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What Now?
By Jim "Twitch" Tittle

Article Type: Comment
Article Date: September 28, 2001

We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea, and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at all costs — Victory in spite of all terrors — Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival. —May 13, 1940, Newly appointed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s first speech to the British Parliament.

Destruction On A Budget

It was a hell of an idea, really. Totally unexpected mad genius in action. It produced a maximum amount of damage with the smallest investment. But like a group of college pranksters whose latest stunt gets them expelled from school, this little terrorist romp produced the same effect. The gig was so far over the line the whole world was disgusted. As with previous acts of terrorism, a group or groups would proudly and publicly claim responsibility. Not this one.

Unlike a “freedom fighter” popping off a Soviet-made APC on a mountain pass with an RPG and an accompanying yelp of “hurrah for our side,” these acts have not produced a rally of support for the cause as would do the using of a $100 rocket to kill a dozen troops and a $500,000 vehicle. The exception is that only like-minded fanatic thinkers thought it a triumph. Unlike the Japanese who were staving off the inevitable invasion of their native soil, this was perpetuated by malcontents who are pretty much at ideological odds with the whole of this planet’s humanity through a perversion of religious doctrine.

Back in the 1950s and 60s the U.S. was actively involved in counterintelligence activities and behind the scenes deterrent manipulation of unfriendly, undemocratic governments. All this ended long ago as new enlightenment prevailed in our leadership and it was viewed as mean-spirited to topple foreign dictatorships no matter how evil they were.

The excuse given is that infidels based on Arab soil (US bases in Saudi Arabia) demand retaliation. When Iraq barged in to Kuwait with the third largest military array in the world Saudi Arabia got justifiably nervous. How long do you think they would have been able to withstand such an army after it mosied across their frontiers? About like France to the Wehrmacht’s onslaught of WW II, I figure. Then which country would have been the equal of the island fortress England from where allies launched their assaults?

“The excuse given is that infidels based on Arab soil (US bases in Saudi Arabia) demand retaliation”

The other excuse is simply that all Western civilization is an abomination to this minority of zealots. They fantasize returning the world to the state it was over 1,000 years ago. For all its perceived faults, as someone once said “you can’t stop progress.” Without seeming secular, God doesn’t want us to dismantle our technological civilizations, he wants us to use our intellect to overcome pollution and other temporarily detrimental aspects and reach for the stars. Thanks to Western technology the whole world has a higher standard of living.

Dubya Dubya III?

When I told one of my adult daughters that the whole world of nations are siding with the U.S. and declaring war on terrorism she asked if this could be called World War III. Not literally, I surmised since technically war has been historically declared upon belligerent countries in the past. But this is an international realm of terrorists. Certainly sovereign nations actively give aid to them. As the President said, those countries will be considered enemies. It may be ticklish when French Legionnaires, British SAS and America Delta Force groups penetrate borders but compliance will occur or consequences will be endured whatever they may be. In an oblique sense it is WWIII.

“In an oblique sense it is WWIII”

The feeling in the U.S. following the September 11th attack is one I imagine is reminiscent of post-Pearl Harbor. Politicians are united and their inter-party bickerings are on hold. The newspapers are full of reports and collateral stories just like those of WWII. The inane copy about low life local criminal events are just starting to creep back into the back pages. On TV the petty filler stories are gone and news magazine stories about car theft rings and the latest findings on the effects of coffee on your health are on thankfully hiatus as the world focuses on this plague of the 21st century. One positive effect I’ve seen is the friendliness amongst strangers in public. There is a common unspoken resolve that unites the world now.

...We shall not flag nor fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France and on the seas and oceans; we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island whatever the cost may be; we shall fight on beaches, landing grounds, in fields, in streets and on the hills. We shall never surrender and even if, which I do not for the moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, will carry on the struggle until in God's good time the New World with all its power and might, sets forth to the liberation and rescue of the Old. -Winston Churchill before the House of Commons, June 4, 1940

What Is It?

Terrorism is the systematic use of extreme forms of violence to influence, intimidate and control others. It is not a political ideology like communism. The word terror comes from the Latin terrere, to frighten. The word terrorist comes from the French revolution of 1793-94 that was known as the “Reign of Terror.” Terrorists attempt to frighten, influence and kill innocent people as well as government officials and military members to force their designs on us.

“The word terrorist comes from the French revolution of 1793-94 that was known as the “Reign of Terror.””

It is an attempt to weaken resolve and turn our fears against us. Established governments have used terror tactics to oppress their populace as a form of political repression. Where communism struck fear in the hearts of democratic people in the Cold War, so terrorism does today. Psychologically it is a means to blur our sense of reality and enhance the surreal. This “derealization” can create a bizarre state of consciousness and alter our perceptions if we allow it to.

As Neville Chamberlain learned in 1938 England, appeasement only leads to new demands. While Western democracies voted to cut military spending in the 1930s, Hitler and the Japanese were building powerful military machines. Churchill knew than Hitler was driven by “currents of hatred so intense as to sear the souls of those who swim upon them.” When Britain’s Labor Party urged England to disarm as an example to others economist Ray Harrod replied, “You think our example will cause Hitler and Mussolini to disarm?”

An unnamed Carter administration ambassador recently said we should look at the “root causes” and understand the “alienation and grievances against us by people of the Middle East,” as if this was our fault. This is pure 1960s pacifist-babble phasing. Then it was thought root causes of crime were attributed to poor economic environment and a kind of mental illness. The country became soft on criminal justice and crime skyrocketed after decades of low crime rates.

Late 1960s Los Angeles police chief, Tom Redden, took exception to that thinking and I vividly recall a TV statement after a “study” of crime causes was published. He said, “We say to the criminal, we don’t think you’re sick, we think you’re a criminal and we will treat you as such.” Of course law enforcement did their jobs only to see perpetrators given gag sentences by sympathetic judiciaries.

We Had ‘Em!

Listening to ex-CIA special ops spooks on TV it discouraged me to hear them speak of “many, many occasions” in the past ten years when they’d done their recon, intell, infiltration and planning after long scenarios to where they were ready for the take down only to get an abort since “the State Department wants to explore some alternate avenues.”

We simply need to go back to our history and see what to do. This will mean special ops teams going deep for long periods of time and eliminating individuals with extreme prejudice when the opportunity arises. It may be a lowly messenger or a courier of funds. It will not be headline-making stuff. Do we know or care how many opponent operatives were eliminated and where or when during the Cold War? No. The bottom line is the job got done. Should a spook team take out an aiding and abetting leader like Hussein? By all means. If we need a jump-start the Israeli Mossad can get regionally ethnic operatives to pave the way.

The bad guys have the bio-chemical ordnance now in small quantities, no doubt. States like Iraq, Iran and Libya are a few who can produce it. You can’t brew up sarin gas or anthrax like moonshine from a cave in Afghanistan. But effective delivery to do substantial damage has not yet been mastered. To construct an atomic device is within the realm of possibility in the relatively near future. Only Iran and Iraq could produce a chain reaction explosive device though a “dirty” device to spread radiation from radioactive dust is doable now. Certainly old Soviet weapons may not be all accounted for.

“The bad guys have the bio-chemical ordnance now in small quantities, no doubt. States like Iraq, Iran and Libya are a few who can produce it.”

Our Viet Nam experience and the Russian Afghanistan expedition ended without definitive conclusion. Where they failed was not using the British Campbell Theory, which simply is the moving of whole unarmed populations to non-combatant regions. Anyone evading relocation left in the arena is the enemy. Mao Tse Tung and Fidel Castro, with Che Guevara all were successful when given support by locals. Invaders were met with either active or passive resistance. What may happen strategically or tactically in any field of guerilla conflict remains to be seen.

There will be a lot of white collar personnel fighting this war too. Trails of funds are traceable. Cash comes from somewhere on paper and in a computer. And it should be high time that the pompous, better than thou neutrality of the Swiss secret banking procedures are breached.

This was tantamount to a punk jabbing Bruce Lee with a stick till, in his fury, he snatches it from his grasp and shoves it down his throat. It went over the line. Now that this has finally awakened the ire of the United States and we’re on board with the rest of the world, something may happen. Hey, we used to topple whole governments without firing a shot. We can do this!

“This was tantamount to a punk jabbing Bruce Lee with a stick till, in his fury, he snatches it from his grasp and shoves it down his throat.”

Six months or two and a half years from now when news of some fire-fight somewhere reaches us we must remember what we feel today and it’s not apathy. No one is safe. Plans to destroy the Eiffel Tower in Paris had been previously uncovered. The Munich Olympics of 1972 are remembered with the hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship. This will be remembered.

Oh Yeah?

With all due respect to those who have fallen I say to terrorists, “Is this is the best you can do? So you killed 7,000 people out of 300 million in the U.S. With the other good 5.9 billion folks on the planet you are doomed. Your act has produced the exact opposite of what you endeavored to accomplish.”

A pal in New York put it best to me when he said, “New Yorkers are tough. This ain’t nothin’. We got bums in Central Park who can do more damage with passing gas!”

What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us now. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, "This was their finest hour." —Winston Churchill before the House of Commons, June 18, 1940

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