Followers

Friday, July 4, 2008

Terrorists don't want to hit U.S.

I have heard about the idea that the enemy has not hit the U.S. since 9/11 because they don’t want to yet. The history of warfare does not lend much support to this idea. Prior to 9/11, many Islamic terrorist groups had thought of Israel as being the main target. It is accepted that today, many have changed to think of the U.S. as the main target. Throughout history, it has been desirable to strike at the enemy base as soon as possible. If anything, to place them on the defensive. One example is the Dolittle raid of April 1942. It was an almost suicide attack. It was only by good fortune that most of the aircrews survived. And the damage possibly inflicted was expected to be not only minimal, but also short term at best. No repeat of the attack was planned. The real reasons for the attack was to prove that it could be done, make an attack upon the enemy’s homeland. We had been getting our butts kicked, and we needed something. It was a morale booster for us, and morale damaging to the enemy, pure and simple. The point is, we could only barely hit them. A one way mission at that. And even us, the people who love life and liberty, did it. You will find it difficult to convince me that our current enemies would not hit us again if they had the capability.

I do believe that the enemy made a mistake on 9/11. They really should have waited until they had nuclear weapons. If they are ever able to obtain nuclear weapons, they may want to wait a limited period of time to hit us with more than one or two. However, time would be limited. The longer they wait, the more the risk of exposure goes up. It is very unlikely that they would be able to wait more than a period of a few months after they have attained the capability AND the resources to deliver them. I doubt they would be able to wait a full year. The history of warfare has shown time and again that once the capability to deploy and/or use a new weapon system has been attained, the time period of actual use of the weapon is almost immediate. I am speaking of involvement in an actual shooting war. Peacetime development is another issue altogether. But after all, our enemies and us are engaged in an actual shooting war.

No comments:

Post a Comment