<OT> -- WAY OT Re: So it goes . . .

[David A. Bandel]

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On Tue, 6 Apr 2004 18:34:09 -0400 (EDT)
Jay Nugent <jjn at home.nuge.com> wrote:

> Greetings,
> 
> On Tue, 6 Apr 2004, Collins Richey wrote:
> 
> > On Sun, 4 Apr 2004 21:42:34 -0400
> > Joel Hammer <joel at hammershome.com> wrote:
> > 
> > > On Sun, Apr 04, 2004 at 06:10:55PM -0400, ejbr at comcast.net wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > Just was over at cspan.org and heard Bradford Smith, VP at MS,
> > > > say:
> > > > 
> > > > "So, for example, when the internet was born, we made it
> > > > possible for people to access the internet."
> > > 
> > > Well, who knows, if MS wins the computer wars, they will
> > > get to write the history of the computer revolution.
> > > 
> > > FDR gets the credit for beating the depression, Nixon
> > > gets blamed for the Vietnam war, etc.  I could go on,
> > > but I don't want to get controversial.
> > > 
> > 
> > Maybe my memory has failed, but I sure thought that Kennedy put us
> > in VietNam.
> 
>    Eisenhauer made promises to Vietnam to "support" them.  Kennedy
> inherited that 'promise' by winning the election.  He mearly continued
> the commitment this country made to Vietnam.
> 
>    Johnson was caught in the dilema that was Vietnam. Can you say
>    "rock 
> and a hard place"...?
> 
>    Nixon got us OUT of Vietnam... and the draft ended just a few
>    months
> before my draft lottery number was to have been called up.  Thank You
> Tricky Dick, ya saved me from becoming a citizen of Canada, eh  ;-)
> 

Vietnam was a lack of committment.  In fact, it should be held up as a
bad example of a war that shouldn't have been.

Note:  I am in full agreement with this.  Had it been applied to
Vietnam, the world would be a far different place.

- ---copied from an e-mail to me--
This essay is extracted from Ralph Peters' (retired Special Forces
Colonel)
new book, "When Devils Walk the Earth."  If you focus on nothing else,
peruse the last point; Number 25.

Chapter III. Fighting Terror:  Do's and Don'ts for a Superpower:
1. Be feared!

2. Identify the type of terrorists you face, and know your enemy as well
as
you possibly can.  Although tactics may be similar, strategies for
dealing
with practical vs. apocalyptic terrorists can differ widely. Practical
terrorists may have legitimate grievances that deserve consideration,
although their methods cannot be tolerated. Apocalyptic terrorists, no
matter their rhetoric, seek your destruction and must be killed to the
last
man.  The apt metaphor is cancer: you cannot hope for success if you
only
cut out part of the tumor.  For the apocalyptic terrorist, evading your
efforts can easily be turned into a public triumph. Our bloodiest
successes
will create far fewer terrorists and sympathizers than our failures.

3. Do not be afraid to be powerful.  Cold War-era gambits of
proportionate
response and dialog may have some utility in dealing with practical
terrorists, but they are counter-productive in dealing with apocalyptic
terrorists.  Our great strengths are wealth and raw power.  When we fail
to
bring those strengths to bear, we contribute to our own defeat.  For a
superpower to think small, which has been our habit across the last
decade,
at least, is self-defeating folly. Our responses to terrorist acts
should
make the world gasp!

4. Speak bluntly.  Euphemisms are interpreted as weakness by our enemies
and
mislead the American people. Speak of killing terrorists and destroying
their organizations. Timid speech leads to timid actions.  Explain when
necessary, but do not apologize.  Expressions of regret are never seen
as a
mark of decency by terrorists or their supporters, but only as a sign
that
our will is faltering.  Blame the terrorists as the root cause whenever
operations have unintended negative consequences. Never go on the
rhetorical
defensive.

5. Concentrate on winning the propaganda war where it is winnable. Focus
on
keeping or enhancing the support from allies and well-disposed clients,
but
do not waste an inordinate amount of effort trying to win unwinnable
hearts
and minds. Convince hostile populations through victory.

6. Do not be drawn into a public dialog with terrorists, especially not
with
apocalyptic terrorists.  You cannot win. You legitimize the terrorists
by
addressing them even through a third medium, and their extravagant
claims
will resound more successfully on their own home ground than anything
you
can say. Ignore absurd accusations, and never let the enemy's claims
slow or
sidetrack you. The terrorist wants you to react, and your best means of
unbalancing him and his plan is to ignore his
accusations.

7. Avoid planning creep.  Within our vast bureaucratic system, too many
voices compete for attention and innumerable agendas, often selfish and
personal - intrude on any attempt to act decisively. Focus on the basic
mission: the destruction of the terrorists with all the moral,
intellectual
and practical rigor you can bring to bear.  All other issues, from
future
nation building, to alliance consensus, to humanitarian concerns are
secondary.

8. Maintain resolve.  Especially in the Middle East and Central Asia,
experts and diplomats will always present you with a multitude of good
reasons for doing nothing, or for doing too little (or for doing exactly
the
wrong thing).  Fight as hard as you can within the system to prevent
diplomats from gaining influence over the strategic campaign.  Although
their intentions are often good, our diplomats and their obsolete
strategic
views are the terrorist's unwitting allies and diplomats are extremely
jealous of military success and military authority in their region
(where
their expertise is never as deep or subtle as they believe it to be).
Beyond
the problem with our diplomats, the broader forces of bureaucratic
entropy
are an internal threat.  The counter-terrorist campaign must be not only
resolute, but constantly self-rejuvenating in ideas, techniques,
military
and inter-agency combinations, and sheer energy.  Old hands must be
stimulated constantly by new ideas.

9. When in doubt, hit harder than you think necessary. Success will be
forgiven.  Even the best-intentioned failure will not. When military
force
is used against terrorist networks, it should be used with such power
that
it stuns even our allies.  We must get over our cowardice in means.
While
small-scale raids and other knifepoint operations are useful against
individual targets, broader operations should be overwhelming.  Of
course,
targeting limitations may inhibit some efforts but whenever possible,
maximum force should be used in simultaneous operations at the very
beginning of a campaign.  Do not hesitate to supplement initial target
lists
with extensive bombing attacks on nothing if they can increase the
initial
psychological impact.  Demonstrate power whenever you can. Show; don't
tell!

10. Whenever legal conditions permit, kill terrorists on the spot (do
not
give them a chance to surrender, if you can help it).  Contrary to
academic
wisdom, the surest way to make a martyr of a terrorist is to capture,
convict and imprison him, leading to endless efforts by sympathizers to
stage kidnappings, hijacking and other events intended to liberate the
imprisoned terrorist(s). This is war, not law enforcement.

11. Never listen to those who warn that ferocity on our part reduces us
to
the level of the terrorists. That is the argument of the campus, not of
the
battlefield, and it insults America's service members and the American
people.  Historically, we have proven, time after time, that we can do a
tough, dirty job for our country without any damage to our nation's
moral
fabric (Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not interfere with American
democracy,
values or behavior).

12. Spare and protect innocent civilians whenever possible, but: do not
let
the prospect of civilian casualties interfere with ultimate mission
accomplishment.  This is a fight to protect the American people, and we
must
do so whatever the cost, or the price in American lives may be
devastating.
In a choice between them and us,  the choice is always us.

13. Do not allow the terrorists to hide behind religion.  Apocalyptic
terrorists cite religion as a justification for attacking us; in turn,
we
cannot let them hide behind religious holidays, taboos, strictures or
even
sacred terrain. We must establish a consistent reputation for relentless
pursuit and destruction of those who kill our citizens.  Until we do
this,
our hesitation will continue to strengthen our enemy's ranks and his
resolve.

14. Do not allow third parties to broker a peace, a truce, or any pause
in
operations.  One of the most difficult challenges in fighting terrorism
on a
global scale is the drag produced by nervous allies.  We must be
single-minded. The best thing we can do for our allies in the long-term
is
to be so resolute and so strong that they value their alliance with us
all
the more.  We must recognize the innate strength of our position and
stop
allowing regional leaders with counterproductive local agendas to subdue
or
dilute our efforts.

15. Don't flinch.  If an operation goes awry and friendly casualties are
unexpectedly high, immediately bolster morale and the military's image
by
striking back swiftly in a manner that inflicts the maximum possible
number
of casualties on the enemy and his supporters. Hit back as graphically
as
possible, to impress upon the local and regional players that you
weren't
badly hurt or deterred in the least.

16. Do not worry about alienating already-hostile populations. --(ED
ADDED,
"OR ANTI-WAR SENATORS ASPIRING TO BECOME PRESIDENT OF OUR GREAT
NATION.")

17. Whenever possible, humiliate your enemy in the eyes of his own
people.
Do not try to use reasonable arguments against him.   Shame him
publicly, in
any way you can. Create doubt where you cannot excite support.  Most
apocalyptic terrorists, especially, come from cultures of male vanity.
Disgrace them at every opportunity.  Done successfully, this both
degrades
them in the eyes of their followers and supporters, and provokes the
terrorist to respond, increasing his vulnerability.

18. If the terrorists hide, strike what they hold dear, using
clandestine
means and, whenever possible, foreign agents to provoke them to break
cover
and react.  Do not be squeamish.  Your enemy is not. Subtlety is not
superpower strength but the raw power to do that, which is necessary, is
our
great advantage. We forget that, while the world may happily chide or
accuse
us-or complain of our inhumanity-no one can stop us if we maintain our
strength of will.  Much of the world will complain no matter what we do.
Hatred of America is the default position of failed individuals and
failing
states around the world, in every civilization, and there is nothing we
can
do to change their minds.  We refuse to understand how much of humanity
will
find excuses for evil, so long as the evil strikes those who are more
successful than the apologists themselves.  This is as true of American
academics, whose eagerness to declare our military efforts a failure is
unflagging, or European clerics, who still cannot forgive America's
magnanimity at the end of World War II, as it is of unemployed Egyptians
or
Pakistanis. The psychologically marginalized are at least as dangerous
as
the physically deprived.

19. Do not allow the terrorists sanctuary in any country, at any time,
under
any circumstances.  Counter-terrorist operations must, above all, be
relentless.  This does not necessarily mean that military operations
will be
constantly underway sometimes it will be surveillance efforts, or
deception
plans, or operations by other agencies.  But the overall effort must
never
pause for breath. We must be faster, more resolute, more resourceful
and,
ultimately, even more uncompromising than our enemies.

20. Never declare victory.  Announce successes and milestones. But never
give the terrorists a chance to embarrass you after a public
pronouncement
that the war is over.

21. Impress upon the minds of terrorists and potential terrorists
everywhere, and upon the populations and governments inclined to support
them, that American retaliation will be powerful and uncompromising. You
will never deter fanatics, but you can frighten those who might support,
harbor or attempt to use terrorists for their own ends.  Our basic task
in
the world today is to restore a sense of American power, capabilities
and
resolve. We must be hard, or we will be struck wherever we are soft.  It
is
folly for charity to precede victory.  First win, then unclench your
fist.

22. Do everything possible to make terrorists and their active
supporters
live in terror themselves.  Turn the tide psychologically and
practically.
While this will not deter hard-core apocalyptic terrorists, it will
dissipate their energies as they try to defend themselves and fear will
deter many less-committed supporters of terror. Do not be distracted by
the
baggage of the term assassination.  This is a war.  The enemy, whether a
hijacker or a financier, violates the laws of war by his refusal to wear
a
uniform and by purposely targeting civilians.  He is by definition a war
criminal.  On our soil, he is either a spy or a saboteur, and not
entitled
to the protections of the U.S. Constitution. Those who abet terrorists
must
grow afraid to turn out the lights to go to sleep.

23. Never accept the consensus of the Washington intelligentsia, which
looks
backward to past failures, not forward to future successes.

24. In dealing with Islamic apocalyptic terrorists, remember that their
most
cherished symbols are fewer and far more vulnerable than are the West's.
Ultimately, no potential target can be regarded as off-limits when the
United States is threatened with mass casualties. Worry less about
offending
foreign sensibilities and more about protecting Americans.

25. Do not look for answers in recent history, which is still unclear
and
subject to personal emotion.  Begin with the study of the classical
world,
specifically Rome, which is the nearest model to the present-day United
States.  Mild with subject peoples, to whom they brought the rule of
ethical
law, the Romans in their rise and at their apogee were implacable with
their
enemies. The utter destruction of Carthage brought centuries of local
peace,
while the later empire's attempts to appease barbarians consistently
failed!
- ---end copy---

I disagree with one point:  there's a difference between practical and
apocalyptic terrorists.  I think not, and both should be dealt with the
same way.  Otherwise, one man's apocalyptic terrorist becomes another
man's practical terrorist and we begin fighting about the differences.

David A. Bandel
- -- 
Focus on the dream, not the competition.
		Nemesis Racing Team motto
GPG key autoresponder:  mailto:david_key at pananix.com
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