To win at war we have to be Willing, Able and Ready.
Since September 11, 2001, our ability to fight terrorism abroad and our readiness to face it at home has improved. From new unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAV) and revolutionary 4th Generation
Warfare doctrines to biometric technology and secured
cockpits, we have made progress. Yet, it seems that
our willingness to fight is on the
decline. Lead by the liberal media and political interests,
a growing number of people have become critical of
the war effort in Iraq. This could significantly impact
the war on terror and ultimately our survival.
The dynamics of human
conflict entails three fundamental instinctive responses:
Posture (attempt to intimidate or de-escalate the
adversary), or Flight (distance self from confrontation)
or Fight (engage the threat). These dynamics are both
cognitive and physical by nature and apply on an individual
as well as on a societal level.
Collective Flight Response
Most Americans would prefer to categorize the attacks
on 9/11 as a one-time nightmare. The thought of terror
striking us again and the knowledge that we are at
war (killing and being killed) is too much of a mental
burden for most people. To cope with the casualties
and the growing cost of the war on terror more and
more people (and their elected representative) subscribe
to some kind of reality denial. It is much easier
to escape reality by believing that life has gone
back to “normal” than to worry about the
seriousness of the terror threat and war. This practice
is a manifestation of the individual Flight Response
on a Societal Level. The fact is that attempting to
mentally flee the threat and fear of harm by refusing
to accept terror as a reality will not make it go
away. Terrorism did not begin on September 11, 2001,
nor will it end with the transition to civilian authority
in Iraq. Wahabbism and Jihad now have oil wealth of
the house of Saud to support their “Great Caliphate”
design and will continue to spread the education of
hatred, extreme ideological and theological propaganda.
Terrorism was and will remain a serious threat to
the civilized world for years to come. Believing any
different simply makes us more vulnerable since those
that no longer believe themselves to be at risk and
have gone back to predictable complacency always represent
the softest target.
Collective Posturing
Response
The perceived condition of safety provided by civilized
living has made it easy for current generations to
forget the bloodshed and sacrifices that provided
our comfortable daily existence. As a result, the
notion that war is never justified and can be avoided
under all circumstances permeates modern Western thinking.
They think that diplomacy combined with the threat
of retaliation could achieve peace and refuse to understand
that peace can only be obtained from a position of
strength. This position is a manifestation of the
individual Posturing Response on a Societal Level.
The fact is that the notion of “threatening
to retaliate” simply sends a signal of weakness
to the enemy. To extremists that hope to die, someone
that just talks about retaliation is simply afraid
to fight. Men who think like warriors know that “a
dog that barks is not ready to bite”. A barking
dog is only posturing. Those with a warrior mentality
also know that posturing is just one step before submission
or fleeing. There is only one language they respect
– applied force. Not just a temporary show of
force, but a willingness to stay in the fight until
victory is attained.
Collective Fight Response
Throughout history, societies had to cultivate the
ability to wage warfare in order to survive. They
had to develop a segment of their society dedicated
to the making of war for communal purposes: a warrior
class – i.e., a sub culture where individual
valor is the ideal and individual sacrifice is the
norm. This practice is a manifestation of the individual
Fight Response on a Societal Level.
Individuals, families,
clans and other collectives have identifying themselves
as warrior, and thereby sought to distinguished themselves
from others. In doing so, they cultivated the concepts
of “death before dishonor”, as well as
practice extreme cruelty toward the enemy, non willingness
to surrender, and tenacity on the battlefield. To
overcome the natural fear of dying and achieve a high
level of commitment, some warrior cultures develop
a psychological conditioning method that embraces
death as a “positive” state. This has
been achieved through the popularization of a belief
system (often religion-based) that embraces the concept
of an afterlife. This “world” is then
just a “passage” to a better “world”.
The Viking and Whallhala, the Kamikazi and the code
of Bushido, the Hashasin in the 7th Century and the
Afghani Mujehadins have all subscribed to this point
of view. Understanding this characteristic of the
enemy is crucial to winning the war on terror.
Warrior-like cultures
cannot and have never been successfully deterred,
negotiated with, or transformed into peaceful societies.
They were simply defeated and eliminated, both physically
and culturally. This concept is not harsh or barbaric
it is an historical fact. As an example, we could
look at the similarities between the war against the
Comanche in Texas during the 1800 and the global war
on terror in 2005. Although the weapons have changed,
many tactics used by the Comanche resemble those used
by certain terrorists groups today, who embrace death
and abandon the notion of respect for life. Like the
Comanche, radical fundamentalist terrorists used ritualized
killing (like beheading) and infliction of pain (torture)
as a calculated effort to defeat our resolve by attacking
our civilized notion of a “dignified”
death. Like the Comanche, radical fundamentalist terrorists
used unconventional warfare to attack vulnerable civilians.
They operated in small independent “war parties”
(ie; cells) always attacking with surprise and from
ambush. As opposed to many other American Indian tribes
who did modify their approach and eventually abandoned
the war path, the Comanche refused to do so and ended
up being exterminated by the American Warrior Class
of the time.
We must come to term
with the true nature of our current enemy. An enemy
that cannot be deterred, avoided, nor changed. A fanatic
warrior class determined to see our demise or die
trying. We need to accept the fact that peace without
the strength of enforceable might is impossible and
that a society without warriors is a society besieged
by war. It is up to every American to resolve to fight
this threat until it is no longer. Cultivating our
individual courage is as relevant to our survival
as always and the most important weapon in the war
on terror.
To learn more about
the Quest for Courage™ and to find out more
about how you can help support everyday American heroes
please log on at www.FearlessAmericans.com
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