It's been three years. Three years since the way we viewed our world we live in and our nation as Americans in a starkly different way than we did only twenty-four hours before. This is the day that a group of devoted, trained and supported terrorists turned airliners into human bombs, weapons of mass destruction. Yes, that's right, weapons of mass destruction.
And yet, today there are those who do not believe we are in a war....let alone a World War. You may ask why I say we are in a world war. Let me state these facts:
1) US Forces are engaged in active combat and civil-military operations in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
2) US Forces are engaging foreign born terrorists in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
3) Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa is actively operating in Djibouti and neighboring areas, searching for, targeting and engaging enemy (terrorist) forces in the region as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
4) As part of Plan Colombia, US forces (limited to 400 uniformed and 400 contractors) are currently supporting anti-terror, anti-drug and anti-insurgency operations by the Colombian military to mitigate the risk of a partnership of convenience between narco-terrorists and the Islamo-fascists.
5) US forces are currently training and assisting Filipino special operations forces and conventional military forces as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, primarily targeting Qaida-linked Abu Sayeff terrorists.
6) US forces are actively training Polish, Ajerbaizani, Uzbek, Georgian and Khazak forces in counterterror and special operations as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
This is a war that is like no other. US forces are deployed on all five continents (yes, US forces are training with Aussie SAS and military forces in counterterror and antiterror/force protection operations) engaging the terrorists, with the mission of finding, dislocating, dislodging and destroying the enemy wherever we may find him. It is that simple. We will find and kill or capture enemy combatants or terrorists (combatants who are not wearing uniforms) wherever we may find him.
Some of you may wonder why we are doing this. Some of you may not remember why we are doing this. Let me show you:
September 11, 2001
Maybe now you remember what I am talking about. Prior to September 11, 2001 not many people even knew we were at war. After the bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi, the bombing of the USS Cole, the involvement of Qaida in the Battle of Mog in 1993, the hijackings and murders in the 70s, did nothing to wake up the sleeping giant...But four airplanes on a September 2001 morning did wake us up.
The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed; our country is strong.
A great people has been moved to defend a great nation. Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.
America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining.
I remember exactly where I was when President Bush gave that speech. I was standing at the foot of Ground Zero taking a rest after assisting with the rescue and recovery efforts there. I remember crying tears. I remember my hands trembling. I remember all those thoughts of a lackluster President change to pride and a sense of overwhelming strength coming from the calm, reassuring tone of voice and the words of hope, strength and security coming from him. He didn't ask for pity or for sympathy. He showed strength and determination.
In that moment, our president became a wartime president. There is no doubt about that. I, and all the military personnel in uniform, will not doubt that we are at war. We have been at war for years. The sleeping giant had been awakened. forty-eight hours later the first ground teams of Special Forces ODAs were deploying into Afghanistan and the first CIA field intelligence officers were making their connections with their sources in Afghanistan. The war had begun. Hunting season was open and there was no bag limit.
Americans are asking: How will we fight and win this war? We will direct every resource at our command -- every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence, and every necessary weapon of war -- to the disruption and to the defeat of the global terror network.
This war will not be like the war against Iraq a decade ago, with a decisive liberation of territory and a swift conclusion. It will not look like the air war above Kosovo two years ago, where no ground troops were used and not a single American was lost in combat.
And I also remember exactly where I was when that speech was given, one of the ready rooms of the USS Kitty Hawk in the North Arabian Sea. September 20, 2001. There were no doubts about the mission we were embarking on. There was no doubt that there was a debt of honor to be paid, that the mission would be dangerous yet righteous and worth the cost, come what may. There was no doubt about giving the last full measure of devotion in this struggle for humanity and freedom.
And there is still no doubt about it. We knew that we would take casualties. Yet we knew that our course was true. If we were to lose our lives, it would not be in vain. It would not be for naught. It would not be for a mistake. I said my prayers, signed my will and testament and stepped out the door. And I didn't look back.
How naive are most Americans when it comes to war. We remember the up close and personal video from the briefings during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, we remember the air campaign over Bosnia and Serbia. We remember the Tomahawks in 1998. But few of us remember that war does have a human cost. Our freedoms have a human cost. Those that went to Vietnam remembered their stories from parents who had fought across Europe and the Pacific. Those who fought in WWII remember the stories from Flanders Field, the Somme and the Ardennes.
But we have had nobody to tell us of that cost. As a society, we have gotten so used to modern convenience and the "peace" of the Cold War, that we have forgotten that the price of our freedom and liberty has a cost. That cost is blood. It is a cost that must be paid. It is a debt of honor, owed to every civilian, firefighter, police officer, and uniformed military member that lost their lives are were injured on September 11, 2001. We must pay it.
Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. Can we be any clearer about our mission?
You are either with us, or you are with the terrorists. It is that simple. That is the stance that we should have taken back in the 1970s and the 1980s, when Baader-Meinhoff, Abu Nidal, the PLO, the PLFP, il-Jihad and other groups were hijacking and killing our men and women. Hell, a serving Marine colonel was kidnapped and killed in Beirut and nothing was done. Through the 1990s, terrorists were viewed as criminals who needed to be caught and prosecuted.
But the whole paradigm of terrorism and counterterrorism has changed in the blink of an eye. The President clearly drew the lines in this campaign, this war, this struggle for our freedom and out way of life. There is no doubt about that. There is no doubt about his determination and his devotion to this cause.
From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.
This spells out the rules of the game pretty clearly. Though he had not perpetuated September 11, 2001, there is no doubt that he harbored, aided and assisted terrorists. Even at a low level, his government had given aid and comfort to the enemy. His intelligence officers, in essence, were acting as the government when they made contact and assisted Qaida. Period. No more discussion that.
I don't think any long-term career soldier or Marine doubts that the war we fought in Iraq was righteous or not. Saddam was a bad dude and he needed to be taken care of. We believed at the time that he had WMD, indeed, he had plans and the ability to acquire and employ them. His track record said that he would. In the aftermath of 9/11 we would not take that risk. Period. That seems righteous in my book.
The antiwar protesters cry out "war for oil!" "where are the WMDs?" "we took our eye off of the true enemy!" Oh, how it must be nice to be sitting on the sidelines and second guessing the decisions of a man who has more responsibility on his shoulders than most can even fathom.
Yet. it comes down to deterrence. We all remember 9/11. None of us want that to happen again. What if Saddam had nukes and was going to do 9/11 twenty times over? He was narcissistic enough to do it, in my opinion. Hell, he wanted to be remembered. He wanted to leave a legacy. So how do we deter?
Most will tell you that deterrence is prevention. In the Cold War we deterred through MAD, Mutually Assured Destruction. The Soviets wanted to die, did not want to see their nation destroyed by nuclear arms, so we deterred them by continually being ready to do exactly that. In Desert Storm, we wanted to deter the Israelis from entering the war, so we deterred them by giving them air-defense systems and the ability to shoot down SCUD missiles. Domestically, we deter sex offenders from re-offending by registering them, rehabilitating them and enacting specific second offender laws.
But we are not fighting a single enemy or a single enemy here. It is not only Qaida. Al-Qaida translates into the Base. The base. They are not the only ones. This war does not end with bin Ladin. It does not end with Qaida. It does end with the Palestinian issue. It does not end with one campaign, one war, or one person. Period.
But how do we deter people who want to die? How do we deter those who are bent on the destruction of the United States and our way of life without sacrificing the very ideals that we wish to defend? How do we deter a fundamental ideology that is fascist is nature and totalitarian on a good day? Can we?
No. We can deny them sanctuary, bringing the enemy into the open where they may be engaged and killed. We can deny them assistance of nation-states by making that assistance very costly in a military and financial sense. We can increase assistance and humanitarian aid to impoverished nations to reduce the base of recruitment. But we cannot deter them. We cannot deter those who ideologically want to die for their cause and desire nothing less than the complete annihilation of the United States, Israel and the creation of an Islamic Fundamental nation that is built around Sha'ria.
But they can be defeated. We have seen much of this, but much remains in the shadows and will never see the light of day for the next generation. Those special operators who have carried this fight to the enemy will remain the quiet professionals and will never be repaid for the debt that our nation owes them. ODAs inserted days after 9/11 with the mission the build a coalition and being assisting the Northern Alliance to overthrow the Taliban which has been assisting and giving sanctuary to Qaida. We used a Hellfire missile fired from a Predator UAV killing a bad guy in east Africa. Our forces are engaging terrorists in Iraq right now, meaning those terrorists will not be engaging American civilians on our shores. The Taliban is out and Karazi is in. Democracy is beginning to sprout in Afghanistan, reducing the base and recruiting arena for Qaida and the other fundamental Islamo-Fascists.
We are defeating them. But it will not happen overnight. It will not happen this decade. It will be an enduring campaign on many fronts. Some will be in the shadows of the intelligence and special operations world. Some will be on the front page. Some will be on the front page of the newspapers. Some will involve diplomats pressuring or cajoling other nations. Some will be by those warriors who are on the sharp end of the spear. But it is a war we will fight. The blood of ghosts cries out for it. At this point there is little difference between justice and vengeance. In the middle of a shooting war, there is a fine, hazy line between the two.
We must prevail. Neville Chamberlain engaged Hitler and appeased Nazism, which kicked off a struggle on an epic scale that saw war on four continents. And on that note, I should remember our genteel readers that our first military operation was in North Africa. That's right, Tunisia. The attack that kicked off WW2 for us was the Attack on Pearl Harbor. The first fight for us in the war was in Tunisia, Operation Torch. Not Europe. Not Asia. Think about it.
This is a war that we must win. This is an enemy that we cannot deter, nor can we appease. We have treated them as criminals for decades. We have chosen to ignore them in our decadent, self-righteous, isolationist ignorance. We paid for that malfeasance in spades. We paid in blood. The blood of innocents who were killed for the lack of will and political stamina on the part of a government which chose to not acknowledge a war that we had been locked in for decades.
This fight did not start with bin Ladin. Nor will it end with bin Ladin.
