Counter Attack and Retake the Message

As I listen to Democrats and the main stream liberal media rail on about how America has created a new generation of jihadists by the way we are fighting the Global War on Terror and more specifically by invading Iraq and deposing Saddam Hussein I’m always at a loss to understand how they answer a simple question. If we are creating more jihadists why have they not increased their attacks on American interests either at home or abroad since 12 September 2001?

Most of these liberal clowns claim we are just lucky to date, while I believe we haven’t been attacked for two primary reasons:

1. Since 12 September 2001 America’s security services have been unleashed and ordered to go on the offensive, from military might to the creation of the Homeland Security Department to the active work of the Intelligence services it’s becoming more of an all for one attitude towards defending America at home and abroad. History will show that the Clinton administration hindered the CIA’s efforts against Osama bin Laden on several occasions while not only neutering the intelligence community he decapitated the US militaries offensive capabilities by reducing personnel, equipment and readiness levels throughout the 90’s to create the so-called peace dividend and those future imaginary surpluses liberals love to talk about.

2. Just as important or perhaps more so, it seems unlike the past Clinton administration the Bush administration got the message on 9-11 loud and clear and responded with directives to hunt down and kill all those that want to hurt us. Not just those who have on 9-11 but all those who threaten and support those who will. It was a dramatic and unexpected change that Al Queda wasn’t prepared for and why should they I suppose. After eight years of Clinton’s pacifist approach to five major attacks on the US and its interests both at home and abroad followed by a disputed Presidential campaign which left the impression that America was divided and didn’t support the new President led to a wrong-headed decision to test this President who could rarely pronounce foreign leaders names.

What the Clinton administration never understood was that the world’s terrorists and the regimes that supported them only respond to one thing and that’s action. Not threats, not diplomacy and certainly not inaction as we saw after the USS Cole attack.
Further proof of this theory can be found by looking at Europe over the past seven years. The European Union has been fully against America since 20 March 2003 when Iraq felt the reality of Shock and Awe. The European people held massive rallies and the politicians spoke loudly and repeatedly against the war. For their efforts the terrorists while flooding into Iraq to die by the gross also began bombing campaigns across Europe. If we are so bad why not attack us and leave the terrorist loving European Capitol’s alone? Why indeed, it’s simple, attack Europe and nothing happens except perhaps a change in government to ensure European troops won’t fully participate in Afghanistan or at all in Iraq but attack America and you will be hunted and America will impose sanctions on your support base or worse yet invade your training grounds and kill the vast majority of your leadership.
The only place the terrorists are succeeding is in war of marketing. American’s still believe we are losing in Iraq regardless of what facts are put in front of them and are even starting to believe that the Taliban-Al Qaeda joint venture have somehow regenerated their capabilities in Afghanistan once again regardless of the facts.
In 2006, the Taliban were operating in company strength (groups of 100 plus men) throughout Helmand and Kandahar provinces when the Canadians and Brits took over these two provinces from US forces. Throughout 2006 the Canadians fought hard and pursued the Taliban while the Brits began a force buildup that would lead to a hugely successful preemptive March offensive in 2007. Today after less than two years on the ground the Taliban are now only operating in cells of 2-4 men and have only once gathered in a group of company size during which 40 were killed and 25 captured. They have not been able to conduct a spring offensive since 2006 and have now resorted to the Iraq tactics of IED’s and suicide attacks which as we’ve seen in Iraq will soon turn the population against them and further produce the results that lead to stability.
If only we could get the main stream liberal media to buy into the idea that in the case of fanatical terrorists you must use force as diplomacy and carrots are only seen as weakness. They laugh when we debate waterboarding because they fear it and laugh harder when Congress continually debates the programs that actually hurt them like the wiretap program. If we don’t win, it will be because we failed to live up to the rhetoric we heard on 12 September 2001 when we all demanded that our President do whatever it takes to keep us safe. While we continue to win the battles we are losing the press and if there is any comparison to be made to the Vietnam War history will tell us that if we don’t counter attack and retake the message we will lose the war.