November 1, 2001

The Taliban have been playing the "you are killing civilians" card more in recent days.  By claiming inflated civilian casualties, and by using phrases like "genocide against the Afghan people," they want to inflame Islamic sentiment against us, sow discord among our allies, and weaken our resolve.

I was especially disturbed last week by an article from a Jordanian newspaper that reported a poll among Jordanian opinion makers (intellectuals, government officials, business people, etc.).  Jordan, you remember, is one of the more stable and progressive countries in the Middle East.

One response to the poll was that the large majority did not think the attack on New York and Washington was an attack on the American people.  Whom was it an attack on?  The people in the Twin Towers were not primarily military personel or government workers even if you want to make that distinction.

Besides, in America we do not tend to draw lines that clearly between our government employees and the rest of us.  That would be like arguing that the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor that opened World War II was not an attack on the American people.

While I am skeptical in nature, and while I never give any government a blank check, I have no doubt that our air strikes are aimed at military targets, and I have no doubt that we are trying to avoid civilian casualties.

We must accept as a fact that unintended casualties occur in any war. On several occasions during World War II our own troops were killed by "friendly fire."  That means that we either shot down or bombed our own troops accidently.

The accounts of the firebombing of Tokyo in World War II makes one want to weep.  The Japanese located factories and residential areas side by side. Any attempt to bomb factories meant bombing residential areas.

And yes, I follow the line of thinking that says we probably saved a million American lives by using the atomic bomb.  Do you realize how much the Japanese culture idealized fighting to the death?  Do you realize how few prisoners of war were taken in actions against the Japanese military in World War II?  Casualty rates among Japanese units were regularly between 95% to 98%.  Those taken prisoner usually were wounded and unable to kill those who aproached them.  And, in my reading, I see no case made that the Japanese were ready to surrender before the atomic bomb was used.  In fact, the evidence seems to me to point to the fact that they were preparing civilians to defend every inch of Japanese soil.  The end result of the tragic use of the atomic bomb is that the shortened war probably saved many Japanese lives as well.

Since we value the life of the individual and try to limit military and civilian casualties, we have trouble understanding cultures that do not.

We are dealing with people who do not value life in the same way as we do.  In the war between Iran and Iraq in the recent past, Iran sent women, children, and old men to the front to take part in human wave attacks.  Iraq responded by using poison gas. (And, these two Islamic countries did not call a truce during Ramadan.)

Because we value life and try to keep casualties down, we are seen by much of the world as weak  Two Chinese colonels, Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui, in their recent book Unrestricted Warfare, see our concern as a weakness and advocate terrorism as one tactic to be used in any war with the United States.  In fact, they name bin Laden as one of the new warriors to be emulated.

A part of the battle plan of our real and potential enemies is to cause as many casualties as possible because they believe we will fold.

Also, a part of the psychological warfare plan is to proclaim that we are killing civilians, hoping in part to weaken our resolve.  In other words, they want to use our values against us.

We need to ask ourselves two hard questions.  Are we at war?  The attack on New York and Washington certainly looked like war.  The evidence seems to me to be that bin Laden and those of like mind have been at war with us for some time.  September 11th announced to America that we were at war.

Do you have any doubts that these people would have killed five million rather than five thousand if they could have pulled it off?  I have no doubt that the second wave of the attack has been to spred anthrax, although our government is still seeking evidence as to the origin of the anthrax.

The object is to destroy America.  Many in Islamic countries teach children from kindergarten up to chant "death to America."  They teach their children that America is the Great Satan that must be destroyed.

Some Islamic clerics have called for all people of  Islamic faith to wage a Holy War against America.  They call for attacks on American interests, and they call for killing Americans whereever they can be found.

Iran is no friend of the Taliban, but this past week the hard line leader of Iran's judiciary told judges to take legal action against anyone who spoke publically about improved ties with America. He considers the national interest in Iran to lie in antagonizing America, whom he calls the Great Satan. Iran supports several terrorist groups (whom they like to call freedom fighters).

We must remember that the objective for bin Ladin and his allies is to force America out of the Middle East, take down moderate Arab governments, destroy Israel, and impose the Taliban version of Islam on the world.  They have declared war on America, and they mean exactly what they say.

If you doubt this point, go to The Guardian, a British newspaper, which has online a Vocie of America interview with Mullah Omar Mohammad, the Taliban spiritual leader.  He wants America to stop supporting all the moderate Arab governments in the Middle East "so the people" can overthrow them.  His brand of Islam is the only real Islamic faith.  He sees us as infidels and "God will never be satisfied with infidels."

Don't think so many governments are supporting us because they love America.  They realize a new war has been declared on civilization.  What happend in New York and Washington can happen in London or Paris or any other city in the world.  Arab governments are supporting us because they realize that one objective of this war is to topple their governments. 

Last week a Tory leader in Britain started declaring that the objectives of the war weren't clear.  Probably, he is trying to make political points against the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

Perhaps he has been taking a long nap.  Our government has stated the objectives clearly: (1) Destroy terrorist networks, and (2) take down governments that support terrorists.  We have started with Afghanistan.  Others are on the list,

We are making progress.  The recent calls for more attacks on the United States coming from inside Afghanistan, the Taliban leaders taking reporters to show them civilian casualties (largely unconviencing), the call for a cease fire during Ramadan (we need a break so we can reposition and resupply our troops), the current Islamic media offensive about civilian casualties, and the new "we are willing to talk if you show us proof of bin Laden's guilt," only means that our military campaign is beginning to work.

My favorite is "show us the proof of bin Laden's guilt."  Translated it means, "Tell us your intelligence sources so we can kill them or change our methods of operation."

We need to pray for our leaders, and we need to pray for wisdom.  War is always wrong.  Sometimes it is the lesser evil.

Is it less evil to bomb Afghanistan and conduct military operations there, or is it less evil to let bin Laden, the Taliban, and those of like mind have more time to continue unimpeded their war on America while developing more weapons of mass destruction?

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