America had won the war. I knew that America pretty much ruled the roost internationally. We won tons of medals in the 1960 Olympics. And I figured, that must be because America is great and Americans are awesome. AFN told me that, Time magazine told me that. It's because of who we are, our essential nature. I really thought that.
Then, a little later, I got into a fight with this Nazi kid at school. This is no exaggeration, the guy was a Nazi. None of the other German kids in the class would associate with him because he was such an obnoxious jerk. And guess what... he kicked my ass! Even though I was American and thus naturally should have prevailed in any contest.
So much for essentialism. Evidently, even though God loves America best, even though we have this native strength and ingenuity and spirit, even though I was proud, brave, patriotic, and no chickenshit by any means... despite all these things, this one Nazi kid beat me up. First and only fight I ever lost.
Cut to the present, 2006. We're in Iraq, and we're losing. And plenty of Americans just don't get it. We're the Americans, f'chrissakes! Cheney/Bush/Rummy/Condi are deeply puzzled. How could this happen?
Well, I wish there was a short answer to that one. But here's a start on why we're not winning. 2006 is not 1945. Iraq is not Nazi Germany. God loves the USA, but not more than the other parts of this planet. Americans are resourceful and bold, but so are other people. Modern, asymmetrical wars tend to be won by the people who most need to win them. In this case, that's not us.
That's right, we're losing, despite being the Americans. Because that and $4.00 will get you a latte down at Starbucks. There is no essential quality of America that guarantees victory. If our opponent is determined, if supply lines are difficult, if the culture and terrain are unfamiliar, and (most importantly) if we have no business being in the war in the first place, then we're gonna have problems.
Cheney/Bush/Rummy/Condi-- reality is calling. Are you getting this?