Today is my first turn at sharing the Daily Commentary chores in our publisher’s absence. Since Jon is thousands of miles away in Great Britain, I’m going to step outside of my usual Orange County bailiwick and comment about the senatorship of Barbara Boxer – the nightmare from which we cannot awaken. Like many California conservatives, Election Night in November 1992 is probably the darkest night of my political night. That was the night Bruce Herschensohn narrowly lost the U.S. Senate contest to that screech owl of the Left, Barbara Boxer.

Sen. Boxer provides us with regular reminders of how much California and the nation lost when she, and not Bruce Herschensohn, was elected to the world greatest deliberative body. The most recent example was Boxer’s vote to require a pull-out of U.S. troops from Iraq by the end-of-this year (this defeatist resolution allowed "only forces that are critical to completing the mission of standing up Iraqi security forces" to remain in 2007 – meaningless fig-leaf to protect Boxer and her five Senate comrades from charges of abandoning Iraq to the Islamists).

The real effect of this failed resolution supported Boxer would have to been to simplify the planning process of our enemies in by saying: “Hey guys! No need to guess as to whether or when we will pull American troops out of . We’ll be gone by end of the year. Devise your campaign to destroy the Iraqi democracy accordingly.”

While the Founding Fathers assigned the conduct of foreign policy to the executive branch of government, they also designed the Senate to function as the foreign policy half of the legislative branch. Smaller, more deliberative and less susceptible to popular passions than the House (since Senators were originally elected by state legislatures), it was the Senate that entrusted with the ratification or rejection of treaties.

As such, it behooves us to elect Senators who understand and appreciate the lessons of history. While Bruce Herschensohn continues to exemplify that quality in spades, Boxer’s latest vote is a painful reminder she has learned nothing during 13 years in the U.S. Senate. Her understanding of warfare and foreign policy remains hostage to her anti-Vietnam War activism.

Hence, she doesn’t understand what history teaches so clearly. Insurgencies fail. Whether during
the Roman Empire or the 21st Century, guerrilla warfare is doomed to failure because of the occupying power’s overwhelming superiority in manpower, training, supplies and soldiery. As long as the occupying power maintains the will the prevail, insurgencies will eventually peter out because they cannot maintain the level of recruitment, funding, weapons procurement and level of activity against an occupying power that will always have more of the above.

That is why insurgents pay such close attention to the domestic public opinion of their enemies. We quickly defeated the Spanish in the in 1898 during the Spanish-American War – and by the beginning of 1899 was embroiled in fighting the Philippine Insurrection:

The Filipino General Francisco Macabulos described the insurrection‘s aim as, "not to vanquish the U.S. Army but  to inflict on them constant losses." They sought to initially use conventional (later guerilla) tactics and an increasing toll of US casualties to contribute to [William] McKinley‘s defeat in the 1900 presidential election. Their hope was that as President the avowedly anti-imperialist William Jennings Bryan would withdraw from the . They pursued this short-term goal with guerilla tactics better suited to a protracted struggle. While targeting McKinley motivated the insurgents in the short term, his victory demoralized them and convinced many undecided Filipinos that the would not depart precipitately.

Sound familiar?

By 1902, the Filipino insurgency had been defeated and the great bulk of American troops were gone. A smaller force remained to battle rebellious Muslim tribesmen in the southern islands of the archipelago until 1913. American resolve to win – and the understanding by Filipino insurgents that our will to win was intact – resulted in the main insurgency sputtering out and acceptance of American authority by Filipino leaders.

No two wars or insurgencies are alike, but the history of warfare is clear that the success of guerrilla campaigns depends upon the irresoluteness of the occupying power or national government.

Which brings me back to Barbara Boxer and her maddening inability to see the use of American military power except through the prism of – and a distorted prism at that, one which prevents her from drawing the correct lessons from the war that shaped her political philosophy.

Iraqi insurgents are praying for exactly what Barbara Boxer wants to give them: a timetable for withdrawing from , win or lose. The Iraqi insurgents are having an increasingly difficult time procuring money, weapons and recruits – and as long as the presses its military campaign there while building up Iraqi military and police forces, insurgent difficulties will only increase and at a certain point insurgent capacity to fight will peter out.

The words and actions of defeatists like Barbara Boxer give Iraqi terrorists hope – and that hope keeps them killing Americans and Iraqis. The debate over whether we should have invaded is moot. The only question are we determined to prevail, or will we quit and render the sacrifice of American blood and treasure a vain one. Barbara Boxer’s vote for a December 31, 2006 deadline for quitting is further proof that her leftist thought process is so calcified she either cannot understand the choice before her, or she believes defeat is preferable to victory. That’s a loss for California and the nation – a loss accentuated by the knowledge that but for a last minute dirty trick October of 1992, we would instead have had a statesman casting one of California’s Senate votes.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 20th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.