Beyond Incompetence

The classified reports that are being leaked to news organizations go far beyond accidental missteps ala war-critic Richard "Stone Age" Armitage. The New York Times has been particularly malicious in releasing information they knew to be classified and hiding behind "Freedom of the Press." Well, maybe the federal government cannot prosecute the New York Times for publishing information that they came by through no malfeasance of their own. But the government can and should prosecute those who leaked it.

The initial leak-based report of the most recent national intelligence assessment was incomplete anyway. And anywone who thinks that the recommendations about prosecuting war on terrorists is simple enough to be based on a headline or a couple of sentences has an unrealistic view on life and cannot be trusted with pen and paper, let alone a printing press.

The crux of the argument is not really news anyway. The assertion by the intelligence community--that the war in Iraq is being used by terrorists as a recruitment tool--is not a mystery. To act as if what this reality, which has always been understood, validates their opposition to the war smacks of dishonesty. The terrorists hate us and are always looking for ways to replenish their ranks. They need to do that because we keep killing them.

The law of averages suggests they will achieve some measure of success no matter what rationale they use, but the Iraq issue is uniquely effective for a whole host of reasons, including a deep-harbored fear among many of the manipulated ill-informed that the U.S. is trying to run a 21st century Crusade against Islam. Al Quaeda is decentralized because we have killed or captured many of their leaders and we keep disrupting their attempts to organize.

Of course, this has natural consequences in the short term. As we literally and figuratively blow them to smithereens, it will be difficult to find all of the widely dispersed pieces (and this is, the estimate indicates, a desireable short-term goal). However, that dispersement poses particular challenges for a nation as large as ours, given the terrorists' proclivity to hide themselves behind civilians. It is right and proper that we recognize these consequences, for they speak to the nature of terrorism and the natural difficulties in fighting it.

The war against terrorists cannot be won without recognizing its difficulties. But the more obvious truth is that it cannot be won if we give up once we discover it will be difficult. This much is expressed in the supposedly damning document, which states:

If democratic reform efforts in Muslim majority nations progress over the next five years, political participation probably would drive a wedge between intransigent extremists groups willing to use the political process to acheive their local objectives...

Duty to preservation of freedom requires our nation destroy rebellions against the rule of law. Now is not the time to flounder. Now is the time to stand firm, and although there's nothing in the leaked information that warrants classification, those who did leak it should be treated as the traitors they are.

United We Stand

Last night I took the time to buy and watch United 93, the 2006 film about America's first response to the attacks on 9/11. It occurred to me as I watched it how effective the unpredictable use of terrorism can be against a society that relies on government for everything, including defense. In the film, well-meaning, good people from all walks of life are shown in a state of well-controlled but utter confusion. As NORAD strove to protect America's landmarks, operations centers and cities, they could not react quickly enough to the events at hand.

It's easy to dismiss the ineffectiveness of the government's reaction to the attack at the time as being the result of not having our "war footing." We did not even understand who the enemy was and how big their plan was until all the planes in the air had either reached their targets, crashed into fields, or landed safely. Inconsistent information was coming in from different places, and I got a sense of hopelessness that resulted from the situation and confusion being portrayed, not the certainty of historical events. I was inundated with Hollywood movies, I guess, and was hoping for a different outcome until the very end, and I forgot just how real it all was--how real it all is.

But the war footing explanation doesn't hold water. Not really. The people in charge of NORAD were trained professionals, as were the members of the military responding to the atrocities that day. There was nothing at all wrong with their training. The effectiveness of the tactics used by the terrorists speaks directly to the absolute nature of big things to react slowly and the effectiveness of causing damage to big things--even kill them--through subterfuge.

Terrorism to America is what Death by A Thousand Cuts was to an unfortunate Chinese prisoner. It is never the first cut that kills. It is the accumulation of cuts over a period of time, which was usually followed by a coup de gras to finish off the prisoner, although such a stroke only hastened the inevitable.

The passengers and crew of United Flight 93 were truly America's first responders. It wasn't the government or the military, with all of their training, money and foreign intelligence who dealt the first blow to our attackers. It was ordinary folk just going about their business who, in one shining moment, inspired a nation to fight back in spite of the enormous difficulties.