America's War
Killing Osama bin Laden will not stop the world-wide jihad against America. Despite all the evidence pointing to bin Laden, including his admissions on videotape, our real enemy is not an individual, or even many individuals. Our enemy is not an army or a country. Our enemy is militant Islamic fundamentalism. Fundamentalist mentalities in any guise are a threat to an enlightened society. Especially when armed, organized and operating underground, extreme fundamentalists present a clear and present danger. Because we have no effective ways to combat established belief systems, we will have to target specific individuals, such as the radical Islamic leaders who urge their fundamentalist followers to acts of violence against Americans. Does our government and tolerant society really have the nerve for this, or for doing anything else that may be necessary?
In defiance of U.N. sanctions, Iraq has stepped up its production of chemical and biological weapons, which they are no doubt providing to the terrorists. However, at this time, we seem paralyzed by Russia's opposition to any military strikes against Iraq. Unless the U.S. recognizes the necessity for widening our war against terrorisim far beyond Afghanistan, Muslim terrorists will continue to launch assaults against us, from any country willing to harbor them. In the view of some experts, if we don't take our war against terrorism to Baghdad, those weapons of mass destruction will eventually be used against us.
A Military Historian's Perspective on the Struggle Ahead
When you think about it, America has not won a war since World War II. What did we accomplish in Korea? Vietnam was a total disaster. We were humiliated in Somalia. Saddam Hussein and his Republican Guard survived the Gulf War. We can't even win the war against drugs. What makes us think we'll do any better against Al Qaeda and the other anti-American terrorist organizations? We emerged victorious from the Second World War because we were willing to bomb major cities without regard to collateral damage. The massive civilian casualties in Germany and Japan forced those nations to surrender. However, in a post-Hiroshima world, our resolve has been to never again inflict so much harm on civilian populations. Perhaps, in a post-World Trade Center world, we will need to rethink that policy, because it may not be possible to rid the world of terrorists if we allow nations that spawn them to survive.
Is America Winning the War Against Terrorism?
Some terrorism experts believe that we should fight Islamic fundamentalists by adopting psychological warfare tactics, such as did the British when they occupied the Protectorate of Palestine. According to Muslim belief, a "shahid" (suicide bomber) will be rewarded in heaven. However, any contact with a pig carcass or pork bars a Muslim's entry to heaven. When Palestinian Arab terrorists were captured by the British, they were executed in a public hanging with pieces of pork in their mouths, followed by head-down burials in post-holes. A similar tactic was used by the British in the1930's in India, when they buried the body of a Muslim terrorist in pig skin. The desecration was widely publicized, and the rash of suicide bombings ceased immediately. For Muslim terrorists, the threat of execution or life imprisonment is simply not a deterrent.
Psychological Warfare Operations
Our dropping of bombs and food on Afghanistan has been described as a "kill the father, feed the son" approach to diplomacy. The existing $183 million appropriation for humanitarian aid to Afghanistan was eclipsed by an additional $320 million requested by Bush, in order to show that we really are "friends of the people of Afghanistan." Bush even asked U.S. school children to send money to the White House to help feed the Afghan children. According to relief experts, our food drops in Afghanistan during the fighting were essentially useless, having failed both as humanitarian and as propaganda efforts. However, they did serve to increase the wealth and power of some ruthless Afghani warlords, who have since turned again to fighting among themselves.
Evening the Score
America needs to wake up to the fact that Afghanis are not our friends, and we have had to pay dearly for their temporary loyalty. However, because many of the tribes in Afghanistan despise the Al Qaeda Arabs and the Taliban, they have accepted our bribes and become allies. Of course, when we stop providing them with money, food and military supplies, they will just as likely turn on us in the same way that bin Laden did in 1989, after the Russians retreated from Afghanistan and we withdrew our support for the mujahadin resistance. The U.S. had to recall 500 Marines from a search and destroy mission to the Tora Bora caves on the insistence of the Eastern Alliance, because their warlords wanted to be able to claim the bin Laden reward money for themselves.
The Pentagon Needs a New Plan
We bribe and appease any Muslim nation that pays lip-service to our anti-terrorist efforts, even as they continue to tacitly harbor and support terrorists. We have spent a billion dollars a month to wage a politically correct military operation in Afghanistan. Yet, as President Bush observed, we've been using "million dollar missles to blow up ten dollar tents." While an expensive display of fire-power no doubt impresses our enemies and underscores our seriousness about anti-American terrorism, we need to be exploring a whole range of cost-effective strategies to deal with the root problem of widespread Islamic fundamentalism. Otherwise, we're letting terrorists provoke us into a munitions-wasting potlatch that could bring economic ruin upon our country. This is exactly what they'd like.
Historically, most wars have been precipitated by disputes over resources or territory. The rise and fall of empires, invasions and conquests of foreign lands, and rebellions against oppressive regimes are prevalent themes in the history of warfare. Most so-called holy wars, such as the Christian crusades, were actually political wars disguised by religion. Because wars of aggression need to be justified, leaders concealed their motives by emphasizing religious differences. However, it remains true that Muslim orthodoxy demands conversion, subjugation or annihilation of all non-believers. Islamic genocide in the 20th Century accounts for the murder of 3,500,000 Assyrian Christians, 1,500,000 Armenians, 1,000,000 Greeks and 300,000 Catholics in East Timor. Muslims still justify and practice slavery.
While Muslim fundamentalists portray the actions of terrorists as part of a holy war against the infidels who threaten Islam, moderate Muslims view the terrorism as growing out of frustration by the West's exploitation of Middle East oil and their oppression by the Arab dictators supported by Western nations. America's justification for bombing Afghanistan is alleged to be for national security, but a secondary gain could be securing greater access to Middle East oil. Some pundits suggest that our primary motive is actually the oil, which may explain why, despite outrageously expensive efforts to tilt world opinion in our favor, we are basically waging this "war against terrorism" alone.
America Stands Alone
While Operation Primal Justice may reduce our sense of impotence against terrorism on the domestic front, there are no simple solutions for the world-wide crisis that now pits us against the Islamic nations. As our recent ally, Pakistan, and our long-time ally, India, move closer to open, unrestrained warfare, and as Palestinian terrorism and Israeli counter-measures escalate, all we can do at this point in history is hold our collective breath. Meanwhile, the events pushing us closer to World War III continue to unfold.
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OPERATION PRIMAL JUSTICE