One Soldier's View of Terrorism

This war is for real
By Major General Vernon Chong, USAF, ret.

October 1, 2005

To get out of a difficulty, one usually must go through it. Our country is now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as we know it, that we have faced in your lifetime and mine (which includes WWII).

The deadly seriousness is greatly compounded by the fact that there are very few of us who think we can possibly lose this war, and even fewer who realize what losing really means.

First, let's examine a few basics:

1. When did the threat to us start?

Many will say September 11, 2001. The answer, as far as the United States is concerned, is 1979 – 22 years prior to September 2001 – with the following attacks on us:

Iran Embassy Hostages, 1979;
Beirut, Lebanon, Embassy, 1983;
Beirut, Lebanon, Marine Barracks, 1983;
Lockerbie, Scotland, Pan-Am flight to New York, 1988;
First New York World Trade Center attack, 1993;
Oklahoma City – Murrah Federal Building, 1995;
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Khobar Towers Military complex, 1996;
Nairobi, Kenya, U.S. Embassy, 1998;
Dares Salaam, Tanzania, U.S. Embassy, 1998;
Aden, Yemen, USS Cole, 2000;
New York, World Trade Center, 2001;
Pentagon, 2001;
Shanksville, Pennsylvania, Plane Crash, 2001

(Note that during the period from 1981 to 2001 there were 7,581 terrorist attacks worldwide).

2. Why were we attacked?

Envy of our position, our success, and our freedoms.


The attacks happened during the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush

We cannot fault either the Republicans or Democrats, as there were no provocations by any of the Presidents or their immediate predecessors, Presidents Ford or Carter.

Who were the attackers?
In each case, the attacks on the U.S. were carried out by Muslims.

There's quite a bit more. The above excerpted from: www.eco.freedom.org...


Written by, Major General Vernon Chong, USAF, ret.

His qualifications:
www.af.mil...

Well for one thing, the Oklahoma City bombing was not carried out by Muslims, it was carried out by homegrown white boys. I've heard rumors of involvement by Islamist groups but seen no hard evidence, and it's not in dispute that the primary participants were American rightists.

Secondly, calling the Iranian Embassy hostage taking "unprovoked" is taking it a little far, we overthrew a democratically elected leader and installed a brutal dictator (the Shah), when he got overthrown we just got what we paid for. I don't think the hostage taking was justified but it certainly wasn't unprovoked.

Thirdly, while Islamic extremism is at the root of a lot of bloodshed, it isn't a threat anywhere in the same league as the Nazi's or the Soviets. We're dealing with a fringe group that uses cheap terror tactics against noncombatants, not an industrialized military power (or group of them) marching across the globe. No countries are "falling" to the Islamic extremist hordes, there is no Al Quaeda Blitzkreig absorbing territory, there is no Islamic Iron Curtain descending across the map. Simply varying levels of essentially random violence garnering it's perpetrators no territory, material wealth, or political power.

Lastly, the author considers "losing" means "no longer being the premier country in the world". I don't consider giving up our "position" to be a loss, if there is anything I'd like to see in my lifetime, it's my country giving up dreams of Empire (or "global dominance" if you prefer) and returning to the peaceful, free Republic it was meant to be. We need a strong defense, yes, we don't need to rule the planet. If we choose to be a country of three hundred million trying to rule a planet of six billion, we make ourselves one thing: everyone else's target.

Frankly it reads like a propaganda piece, exhorting us all to get behind our wise and benevolent leaders (ha!) against an exaggerated "threat". All so our rulers can gather more power to themselves

Militant Islam is not going to take over the planet. OBL & Co. might like to, but they simply lack any means of doing so. They can't even take over the Arab states of the Mideast, where their numbers and political support are strongest, let alone the industrialized powers of Europe, North America, and Asia. They use terror tactics because they are otherwise completely impotent, and they know it.

[edit on 11/12/05 by xmotex]