Rep. Allen West is a rare bird, in that he is not afraid to call the enemy by it’s [real] name. West: U.S. Must Understand 21st-Century Combat
West: U.S. Must Understand 21st-Century Combat
Today’s paradigm of battle and combat operations is completely different from what I experienced in 1982 when I was commissioned as a young lieutenant in the U.S. Army. At that time, the battlefield was much simpler.
In broad strokes, there was the Soviet Union on one side and the United States on the other. We were familiar with their tactics and equipment, and they with ours. Both sides wore uniforms, and every now and then we would stage war games on border control missions.
That paradigm has completely disappeared, leaving in its place an asymmetrical battlefield with non-uniformed, non-state belligerents using unconventional weapons and tactics. If the United States is going to be successful in protecting its citizens and interests, it must quickly understand and adapt to this new battlefield and be prepared for success and victory.
While America may lack an appropriate strategic level perspective, we will never lose at the tactical level on the ground because the United States has the best soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen the world has ever known. But without the correct strategic and operational goals and objectives, we will find ourselves on the proverbial hamster wheel. No matter how much effort we exert on the wheel, we will not make forward progress.
To begin with, we must correctly identify our enemy. It is frankly naive to say we are at war with “terror” because a nation cannot be at war with a tactic. Imagine, if during World War II, the United States went to war against the “blitzkrieg” or the “kamikaze.”
Further, we cannot narrowly define the enemy as simply al-Qaida or the Taliban. It is just as ridiculous to say we declared war against the 12th German Panzer Division or the 55th Japanese Infantry Regiment in World War II or the 7th Guards Tank Division during the Cold War.
Before the rise of al-Qaida, the terrorist group which had inflicted the most damage on the United States was Hezbollah. Now Hezbollah has become a very capable military force, albeit one without state or uniform — so capable in fact, it has armed missiles within striking distance of every city in Israel.
The Obama administration has failed to identify Hezbollah as an enemy. On this 21st century battlefield we are not fighting against a single organization, leader or nation. We are fighting against the ideology of Islamic totalitarianism, manifested at a tactical level as terrorism, which knows no country and recognizes no borders.
Until we, as a nation, are able to correctly and openly identify our enemy, we will continue to put our men and women on the ground in harm’s way without a clear mission for success. Once we have identified the enemy, we must ensure we have clearly identified the specific strategic level objectives to effectively fight.
I believe there are four:
1. Deny the enemy sanctuary. The number one asset our military has is strategic mobility. When that is curtailed by a focus on nation-building or occupation-style warfare, we eliminate our primary advantage, and worse, our military forces become targets. Because this enemy has no respect for borders or boundaries, we must be willing to take the fight directly to him.
2. Cut off the enemy’s flow of men, material and resources. We have to interdict the enemy’s flow of resources in order to prevent the ability to fund, supply and replenish his ranks.
3. Win the information war. Unfortunately, the enemy is far more adept at exploiting the power of the Internet, broadcast media and dissemination of powerful imagery. In addition, I fear our media now sees itself as an ideological political wing. If we cannot fully use our own national informational power as an asset, we will lose the strategic battle, if not our country.
4. Cordon off the enemy and reduce his sphere of influence. We must shrink the enemy’s territory, but we are not being effective. We are allowing, if not welcoming, the enemy into the United States. What happened with Maj. Nidal Hasan, the alleged Fort Hood shooter, should not have happened in this country. We must not turn a blind eye to a very bold enemy who is telling us exactly what he wants to do and is willing to bring the battle to our doorstep.
We must recognize that Afghanistan and Iraq are not distinct wars, but combat theaters of operation. It is up to our elected leaders and our senior military officials to identify and agree on the correct strategic goals and objectives in order to be successful on these battlefields and others. When we have a proper national security strategy, we will have a focused national military strategy, preparing the defense-industrial base to develop the right weapons systems for victory.
We must be mindful of the wise words compiled by Sun Tzu in “The Art of War” more than 25 centuries ago, “to know your enemy and to know yourself and to know the environment and countless amounts of battles, you will always be victorious.” If we do not understand this simple maxim, we face dark days ahead.
For the sake of our nation, and of all nations who seek freedom for their citizens, we must clearly identify the 21st century battlefield and ensure we are victorious on it.
Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), a retired Army lieutenant colonel, serves on the Armed Services Committee.
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[...] RSS Rep. Allen West: Winning the Battle Against [The Real Enemy] ‘Islamic Totalitarianism’ [...]
Great post Velvet Hammer Col West is a true Patriot and PC is not part of his programming. Now if he and we can convince folks in this country to be careful with embracing these people , like they are going to just roll over and forget what they have been taught for a life time we will be the better for it. Thanks.
Agreed 100%.
Those who fear being labeled an islamophobe, are playing right into Islam’s sharia loving hands.
Bowing as inferiors, they censor themselves as if they are already enslaved under Allah FUBAR.
Not I. And neither should any American (and all non-Muslims in the West for that matter) who values freedom.
You are so right Mr. McElroy! Sure wish Col West was running for President….he would have my vote.
Like the days of America’s Forefathers, the citizens rise again to fight the enemy from within and abroad. I’ve followed Allen West from the beginning in 2009 for his run for Congress and find him very knowledgable on Islam. His understanding of our Domestic and Foreign affairs is superior to that of the Obamaites. Florida will be one of the biggest battleground States for the 2012 Elections and we need to see that Congressman West stays in Office. Choose your Candidates carefully then back them 100%.
Many years ago when Pope John was alive he called for all the leaders of all faiths to Rome to talk about our differences on religion. The boston globe use to carry a section on religious affairs back then it had a story of a iman saying that they would use our freedoms against us to get what they want. Jump to today and we see how they are trying to undermind our way of life in schools redefine our laws because of their religion. They will not stop it is alright to lie to me you and the world to advance their so called religion of peace. It has been posted many times on the net about how they slowly move in at first a very small population but as they grow where ever they live they start to demand to change things to their liking while wanting to cripple our laws. They want sharia law mixed in with our laws and GOD knows they will not stop.When you go to a book store pick up the koran its either in the chapter called the “table or “the spider” it will open your eyes even more on this so called religion of peace as for any so called moderate muslim they don’t exist, why because if they the moderate muslim believe in the koran they are part of the problem be on guard America.
Assault on the Truth, Part 1: A PC Military vs. an Absolutist Enemy [Islam]
http://bigpeace.com/jguandolo/2011/11/19/assault-on-the-truth-part-1-a-pc-military-vs-an-absolutist-enemy/
During the Cold War, we viewed communism as an inherently dangerous ideology, the ideology of our main potential enemy. Of course, if we look back to that approvingly, we are called McCarthyites, and if we try to apply this rationale to Islam, we are called Islamophobes.
What would have happened if we had allowed ourselves to be deterred by name-calling, such as “Naziphobe” or “Marxophobe”? While there are good people who are Muslims and who do not go along with the depths of evil to which Islam plunges, so were there good people who were members of the Nazi Party and of the SS, and so were there good people who were members of the CPSU and of the KGB. Still, regardless of intentions, the powers they served were evil, and this is true of Mohammedanism as well.
The Second Amendment is exactly that: the Second Amendment. The First Amendment defends freedom of speech, of association, of the press and of religion. In short, it defends freedom of thought. Without freedom of thought and freedom to communicate that thought and exchange ideas, all the Second Amendment guarantees is that the tyrrany under which we fall will have armed citizens.
The fact that Allen West is right in this regard is also proven by the lack of media attention he gets – the silence is deafening.
CAIR of Detroit and Director, Dawud Walid has a website that attacks anyone who is a “Non-Believer”.
http://www.themuslimwatch.com/
Great article & thx!! PLEASE consider joining us at ALLEN WEST REPUBLIC. We’re on FB, Twitter @ALLENWESTREPUB (Cong West follows us on Twitter, 1 of only 46 people he follows). We are also on Tea Party Nation, Patriots Action Network and a few other conservative websites. We have our NEW website due in weeks. We have many “National Voices” as members and many who know Congressman West personally and/or professionally. We are NOT cheerleaders, we are activists. We are prepared to help get our Republic back from the brink. Join us!
[...] more: Rep. Allen West: Winning the Battle Against [The Real Enemy …موضوعات مرتبط2011/11/19 -- Rep. Allen West: Winning the Battle Against [The Real Enemy [...]
[...] more: Rep. Allen West: Winning the Battle Against [The Real Enemy …موضوعات مرتبط2011/11/19 -- Rep. Allen West: Winning the Battle Against [The Real Enemy [...]
[...] Rep. Allen West: Winning the Battle Against [The Real Enemy] ‘Islamic Totalitarianism’ [...]
[...] Rep. Allen West: Winning the Battle Against [The Real Enemy] ‘Islamic Totalitarianism’ [...]