The War on Terrorism - Part 5 of 5

Wrapping up the first GriffinScat series….today the last of five installments on the War on Terrorism.

Apart from the death of almost 3000 people and the destruction of several billion dollars worth of material, we, the people of the United States, in the aftermath of that day, did trillions of dollars worth of damage to our own economy. The human cost of terrorism is incalculable – even if only one person is injured or killed. It is not my intent to minimize the human cost of terrorism. However, we need to balance the human cost of terrorism with the human costs that we accept with nonchalance every day. Accidents, tragic diseases and criminal acts maim and kill thousands of Americans every day. We take those in stride because we know they won’t affect our day-to-day lives directly. Those directly affected by these tragedies deserve our sympathy and support. However, we do not make major changes in our lives because someone across town was killed in an auto accident or contracted some terrible disease. Such things have become routine, and we don’t change our lives because of them.

In order to make terrorist strikes ineffective and irrelevant we have to keep terrorism at the tactical level. How? By not giving our enemies the strategic reactions they desire. If their attacks don’t instill terror in the broad populace, then their actions do not rise above being large scale crimes. If we react to terrorist attacks on our soil the same way we react to a crime across town we win and they lose.

It has worked in the past. In 1940, in the face of daily bombings by the Luftwaffe, the British people stood strong and would not be cowed in spite of their greatest cities burning night after night. They supported each other, their government and the Royal Air Force through the terror. The bombings stopped because the Germans couldn’t achieve their goals (the capitulation or neutralization of Great Britain) through that means. We need to be as hard as the stalwart Brits were during the Blitz.

If our minds are the target, then our minds need to be strengthened in order to deflect the next attack. In conventional warfare, the side that gets to fight on ground of its own choosing usually wins. In unconventional warfare (to include anti-terrorism), the chosen ground is our hearts & minds. That is where the enemy plans to do battle, so that is where we must meet them. The elements of our national power (diplomatic, informational, military & economic) have significant supporting roles to play and can reinforce the futility of terrorist actions attempts. If terror strikes are costly to the perpetrators and don’t achieve any of their desired ends, they will eventually quit. The starring role in defeating terrorism, however, belongs to the faces you & I see in the mirror every day.

“Fly high & roar loudly”

dirk

(P. S. If you would like the entire series in a single .pdf document (95kb), please send an email to griffinscat@gmail.com. Your email address will not be shared with anyone else and will only be used for GriffinScat communications. If you want to receive an email when Griffin Trek is updated, ensure you ask to subscribe as well. - dvdk)