Prominent US conservatives and political insiders Robert Kagan and William Kristol apparently thought so in October 2001 when they authored an editorial in the Weekly Standard titled "The Gathering Storm".
"'When all is said and done the conflict in Afghanistan will be to the war on terrorism what the North Africa campaign was to World War II: an essential beginning on the path to victory.
"'But to what looms over the horizon a wide-range war in locales from Central Asia to the Middle East and, unfortunately, back again to the United States Afghanistan will prove but an opening battle...'
Almost like the script of a new ad campaign, the Weekly Standard editorial has accurately predicted elements of global cause and effect over the past decade.
"'[T]his war will not end in Afghanistan. It is going to spread and engulf a number of countries in conflicts of varying intensity.
"'It could well require the use of American military power in multiple places simultaneously.
"'It is going to resemble the clash of civilizations that everyone has hoped to avoid.
"'And it is going to put enormous and perhaps unbearable strain on parts of an international coalition that basks in contented consensus.'
"In 2001, both Robert Kagan and William Kristol were well aware of the conflagration of war in Eurasia.
"Both men are U.S. political insiders that were aware of what direction U.S. foreign policy would take the U.S. military.
"After all Kagan and Kristol were associates with Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz through the political think-tank the Project for a News American Century (PNAC) that outlined a global military roadmap for a 'new American century.'
Starting dates for wars are often ethnocentric. In Western Europe and North America WWII's starting date is September 1, 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland.
The Czechs believe March 16, 1939 when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia started the Second World War.
In Asia it's widely believe WWII began much earlier.
"Many consider the start of the Second World War to have been when Japan invaded China in the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, two years before 1939.
"Even before 1937, since 1931 the Chinese and Japanese were in conflict and 1931 too can be seen as the start of World War II."
A half-century from today will historians look back at 911 and see a seamless transition into World War III?
The March to War
"'When all is said and done the conflict in Afghanistan will be to the war on terrorism what the North Africa campaign was to World War II: an essential beginning on the path to victory.
"'But to what looms over the horizon a wide-range war in locales from Central Asia to the Middle East and, unfortunately, back again to the United States Afghanistan will prove but an opening battle...'
Almost like the script of a new ad campaign, the Weekly Standard editorial has accurately predicted elements of global cause and effect over the past decade.
"'[T]his war will not end in Afghanistan. It is going to spread and engulf a number of countries in conflicts of varying intensity.
"'It could well require the use of American military power in multiple places simultaneously.
"'It is going to resemble the clash of civilizations that everyone has hoped to avoid.
"'And it is going to put enormous and perhaps unbearable strain on parts of an international coalition that basks in contented consensus.'
"In 2001, both Robert Kagan and William Kristol were well aware of the conflagration of war in Eurasia.
"Both men are U.S. political insiders that were aware of what direction U.S. foreign policy would take the U.S. military.
"After all Kagan and Kristol were associates with Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz through the political think-tank the Project for a News American Century (PNAC) that outlined a global military roadmap for a 'new American century.'
Starting dates for wars are often ethnocentric. In Western Europe and North America WWII's starting date is September 1, 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland.
The Czechs believe March 16, 1939 when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia started the Second World War.
In Asia it's widely believe WWII began much earlier.
"Many consider the start of the Second World War to have been when Japan invaded China in the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, two years before 1939.
"Even before 1937, since 1931 the Chinese and Japanese were in conflict and 1931 too can be seen as the start of World War II."
A half-century from today will historians look back at 911 and see a seamless transition into World War III?
The March to War
