Victory worth winning

It is a good week to consider the question of tactics against an intractable enemy. The holiday of Purim and its attendant Biblical readings ask us to confront the consequences of misplaced compassion toward sworn enemies. Amalek and his descendants Agag and Haman terrorize the Jews and strike at their weakest point. The surviving antagonists then count on the values of the Jews to allow them to escape with their lives. The books of Exodus, Deuteronomy, Kings and Esther seem to instruct us to be merciless even with non-combatant foes.

Fast forward to modern-day Israel, facing some of the same fanatical enemies as our troops in Afghanistan. In spite of how propaganda and UN reports depict the Israel Defense Forces, the policy of "purity of arms" pertains to every person in the IDF. Combatants cannot help but be scarred by war, but using weapons for the goal of military victory rather than the convenience of military dominance is a value inculcated from basic training. The risks taken by the IDF to protect the lives of non-combatants (some of whom are sworn to their destruction) allow them to emerge from conflict with an ability to return to society as full participants with their peacetime values intact.

Which soldier loses a life to protect a way of life? Which child of an enemy should be sacrificed to minimize the sacrifice of our service members? Asking our commanding officers to make such decisions is a price they agreed to pay when they stepped into leadership. I am glad that the answers are not facile; I would be horrified if we embraced the culture of death our enemies celebrate. Agonizing over these questions is what makes victory worth winning.

By Jack Moline  |  March 1, 2010; 12:48 PM ET Save & Share:                 
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