To gain a hundred victories in a hundred battles is not the highest excellence; to subjugate the enemy’s army without doing battle is the highest of excellence. … One who is skilled in warfare principles subdues the enemy without doing battle.

— Sun-Tzu, “The Art of War”

There’s been an awful lot of self-congratulation, particularly at the State Department in Washington, over the U.N. Security Council’s resolution on disarming Iraq. Some of those proclaiming victory, we gather, are justifying their glee in the corridors of power with the lines of the ancient Chinese classic. For a reality check, consider the anecdote about Moshe Dayan’s visit to Vietnam, where he met with General Westmoreland. The beleaguered American commander met with the dashing Israeli general and defense minister known for his victory in 1967 and asked him, what is the secret of your success? Dayan replied, General, we’re dealing with Arabs, you’re dealing with Vietnamese. His point, we take it, was that the wisdom of war in the Far East is not necessarily transferable to the Middle East. In the Middle East, hesitation at the brink of war is interpreted not as a sign of strength, but as a sign of weakness upon which enemies will pounce. None of us who believe that the Middle East need not be an exception to the worldwide advance of freedom and democracy would argue that immersion in the Mideast theater should come at the expense of universal values. But yet there’s no point in confusing, say, the Great Wall with the Western Wall. Yet to deal with the region in ignorance of its culture and history is to court trouble.