What We Face

E-Mail | Name Withheld By Eagle9

[Eagle9]

Dear friends and fellow Americans,

Like everyone else in this great country, I am reeling from last week’s attack on our sovereignty. But unlike some, I am not reeling from surprise. As a career soldier and a student and teacher of military history, I have a different perspective and I think you should hear it. This war will be won or lost by the American citizens, not diplomats, politicians or soldiers. Let me briefly explain.

In spite of what the media, and even our own government is telling us, this act was not committed by a group of mentally deranged fanatics. To dismiss them as such would be among the gravest of mistakes. This attack was committed by a ferocious, intelligent and dedicated adversary. Don’t take this the wrong way. I don’t admire these men and I deplore their tactics, but I respect their capabilities. The many parallels that have been made with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor are apropos. Not only because it was a brilliant sneak attack against a complacent America, but also because we may well be pulling our new adversaries out of caves 30 years after we think this war is over, just like my father’s generation had to do with the formidable Japanese in the years following WW II.

These men hate the United States with all of their being, and we must not underestimate the power of their moral commitment. Napoleon, perhaps the world’s greatest combination of soldier and statesman, stated “the moral is to the physical as three is to one.” Patton thought the Frenchman underestimated its importance and said moral conviction was five times more important in battle than physical strength. Our enemies are willing - better said anxious -- to give their lives for their cause. How committed are we America? And for how long?

In addition to demonstrating great moral conviction, the recent attack demonstrated a mastery of some of the basic fundamentals of warfare taught to most military officers worldwide, namely simplicity, security and surprise. When I first heard rumors that some of these men may have been trained at our own Air War College, it made perfect sense to me. This was not a random act of violence, and we can expect the same sort of military competence to be displayed in the battle to come. This war will escalate, with a good portion of it happening right here in the good ol’ U.S. of A.

These men will not go easily into the night. They do not fear us. We must not fear them. In spite of our overwhelming conventional strength as the world’s only “superpower” (a truly silly term), we are the underdog in this fight. As you listen to the carefully scripted rhetoric designed to prepare us for the march for war, please realize that America is not equipped or seriously trained for the battle ahead. To be certain, our soldiers are much better than the enemy, and we have some excellent “counter-terrorist” organizations, but they are mostly trained for hostage rescues, airfield seizures, or the occasional “body snatch,” (which may come in handy). We will be fighting a war of annihilation, because if their early efforts are any indication, our enemy is ready and willing to die to the last man.

Eradicating the enemy will be costly and time consuming. They have already deployed their forces in as many as 20 countries, and are likely living the lives of everyday citizens. Simply put, our soldiers will be tasked with a search and destroy mission on multiple foreign landscapes, and the public must be patient and supportive until the strategy and tactics can be worked out.

For the most part, our military is still in the process of redefining itself and presided over by men and women who grew up with - and were promoted because they excelled in Cold War doctrine, strategy and tactics. This will not be linear warfare, there will be no clear “centers of gravity” to strike with high technology weapons. Our vast technological edge will certainly be helpful, but it will not be decisive. Perhaps the perfect metaphor for the coming battle was introduced by the terrorists themselves aboard the hijacked aircraft -- this will be a knife fight, and it will be won or lost by the ingenuity and will of citizens and soldiers, not by software or smart bombs. We must also be patient with our military leaders.

Unlike Americans who are eager to put this messy time behind us, our adversaries have time on their side, and they will use it. They plan to fight a battle of attrition, hoping to drag the battle out until the American public loses its will to fight. This might be difficult to believe in this euphoric time of flag waving and patriotism, but it is generally acknowledged that America lacks the stomach for a long fight. We need only look as far back as Vietnam, when North Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap (also a military history teacher) defeated the United States of America without ever winning a major tactical battle. American soldiers who marched to war cheered on by flag waving Americans in 1965 were reviled and spat upon less than three years later when they returned. Although we hope that Usama Bin Laden is no Giap, he is certain to understand and employ the concept. We can expect not only large doses of pain like the recent attacks, but also less audacious “sand in the gears” tactics, ranging from livestock infestations to attacks at water supplies and power distribution facilities. These attacks are designed to hit us in our “comfort zone” forcing the average American to “pay more and play less” and eventually eroding our resolve. But it can only work if we let it.

It is clear to me that the will of the American citizenry - you and I - is the center of gravity the enemy has targeted. It will be the fulcrum upon which victory or defeat will turn. He believes us to be soft, impatient, and self-centered. He may be right, but if so, we must change. The Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz, (the most often quoted and least read military theorist in history), says that there is a “remarkable trinity of war” that is composed of the (1) will of the people, (2) the political leadership of the government, and (3) the chance and probability that plays out on the field of battle, in that order. Every American citizen was in the crosshairs of last Tuesday’s attack, not just those that were unfortunate enough to be in the World Trade Center or Pentagon. The will of the American people will decide this war. If we are to win, it will be because we have what it takes to persevere through a few more hits, learn from our mistakes, improvise, and adapt. If we can do that, we will eventually prevail.

Everyone I’ve talked to In the past few days has shared a common frustration, saying in one form or another “I just wish I could do something!” You are already doing it. Just keep faith in America, and continue to support your President and military, and the outcome is certain. If we fail to do so, the outcome is equally certain.

God Bless America

Dr. Xxxx Xxxx, Lt Col, USAF (Ret)

Former Director of Military History, USAF Academy

[Hugh Akston]

Outstanding.

[carenot]

Thank you for the ping.

This is a wonderful post.

[Rocko]

Bump.

[IronJack]

It's always a good idea to go into a war with a firm resolve to see it through. The middle of the conflict is not the place to waver in your determination. Thanks for the heads up.

[Coyote]

Patton thought the Frenchman [Napoleon] underestimated its importance and said moral conviction was five times more important in battle than physical strength.

To many, it's long been clear that moral degradation and ideological resolve are precisely our greatest frailties, and precisely why this war will either completely make or break not only the United states as a nation, but the entire world experiment in people-oriented representative governmental systems.

It no longer really matters whether the US government or any of the global corporations associated with it have played patsy with dictatorships and authoritarian systems in an attempt to shift resorces and opportunity back to themselves. For the very people who have benefited most from this are average people who've been living softly in the world of cheap fuel, leisure time, and lifestyle unprecidented in all history. It probably includes you and me. And it also largely includes the many hypocrites who decry our situation by pointing out the raw history of US foreign policy, but really don't want to live under the horribly ugly alternative world views they defend by association with an imaginative utopia. They have to be among the most spoiled, naieve, myopic group ever to have lived on planet Earth.

While the enemy looks to be coming from a 1500 year old Middle Eastern mindset, they move on us at a time when our long term ideological enemies, mostly right in the middle of the American Cultural Elite, have spent at least five decades undermining our own "Western Cultural" heritage, and our moral resolve. And we've let them, by yielding to the politically correct view (the same view Hitler called "socially correct").

It is my opinion that if we fail in our resolve, EVEN if we find ourselves locked into an ugly war brought on by deceitful corporations, politicians, or misguided foreign advisors, we will not only CEASE to exist as a nation, but cease to exist as a people. I really think there's no longer any room to tool about in our Volvos, teaching our kids about a daydream of peacefully coexisting with all the multicultured peoples of the world and living side by side in competition with wild animals that nature has designed to literally eat us. The wake up call is here, but it truly looks to be a long day at work before we have any possibility of retiring to the comfort of a safe bed, if EVER again.

Now some have been trying to warn us for some time now about the importance of the trend to dilute or destroy not only our national morale, but the strength of the ideologies that provided the foundation of our heritage in liberty. And the relevance of that arugment itself is mute, because NOW it's evident beyond the pale. And if there are lay people here who haven't been exposed to this view of revent American History, I urge you to read THIS brief secular piece and see what I mean about either intentionsionally or unwittingly setting up our vulnerability. Although dated by a few years, it explains one significant element of the idological offensive that was launched to weaken our resolve, long before the current enemy realized that it was an opportunity for him to act. And it explains one of the most important fronts that this upcoming age of war will be fought here at home.

[LurkerNoMore!]

Thank you for sharing this, Eagle9er.

[Syncro]

Grate article Eagle...thanks.

[Bigun]

This writer is SPOT ON TARGET my friend! This piece should be required reading for EVERY American!

Thank you for posting it and for calling my attention to it!

[antivenom]

Thank you...great read! The truth is plain to see.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

BTTT

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

BTTT

[FITZ]

This is a most wonderful post Eagle9. Thank you so much because I think many are already getting complacent and believe there are no more bad guys out there. This sizes up what we're up against very well, this thing is far from over and they do intend to win and they have many more surprises in store for us, and they will use our openness and gullible natures, they already knew how they could turn political correctness and guilt to their advantage.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

BTTT

THANX NINER GREAT POST !

REGARDS PUNK

[im4eagles]

Thanks for including me Eagle. As Lucianne Goldburg stated many years ago on this site

Eagles Up!

[47carollann]

Eagle, this country, at this time in history, had come to the melting point, not a place of destruction, but a cohesive strengthening of our Spirit. Thank you for this.

[Pete53]

Osama bin Laden stepped over a line. The line was made sharper by having the good fortune to have an extra ordinary President. If I had a relative who was injured or killed by this monster I would take comfort in the fact that for the first time since WWII the US of A is showing leadership and backbone.

This is a most wonderful change since the last creep was in office. I think the reverse to the thinking of some has happened. We have been sparred this test until we had someone in office who is up to the task.

If God is just than he is for a just cause and rooting out terror may be the most important thing that President Bush takes on in his lifetime.

[MissAmericanPie]

Thank you, it is so good to hear a military man's perspective. Another war may start in this country between those with the resolve and those without it. There are so many ways this thing can go that it's mind boggling.

[Nick Danger]

Will Joe Sixpack have the patience and perseverance when the body bags start coming home?

That's an interesting point, for you are assuming that the body bags are "coming home." What if the body bags are right here? What if every two weeks another building full of people blows up, or another airliner drops out of the sky, right into a nuclear power plant?

Does Joe Sixpack sue for peace, or he does demand the nuclear annihilation of however many it takes to make it stop?

I think you know the answer. I suspect our foes do not. I suspect they are stupid enough to stage another attack, perhaps before we even begin ours on them. God help them if they do.

[Mr_Magoo]

Bookmarked!

[Grendelgrey]

... I think we can expect a few modern touches in the way our new enemy will attack. There will be Cyber attacks on Business ,Banking and all manner of services that use the Internet. In this day there are few Americans that do not. I Think we will see Serious and well executed Counterfeit Money attempts. I do fear many rumored and implied Chemical and Biological attacks.Even if they never follow through on these the Threat of them will be paralizing. It will be the American People's "Comfort Zone " that will be targeted by the States behind the Thugs. We can destroy them on the field of combat. Many young men and women will be killed or wounded, they will lose many more troops than we will.They know this and instead will go after our way of life, disrupting as much of it as possible.

In the end we are not fighting to occupy terrain,so much as we are fighting to make an enemy stop its actions.

We can make every Aircraft impossible to take over to be sure , but then they can come after Busses ,Trains ,Bridges ....you get the Idea. This will be as much a war of taking and seizing terrain as it will be of taking and seizing a mind set. The Backers of these Fanatics may not want to lose their "Comfort Zone " either. The U.S. can and should target the backers, making it Manifestly clear "WE WILL REMOVE YOU AND YOUR POWER BASE AND REPLACE IT WITH ONE OF OUR CHOOSING"... God save us if polititions begin fighting this war as they did with Viet Nam....