Conrad Black is putting the time he’s out on bail to good use with regular columns in the National Post, last Saturday’s (behind a subscriber wall) highlighted a theme that has made a compelling comeback over the past few weeks:

“ This is war-making, but it is executed crisply, that is often the only method of peacekeeping ”

Of course, his reflection refers to the Israel-Hezbollah war and Victor Davis Hanson was kind enough to – not for the first time – explore why old fashioned peacekeeping hasn’t helped in resolving that particular conflict:

Syria and Iran have never been more isolated; neither was isolated when Bill Clinton praised the “democracy” in Tehran or when an American secretary of State sat on the tarmac in Damascus for hours to pay homage to Syria ’s gangsters. Israel is at last being given an opportunity to unload on jihadists; that was impossible during the Arafat fraud that grew out of the Oslo debacle.

Only a decisive war can create the conditions for the establishment of a lasting peace and only the destruction of the radical zealots who initiated this war in the first place can bring this about. That is, if a viable democratic and open society can be nurtured on the rubble that decades of jihadist deceit and western acquiescence have created.

What is interesting to me is how for instance in Europe deep misconceptions continue to exist by separating warmaking and peacekeeping and how these two are considered to be very different approaches to a problem. Of course, this separation has in no small part contributed to the rather absurd overreaction to Israel’s actions by some European leaders and notably by a number of UN officials. Past missions by both - the former Yugoslavia being a case in point - indicate that reliance on peace and reconstruction doesn’t necessarily end a conflict or war.

Thankfully there is always a live example to illustrate the point and some of you may remember the deep rift in Dutch politics over the deployment of Dutch troops in Afghanistan earlier this year. The mission got a parliamentary go ahead only on the government accepting the condition that it was to be a peacekeeping and reconstruction exercise only, fighting terrorists it was felt was best delegated to American troops in the region. Well, in order to start that reconstruction effort the Dutch had to wage a bit of war last week on locally active Taliban groups:

Dutch commandos killed 18 enemy fighters who set up positions in rugged hills overlooking a Dutch camp in southern Afghanistan, the country's military chief said Friday. There were no Dutch casualties during a 10-day mission.

Hopefully this experience will help redefine the traditional interpretation of peacekeeping and merge it with warmaking, giving the peace effort that what it has always lacked: teeth.

UPDATE: Some good comments from Michael Barone.