It has been six months since the Kamikaze Krazies forced us into the trenches, high time for a situation report on how we’re doing.
Firstest with the mostest is Dubya, who’s morphed into the perfect wartime leader: confident, decisive, assigning clear mission-type orders as opposed to micromanaging like some past presidents might have.
But the federal government has acted the way it did just after Dec. 7, 1941 – like an elephant awakened by a rodent bite, flailing about at first, then finally getting it together enough to begin stomping the rats.
On the homeland front, Tom Ridge’s task of tying more than 50 agencies into a team capable of pulling the rope together in the same direction is proving to be mission impossible. He seems to be spending a lot of time and dough building yet another overblown Washington institution where bureaucrats write interminable, often redundant memos while they scratch each other’s backs with our tax dollars.
The homeland czar’s only apparent accomplishment so far is a soon-to-be-unveiled terrorism alert system that gives the public more precise information when the federal government issues warnings of potential terrorist attacks – which could and should have been done by Week Two. Hopefully, he’ll revisit the Principles of War – especially the Principle Unity of Command – and then show us some of that sergeant skill he displayed on the battlefield as a small-unit leader in Vietnam.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has been brilliant at both stand-up improv during briefings and the no-nonsense military leadership we need. Under him, our Special Operators and guys and gals in the sky have performed second to none. Since Sept. 11, they’ve moved quickly and set up around the globe, placing a laser-focused noose around the terrorist gangs and their supporting nation-state sanctuaries. Just putting and keeping all the pieces in place has been – and continues to be – a major feat. In war, the bottom line is always logistics, logistics, logistics – and, thanks to our supply generals, we’re strong on moving the beans and bullets.
On the other hand, our conventional Army forces in Afghanistan have made some scary tactical and trigger-pulling mistakes, driving home the point that because soldiers need to train the way they fight, the social experiments of recent years have got to disappear. Most green armies stumble the first time out, but I’m sure Rummy’s having not-so-friendly little chats with the generals about keeping our boys out of body bags. He should learn from Vietnam the price of caving into politics and condoning leaders who can’t figure out how to fight the war they’re confronting.
Our local cops and FBI – both big players in homeland defense, both operating on a shoelace – have been terrific. Despite the poor funding and red tape between federal and local authorities, they’ve pre-empted terrorist attacks by the score and already have a bunch of sleeper creeps under lock and key. Our Joes and Janes on the street know what’s at stake and are well into and up for the mission – we just need to make sure they’re all working off the same page and have the right stuff to do their job.
Overall, we’ve seized the initiative and have the enemy where we want him – reacting to us. We’ve busted up his command and control and have him ducking and weaving all over the world. Since 9-11, he hasn’t been able to get in a good hit – and now, more than ever, we’ve got to keep punching. When you’re on the run, it’s hard to shoot straight.
Yes, he’ll strike again. Probably with attacks at least as horrific as the World Trade Center. But fortunately we’re up against mostly third-string fumblers like the shoe bomber who couldn’t give himself a hotfoot even with a full box of matches.
I have no doubt we’ll win this war as long as we support our government all the way. We need to gear up to go the distance and understand the battles won’t all be Kosovo-easy, bloodless, sanitized. And here at home, we can do our part by remaining ever alert and reporting anything even remotely suspicious to the cops and FBI.
The mistake the enemy made was he didn’t understand something as American as Coca-Cola, that old Yankee motto, “DON’T TREAD ON ME.”