One of the fundamentals of Tekkenryu Jujutsu is to always keep advancing on an attacker. Every technique is meant to take ground and keep the attacker off balance. Because once you make the decision to fight, retreat only means pain and loss and if you want to survive cannot relent in your attacks. History proves that most casualties occur when the enemy is routed and on the retreat. This principle is the same no matter if it’s two or two million.

The principals of Tekkenryu Jujutsu can be applied to the war in Iraq where many think the only answer is to pull out and redeploy. This sounds a lot like retreating and giving up ground to the enemy. The majority of the fighters in Iraq currently belong to groups like Al Qaeda. If these groups were allowed to take control of Iraq after an American pull out the situation would be dramatically worse.

The people could end up like those in Afghanistan under the Taliban. That is of course is if one of the many factions actually establishes a central government and Iraq doesn’t end up like Lebanon. Either way our enemies could end up controlling Iraq’s massive petroleum reserves which could easily be traded for nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons. The fight has started and maybe it can be argued that the war should not have begun, but like any fight once it starts, there’s no turning back.

One could argue that this is all just speculation and that a principal like constant attacks has no place in the modern world. The problem is there is overwhelming evidence which continues to support such principals. One good example is Somalia where the United States retreated and abandoned humanitarian aid, leaving people to the warlords of that nation who did nothing to remedy the famine and disease which infest their country. Army Rangers fought a heroic battle in the streets of Mogadishu, but needed support was denied to them.

When the soldiers did fight their way past the warlord’s forces the next move was to pull out of the country. In the end a warlord got to claim he defeated the mighty United States in close combat and people continued to suffer. Even Sadam enjoyed frequent screening of “Black Hawk Down” in his anticipation of an American withdrawal at the first sign of bloodshed. After the United States pulled out and leaders like Osama bin Laden were able to rally support because fighters like themselves had stood up and defeated forces of the United States.

Throughout the world enemies of the United States felt they could achieve victory if they made their fight bloody enough.