fish2xs
Member
Gang, This arrived in my inbox the other day. I cannot verify, but was
told this was an essay from a book by Ralph Peters, "When Devils Walk the Earth."
I looked on Amazon, but was unable to find it.
Either way, I enjoyed the read, Hope you do as well:
Chapter III. Fighting Terror: Do's and Don'ts for a Superpower:
1. Be feared!
2. Identify the type of terrorists you face, and know your enemy as well as you possibly can.
Although tactics may be similar, strategies for dealing with practical vs. apocalyptic terrorists can differ
widely. Practical terrorists may have legitimate grievances that deserve consideration, although their
methods cannot be tolerated. Apocalyptic terrorists, no matter their rhetoric, seek your destruction
and must be killed to the last man. The apt metaphor is cancer: you cannot hope for success if you only
cut out part of the tumor. For the apocalyptic terrorist, evading your efforts can easily be turned into a
public triumph. Our bloodiest successes will create far fewer terrorists and sympathizers than our failures.
3. Do not be afraid to be powerful. Cold War-era gambits of proportionate response and dialog may
have some utility in dealing with practical terrorists, but they are counter-productive in dealing with
apocalyptic terrorists. Our great strengths are wealth and raw power. When we fail to bring those strengths
to bear, we contribute to our own defeat. For a superpower to think small, which has been our habit across
the last decade, at least, is self-defeating folly. Our responses to terrorist acts should make the world
gasp!
4. Speak bluntly. Euphemisms are interpreted as weakness by our enemies and mislead the American people.
Speak of killing terrorists and destroying their organizations. Timid speech leads to timid actions.
Explain when necessary, but do not apologize. Expressions of regret are never seen as a mark of decency by
terrorists or their supporters, but only as a sign that our will is faltering. Blame the terrorists as the root
cause whenever operations have unintended negative consequences. Never go on the rhetorical defensive.
5. Concentrate on winning the propaganda war where it is winnable. Focus on keeping or enhancing
the support from allies and well-disposed clients, but do not waste an inordinate amount of effort trying to
win unwinnable hearts and minds. Convince hostile populations through victory.
6. Do not be drawn into a public dialog with terrorists, especially not with apocalyptic terrorists.
You cannot win. You legitimize the terrorists by addressing them even through a third medium, and their
extravagant claims will resound more successfully on their own home ground than anything you can say.
Ignore absurd accusations, and never let the enemy's claims slow or sidetrack you. The terrorist
wants you to react, and your best means of unbalancing him and his plan is to ignore his accusations.
7. Avoid planning creep. Within our vast bureaucratic system, too many voices compete for attention and
innumerable agendas, often selfish and personal - intrude on any attempt to act decisively. Focus on the
basic mission: the destruction of the terrorists with all the moral, intellectual and practical rigor
you can bring to bear. All other issues, from future nation building, to alliance consensus, to
humanitarian concerns are secondary.
8. Maintain resolve. Especially in the Middle East and Central Asia, experts and diplomats
will always present you with a multitude of good reasons for doing nothing, or for
doing too little (or for doing exactly the wrong thing). Fight as hard as you can
within the system to prevent diplomats from gaining influence over the strategic
campaign. Although their intentions are often good, our diplomats and their obsolete
strategic views are the terrorist's unwitting allies and diplomats are extremely
jealous of military success and military authority in their region (where their
expertise is never as deep or subtle as they believe it to be). Beyond the problem
with our diplomats, the broader forces of bureaucratic entropy are an internal
threat. The counter-terrorist campaign must be not only resolute, but constantly
self-rejuvenating in ideas, techniques, military and inter-agency combinations, and
sheer energy. Old hands must be stimulated constantly by new ideas.
9. When in doubt, hit harder than you think necessary. Success will be forgiven.
Even the best-intentioned failure will not. When military force is used against
terrorist networks, it should be used with such power that it stuns even our allies.
We must get over our cowardice in means. While small-scale raids and other knifepoint
operations are useful against individual targets, broader operations should be
overwhelming. Of course, targeting limitations may inhibit some efforts but whenever
possible, maximum force should be used in simultaneous operations at the very
beginning of a campaign. Do not hesitate to supplement initial target lists with
extensive bombing attacks on nothing if they can increase the initial psychological
impact. Demonstrate power whenever you can. Show; don't tell!
10. Whenever legal conditions permit, kill terrorists on the spot (do not give them a
chance to surrender, if you can help it). Contrary to academic wisdom, the surest
way to make a martyr of a terrorist is to capture, convict and imprison him, leading
to endless efforts by sympathizers to stage kidnappings, hijacking and other events
intended to liberate the imprisoned terrorist(s). This is war, not law enforcement.
11. Never listen to those who warn that ferocity on our part reduces us to the level
of the terrorists. That is the argument of the campus, not of the battlefield, and it
insults America's service members and the American people. Historically, we have
proven, time after time, that we can do a tough, dirty job for our country without
any damage to our nation's moral fabric (Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not interfere
with American democracy, values or behavior).
12. Spare and protect innocent civilians whenever possible, but: do not let the
prospect of civilian casualties interfere with ultimate mission accomplishment. This
is a fight to protect the American people, and we must do so whatever the cost, or
the price in American lives may be devastating. In a choice between them, and us the
choice is always us.
13. Do not allow the terrorists to hide behind religion. Apocalyptic terrorists cite
religion as a justification for attacking us; in turn, we cannot let them hide behind
religious holidays, taboos, strictures or even sacred terrain. We must establish a
consistent reputation for relentless pursuit and destruction of those who kill our
citizens. Until we do this, our hesitation will continue to strengthen our enemy's
ranks and his resolve.
14. Do not allow third parties to broker a peace, a truce, or any pause in
operations. One of the most difficult challenges in fighting terrorism on a global
scale is the drag produced by nervous allies. We must be single-minded. The best
thing we can do for our allies in the long-term is to be so resolute and so strong
that they value their alliance with us all the more. We must recognize the innate
strength of our position and stop allowing regional leaders with counterproductive
local agendas to subdue or dilute our efforts.
15. Don't flinch. If an operation goes awry and friendly casualties are unexpectedly
high, immediately bolster morale and the military's image by striking back swiftly in
a manner that inflicts the maximum possible number of casualties on the enemy and his
supporters. Hit back as graphically as possible, to impress upon the local and
regional players that you weren't badly hurt or deterred in the least.
16. Do not worry about alienating already-hostile populations.
17. Whenever possible, humiliate your enemy in the eyes of his own people. Do not try
to use reasonable arguments against him. Shame him publicly, in any way you can.
Create doubt where you cannot excite support. Most apocalyptic terrorists,
especially, come from cultures of male vanity. Disgrace them at every opportunity.
Done successfully, this both degrades them in the eyes of their followers and
supporters, and provokes the terrorist to respond, increasing his vulnerability.
18. If the terrorists hide, strike what they hold dear, using clandestine means and,
whenever possible, foreign agents to provoke them to break cover and react. Do not
be squeamish. Your enemy is not. Subtlety is not superpower strength but the raw
power to do that, which is necessary, is our great advantage. We forget that, while
the world may happily chide or accuse us-or complain of our inhumanity-no one can
stop us if we maintain our strength of will. Much of the world will complain no
matter what we do. Hatred of America is the default position of failed individuals
and failing states around the world, in every civilization, and there is nothing we
can do to change their minds. We refuse to understand how much of humanity will find
excuses for evil, so long as the evil strikes those who are more successful than the
apologists themselves. This is as true of American academics, whose eagerness to
declare our military efforts a failure is unflagging, or European clerics, who still
cannot forgive America's magnanimity at the end of World War II, as it is of
unemployed Egyptians or Pakistanis. The psychologically marginalized are at least as
dangerous as the physically deprived.
19. Do not allow the terrorists sanctuary in any country, at any time, under any
circumstances. Counter-terrorist operations must, above all, be relentless. This
does not necessarily mean that military operations will be constantly underway
sometimes it will be surveillance efforts, or deception plans, or operations by other
agencies. But the overall effort must never pause for breath. We must be faster,
more resolute, more resourceful and, ultimately, even more uncompromising than our
enemies.
20. Never declare victory. Announce successes and milestones. But never give the
terrorists a chance to embarrass you after a public pronouncement that the war is
over.
21. Impress upon the minds of terrorists and potential terrorists everywhere, and
upon the populations and governments inclined to support them, that American
retaliation will be powerful and uncompromising. You will never deter fanatics, but
you can frighten those who might support, harbor or attempt to use terrorists for
their own ends. Our basic task in the world today is to restore a sense of American
power, capabilities and resolve. We must be hard, or we will be struck wherever we
are soft. It is folly for charity to precede victory. First win, then unclench your
fist.
22. Do everything possible to make terrorists and their active supporters live in
terror themselves. Turn the tide psychologically and practically. While this will
not deter hard-core apocalyptic terrorists, it will dissipate their energies as they
try to defend themselves and fear will deter many less-committed supporters of
terror. Do not be distracted by the baggage of the term assassination. This is a
war. The enemy, whether a hijacker or a financier, violates the laws of war by his
refusal to wear a uniform and by purposely targeting civilians. He is by definition
a war criminal. On our soil, he is either a spy or a saboteur, and not entitled to
the protections of the U.S. Constitution. Those who abet terrorists must grow afraid
to turn out the lights to go to sleep.
23. Never accept the consensus of the Washington intelligentsia, which looks backward
to past failures, not forward to future successes.
24. In dealing with Islamic apocalyptic terrorists, remember that their most
cherished symbols are fewer and far more vulnerable than are the West's. Ultimately,
no potential target can be regarded as off-limits when the United States is
threatened with mass casualties. Worry less about offending foreign sensibilities and
more about protecting Americans.
25. Do not look for answers in recent history, which is still unclear and subject to
personal emotion. Begin with the study of the classical world, specifically Rome,
which is the nearest model to the present-day United States. Mild with subject
peoples, to whom they brought the rule of ethical law, the Romans in their rise and
at their apogee were implacable with their enemies. The utter destruction of Carthage
brought centuries of local peace, while the later empire's attempts to appease
barbarians consistently failed!
told this was an essay from a book by Ralph Peters, "When Devils Walk the Earth."
I looked on Amazon, but was unable to find it.
Either way, I enjoyed the read, Hope you do as well:
Chapter III. Fighting Terror: Do's and Don'ts for a Superpower:
1. Be feared!
2. Identify the type of terrorists you face, and know your enemy as well as you possibly can.
Although tactics may be similar, strategies for dealing with practical vs. apocalyptic terrorists can differ
widely. Practical terrorists may have legitimate grievances that deserve consideration, although their
methods cannot be tolerated. Apocalyptic terrorists, no matter their rhetoric, seek your destruction
and must be killed to the last man. The apt metaphor is cancer: you cannot hope for success if you only
cut out part of the tumor. For the apocalyptic terrorist, evading your efforts can easily be turned into a
public triumph. Our bloodiest successes will create far fewer terrorists and sympathizers than our failures.
3. Do not be afraid to be powerful. Cold War-era gambits of proportionate response and dialog may
have some utility in dealing with practical terrorists, but they are counter-productive in dealing with
apocalyptic terrorists. Our great strengths are wealth and raw power. When we fail to bring those strengths
to bear, we contribute to our own defeat. For a superpower to think small, which has been our habit across
the last decade, at least, is self-defeating folly. Our responses to terrorist acts should make the world
gasp!
4. Speak bluntly. Euphemisms are interpreted as weakness by our enemies and mislead the American people.
Speak of killing terrorists and destroying their organizations. Timid speech leads to timid actions.
Explain when necessary, but do not apologize. Expressions of regret are never seen as a mark of decency by
terrorists or their supporters, but only as a sign that our will is faltering. Blame the terrorists as the root
cause whenever operations have unintended negative consequences. Never go on the rhetorical defensive.
5. Concentrate on winning the propaganda war where it is winnable. Focus on keeping or enhancing
the support from allies and well-disposed clients, but do not waste an inordinate amount of effort trying to
win unwinnable hearts and minds. Convince hostile populations through victory.
6. Do not be drawn into a public dialog with terrorists, especially not with apocalyptic terrorists.
You cannot win. You legitimize the terrorists by addressing them even through a third medium, and their
extravagant claims will resound more successfully on their own home ground than anything you can say.
Ignore absurd accusations, and never let the enemy's claims slow or sidetrack you. The terrorist
wants you to react, and your best means of unbalancing him and his plan is to ignore his accusations.
7. Avoid planning creep. Within our vast bureaucratic system, too many voices compete for attention and
innumerable agendas, often selfish and personal - intrude on any attempt to act decisively. Focus on the
basic mission: the destruction of the terrorists with all the moral, intellectual and practical rigor
you can bring to bear. All other issues, from future nation building, to alliance consensus, to
humanitarian concerns are secondary.
8. Maintain resolve. Especially in the Middle East and Central Asia, experts and diplomats
will always present you with a multitude of good reasons for doing nothing, or for
doing too little (or for doing exactly the wrong thing). Fight as hard as you can
within the system to prevent diplomats from gaining influence over the strategic
campaign. Although their intentions are often good, our diplomats and their obsolete
strategic views are the terrorist's unwitting allies and diplomats are extremely
jealous of military success and military authority in their region (where their
expertise is never as deep or subtle as they believe it to be). Beyond the problem
with our diplomats, the broader forces of bureaucratic entropy are an internal
threat. The counter-terrorist campaign must be not only resolute, but constantly
self-rejuvenating in ideas, techniques, military and inter-agency combinations, and
sheer energy. Old hands must be stimulated constantly by new ideas.
9. When in doubt, hit harder than you think necessary. Success will be forgiven.
Even the best-intentioned failure will not. When military force is used against
terrorist networks, it should be used with such power that it stuns even our allies.
We must get over our cowardice in means. While small-scale raids and other knifepoint
operations are useful against individual targets, broader operations should be
overwhelming. Of course, targeting limitations may inhibit some efforts but whenever
possible, maximum force should be used in simultaneous operations at the very
beginning of a campaign. Do not hesitate to supplement initial target lists with
extensive bombing attacks on nothing if they can increase the initial psychological
impact. Demonstrate power whenever you can. Show; don't tell!
10. Whenever legal conditions permit, kill terrorists on the spot (do not give them a
chance to surrender, if you can help it). Contrary to academic wisdom, the surest
way to make a martyr of a terrorist is to capture, convict and imprison him, leading
to endless efforts by sympathizers to stage kidnappings, hijacking and other events
intended to liberate the imprisoned terrorist(s). This is war, not law enforcement.
11. Never listen to those who warn that ferocity on our part reduces us to the level
of the terrorists. That is the argument of the campus, not of the battlefield, and it
insults America's service members and the American people. Historically, we have
proven, time after time, that we can do a tough, dirty job for our country without
any damage to our nation's moral fabric (Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not interfere
with American democracy, values or behavior).
12. Spare and protect innocent civilians whenever possible, but: do not let the
prospect of civilian casualties interfere with ultimate mission accomplishment. This
is a fight to protect the American people, and we must do so whatever the cost, or
the price in American lives may be devastating. In a choice between them, and us the
choice is always us.
13. Do not allow the terrorists to hide behind religion. Apocalyptic terrorists cite
religion as a justification for attacking us; in turn, we cannot let them hide behind
religious holidays, taboos, strictures or even sacred terrain. We must establish a
consistent reputation for relentless pursuit and destruction of those who kill our
citizens. Until we do this, our hesitation will continue to strengthen our enemy's
ranks and his resolve.
14. Do not allow third parties to broker a peace, a truce, or any pause in
operations. One of the most difficult challenges in fighting terrorism on a global
scale is the drag produced by nervous allies. We must be single-minded. The best
thing we can do for our allies in the long-term is to be so resolute and so strong
that they value their alliance with us all the more. We must recognize the innate
strength of our position and stop allowing regional leaders with counterproductive
local agendas to subdue or dilute our efforts.
15. Don't flinch. If an operation goes awry and friendly casualties are unexpectedly
high, immediately bolster morale and the military's image by striking back swiftly in
a manner that inflicts the maximum possible number of casualties on the enemy and his
supporters. Hit back as graphically as possible, to impress upon the local and
regional players that you weren't badly hurt or deterred in the least.
16. Do not worry about alienating already-hostile populations.
17. Whenever possible, humiliate your enemy in the eyes of his own people. Do not try
to use reasonable arguments against him. Shame him publicly, in any way you can.
Create doubt where you cannot excite support. Most apocalyptic terrorists,
especially, come from cultures of male vanity. Disgrace them at every opportunity.
Done successfully, this both degrades them in the eyes of their followers and
supporters, and provokes the terrorist to respond, increasing his vulnerability.
18. If the terrorists hide, strike what they hold dear, using clandestine means and,
whenever possible, foreign agents to provoke them to break cover and react. Do not
be squeamish. Your enemy is not. Subtlety is not superpower strength but the raw
power to do that, which is necessary, is our great advantage. We forget that, while
the world may happily chide or accuse us-or complain of our inhumanity-no one can
stop us if we maintain our strength of will. Much of the world will complain no
matter what we do. Hatred of America is the default position of failed individuals
and failing states around the world, in every civilization, and there is nothing we
can do to change their minds. We refuse to understand how much of humanity will find
excuses for evil, so long as the evil strikes those who are more successful than the
apologists themselves. This is as true of American academics, whose eagerness to
declare our military efforts a failure is unflagging, or European clerics, who still
cannot forgive America's magnanimity at the end of World War II, as it is of
unemployed Egyptians or Pakistanis. The psychologically marginalized are at least as
dangerous as the physically deprived.
19. Do not allow the terrorists sanctuary in any country, at any time, under any
circumstances. Counter-terrorist operations must, above all, be relentless. This
does not necessarily mean that military operations will be constantly underway
sometimes it will be surveillance efforts, or deception plans, or operations by other
agencies. But the overall effort must never pause for breath. We must be faster,
more resolute, more resourceful and, ultimately, even more uncompromising than our
enemies.
20. Never declare victory. Announce successes and milestones. But never give the
terrorists a chance to embarrass you after a public pronouncement that the war is
over.
21. Impress upon the minds of terrorists and potential terrorists everywhere, and
upon the populations and governments inclined to support them, that American
retaliation will be powerful and uncompromising. You will never deter fanatics, but
you can frighten those who might support, harbor or attempt to use terrorists for
their own ends. Our basic task in the world today is to restore a sense of American
power, capabilities and resolve. We must be hard, or we will be struck wherever we
are soft. It is folly for charity to precede victory. First win, then unclench your
fist.
22. Do everything possible to make terrorists and their active supporters live in
terror themselves. Turn the tide psychologically and practically. While this will
not deter hard-core apocalyptic terrorists, it will dissipate their energies as they
try to defend themselves and fear will deter many less-committed supporters of
terror. Do not be distracted by the baggage of the term assassination. This is a
war. The enemy, whether a hijacker or a financier, violates the laws of war by his
refusal to wear a uniform and by purposely targeting civilians. He is by definition
a war criminal. On our soil, he is either a spy or a saboteur, and not entitled to
the protections of the U.S. Constitution. Those who abet terrorists must grow afraid
to turn out the lights to go to sleep.
23. Never accept the consensus of the Washington intelligentsia, which looks backward
to past failures, not forward to future successes.
24. In dealing with Islamic apocalyptic terrorists, remember that their most
cherished symbols are fewer and far more vulnerable than are the West's. Ultimately,
no potential target can be regarded as off-limits when the United States is
threatened with mass casualties. Worry less about offending foreign sensibilities and
more about protecting Americans.
25. Do not look for answers in recent history, which is still unclear and subject to
personal emotion. Begin with the study of the classical world, specifically Rome,
which is the nearest model to the present-day United States. Mild with subject
peoples, to whom they brought the rule of ethical law, the Romans in their rise and
at their apogee were implacable with their enemies. The utter destruction of Carthage
brought centuries of local peace, while the later empire's attempts to appease
barbarians consistently failed!
Speak loudly, clearly and carry a big stick.
