And another view

[WMSteed@aol.com]

This is somewhat long and we have been inundated with info on terrorist.  but 
worth reading....

>The following comments just came to me from a friend, who received it from 
>one of his friends who spent his entire career at the State Department as 
>the Associate Director for Counter-Terrorism & Emergency Planning.  He 
>expresses his thoughts brilliantly, and gives some real insight into what 
>terrorism is about. If you read nothing else during this time of disaster 
>in America, read this. It's well worth it. This is the real thing. 
>--------------------------------------------- 
> 
>As some of you are already aware, I was once the Associate Director for 
>Counter-Terrorism & Emergency Planning at the State Department and have 
>done some private consulting work in that field since my retirement. 
>Several of you have asked me for an opinion on today's events.  For 
>whatever it may be worth, here's my two cents. 
> 
>What happened today was not specifically a result of our policy towards 
>Israel and/or the Palestinians, although that policy certainly is a 
>component part of the hatred directed against us by the fundamentalist 
>Islamic world. From their perspective, we are, as the Iranians call us "the 
>Great Satan" because our society and our culture is seen as seducing their 
>young people away from what they believe to be proper and appropriate 
>submission to Allah.  It is not coincidental that one of the first major 
>acts of terrorism against the Shah in Teheran was the bombing of a crowded 
>movie theater playing what fundamentalists considered to be scandalous, 
>idolatrous films.  American television, film, books, music and pop culture 
>is the predominant force around the world and the most conservative 
>elements of Islam fear and hate it.  In places like Saudi Arabia and 
>Afghanistan, simple possession of an entertainment video tape is a serious 
>crime. 
> 
>It is critical to recognize that our opponents have a totally different 
>cultural approach to the world and a worldview that is so different from 
>ours as to make them seem as if they are from another planet.  We must not 
>make the mistake of trying to deal with them as if they would or even could 
>respond as we would under the same or similar circumstances. They can't and 
>won't.  During the Second World War we saw critical differences between the 
>Germans and the Japanese.  Despite the bestiality the Germans were capable 
>of, they remained western in outlook and could and did accept defeat.  The 
>Japanese - equally bestial - were prepared to die to the last man, woman 
>and child and could conceive of no greater glory than dying for the 
>emperor.  Our attempts in early 1945 to deal with the Japanese as if they 
>were rational (by our standards), was doomed to failure because they simply 
>could not hear what we were saying and, regrettably, we had the same 
>problem in hearing them.  In dealing with Islamic nations, we will have to 
>learn a new language, if we are to be effective in reaching a reasonable 
>accommodation. 
> 
>The rub is that reasonable accommodation is only possible in a culture 
>where compromise is an honorable means to an end.  Where one side takes its 
>instructions directly from God, compromise may never be possible. There 
>have been sufficient number of holy wars fought in the West to remind us 
>that true believers are frightening people.  In the past few days, we all 
>saw the incredible images of hatred on Protestant faces directed against 
>Catholic schoolchildren in Belfast.  Scenes eerily reminiscent of Alabama 
>and Mississippi in the 1960's.  The genocidal wars of the Balkans were 
>fought, as well, along religious lines.  Next to nationalism, religion is 
>probably the most destructive force ever created by man.  I say created by 
>man because there are so many competing groups, each convince that it and 
>it alone is the authentic voice of God and that all other are doomed.  Once 
>you are convinced that your enemy is also the enemy of God and that God has 
>forsaken him then all things are possible and no act too cruel. 
> 
>In the short term, we will have to live with significantly more day-to-day 
>inconveniences.  We will have to be serious about our airport security and 
>that of major government and civilian facilities.  This will cost money and 
>will not happen overnight.  We must stop worrying about the "rogue" missile 
>from North Korea which does not even exist and worry more about the car 
>bomb which does.  This battle over threat is not new.  Almost twenty years 
>ago, when I first got into this business, there was group which worried 
>about and continues to worry about "weapons of mass destruction".  It would 
>be the height of folly not to worry about these things but even greater 
>folly to place this worry at the top of our list.  The number one weapon of 
>terrorists world wide is the car bomb.  From Beirut to Oklahoma and all 
>stops in-between, more people have been killed by car bombs than all other 
>terrorist weapons. They are easy to make, materials are readily available 
>and they work. Today's attacks were made by airborne car bombs. 
> 
>The two realistic methods of defense are first of all, good intelligence 
>and secondly good contingency planning.  In 1997, I wrote the counter and 
>anti-terrorist security plan for the New Seoul International Airport.  I 
>had a lot of help from experts in many fields to assure, to the degree 
>possible that we covered all the bases.  Nevertheless, unless the plan is 
>regularly exercised and updated, it is about as useful as a doorstop.  Why 
>has no El Al aircraft ever been hijacked or bombed? because the Israelis 
>take security seriously and do not employ minimum wage people to monitor 
>x-ray scanners.  Because they take the threat seriously, they employ some 
>of their best people and willingly spend the money to keep their people 
>alert and on guard.  We must do the same. For any of you who may have 
>served in the armed forces, you will remember standing sentry duty.  The 
>first time out, you are incredibly alert, all nerve ends straining to hear 
>the faintest sound, see the slightest shadow.  As the days go by and 
>nothing happens, you begin to relax.  By the end of a few weeks, they could 
>drive dump trucks past you without your notice.  Add to this monotony a 
>minimum wage and little education, you get four hijackings in one day. 
> 
>A final point.  What happened today was planned months ago, possibly as 
>much as a year or more.  Terrorists do not suddenly wake up one morning, 
>decide to steal four airplanes and with exquisite precision crash into 
>three major buildings.  It took a lot of time, a lot of reconnaissance and 
>a lot of planning.  It is during this stage that they are the most 
>vulnerable.  After the fact reports from most terrorist incidents are 
>replete with examples of people noticing other people shriveling the site 
>but failing to think anything about it or to report it to anyone. I am sure 
>that we will see the same thing when this investigation is completed.  Good 
>security starts with control of your perimeter and knowledge of who is 
>there and who shouldn't be. 
> 
>Meanwhile, life will go back to normal and, until the next possibly 
>avoidable tragedy, we will revert to our old sloppy habits.