Front Sight Focus - November 2003

A Matter of Perspective

A brief hypothetical glimpse inside the mind of a professional terrorist commander illustrates how perspective is everything when prosecuting the war on terror...

I am watching a news report covering US domestic politics on CNN international from my safe house in Yemen. I sit up in my chair as I hear the prospective Democratic front runner promise a 180 degree reversal in American defense policy if elected in 2004. I stare at the stack of e-mails from my operatives, each bemoaning the crack downs in their respective geographic locations. Each one listing the names of terrorists killed or captured in the last six months. Each e-mail documenting the number of aborted attacks and providing excuses for their failure. Each and everyone begging for strategic guidance.

I turn my gaze from the e-mails and focus once again on the CNN report. The US polls are mixed but nearly all the opposition candidates are promising to bring the troops home and put an end to the Bush Doctrine of preemptive action. The news story changes to scenes of fire and bloodshed in Iraq. The commentator is making a point that the Americans are reeling from the rising insurgency. A clip is shown of an American Congressman demanding an exit strategy in Iraq.

I lean back in my chair and smile. I will order more funding for the effort in Iraq and send word to the mosques that the Jihad is gaining ground against the infidel. I will authorize a greater effort to raise the number of attacks worldwide. The Americans are on the ropes. Only 24 months after declaring a "war on terror" they have had enough. An increase in the scale of attacks and the frequency of the terror strikes will push the American electorate over the edge. They will demand a reduction in forces in Iraq and throw their support against President Bush. In 2004 a new American administration will pull back its military might and hunker down within its own borders.

They will do so safe in the knowledge that the boys are all home and that terrorists would never attack a passive, compromising America willing to work within the legal international constructs of the UN and the World Court. My decision is made. I will inform my operatives that the strategy is working and will not change. We will not attack America now - for that would only galvanize the people behind their president. We will instead wait for a new American foreign policy to hand us the victories in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Philippines that we cannot hope to win on our own. We will wait for the American people to feel safe and turn inward in pursuit of their personal agendas and then we will strike!

We will reclaim our Muslim lands and the Americans will watch. We will undermine the nations friendly to the infidel and the Americans will watch. We will strike at American interests worldwide and the Americans will recall their embassies and their corporations to the safety of home. The Jihad will survive and flourish and in the end we will win because we believe in our cause and the Americans do not have the will to believe in something greater than the pursuit of material wealth, They have no sense of honor and therefore they will be defeated.

Politics as usual? Wartime attacks on the Commander-in-Chief normal and proper? Exit strategies and troop reductions in accordance with the poll numbers? Terrorists and those who direct them don't think like us. We are fool hardy as a nation to project our ethics and morality upon a group dedicated to defeating us. They are willing to die for what they believe in - are we?

Martin L. Strong
www.sealstrike.com



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