Unfinished Business with North Korea

North Korea's apparent nuclear test is not at all surprising and should be a stark lesson for the US and its allies on the perils of not pressing and then achieving total victory. This lesson must be applied to today's war against Islamo-fascism.

The Korean war in the early 1950's, which started when the North invaded the South, ended with the status-quo ante of the democratic South and the Communist North divided by the same border that was crossed at the start of hostilities. The unfinished business left in its wake sewed the seeds that grew into today's nuclear peril. Similar or worse dark consequences could result from allowing Iran to continue its provocative ways or by not winning in Iraq.

War should not be viewed in the narrow context of a particular military battle; rather it should be seen as one of many tools that is used to achieve total victory of one population over another population. That does not mean that the population must be destroyed, but the ideology surely must. The reason we are facing a nuclear North Korea today is because the West viewed the conflict in 1950 as a border dispute between armies rather than a major clash of Communism vs. Freedom. The North, and thus Communism was preserved and lived to fight another day, and that day has now come.

Destroying an ideology does not always necessitate war, but it does necessitate the will to use military force and it does require mobilization of all aspects of society. For instance, the West won the Cold War because leaders such as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher insisted on total victory. They did not accept the notion that the Soviet Union could coexist in a world of free peoples. Their steadfastness crushed a nuclear armed enemy and obliterated the Soviet Union - total victory. In this case, war was not necessary. However, there are other examples where war has been necessary, such as with Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan and we must always be prepared for that potential.

The lesson to be applied today is that the US and its allies must mobilize for total victory over Islamo-fascism. The US's failure more than 50 years ago has now destabilized an entire region, put South Korea at risk and there is very little that can be done about it. We will not have to wait 50 years to experience the consequences of not mobilizing immediately for total victory against Islamo-fascism.