Are we winning the war?

This article was written by John Lehman who served as secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration and later served as a member of the Sept. 11 commission. This is a condensed version of an article appears in this month's issue of the U.S. Naval Institute's Proceedings magazine. The article is not yet available on line, so I don't know if he included any strategies for combating the global war on Islamic Fascism.

While I agree with much of John Lehman's assessment, I think that he might have been a bit too harsh in his overall criticism of the Bush administration and pessimism in regards to winning the war. Unfortunately, we as a nation simply can't form a consensus to do what needs to be done. Hindsight is 20/20, and the Bush administration had to react in real-time to evolving threats all across the globe. Escalating and engaging in more conflict around the world is not popular policy whether it is necessary or not. It's especially not popular with an American population which isn't informed of the full extent of the war on terror and the US role in combating it worldwide. Our War on Terror is definitely a misnomer and I agree with the administration it should be replaced with the war against Islamic Fascism. It offers the scope and definition to our mission and states exactly what we are dealing with. MSNBC's Keith Olbermann disagrees...strongly. I don't think Keith has done very much research into the subject.

Many (most) Americans don't take time out of their prime time t.v. to actively seek out what is going on in the world beyond what they see in an hour of news every day. By and large, we trust in our politicians and military to track world events for us and keep us in our cozy (and oblivious) lives. We trust the media to deliver the news relevent to our lives and leave it at that. The problems start when things go awry in one part of the world and grab all the headlines. American opinion is then formed based only on the events that make for sexy news stories. Suicide bombings in Iraq and military attrocities like Abu Grahib and Haditha make the news while the other side of pre-emptive doctrine against terrorist groups like the mission of The
Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, or CJTF-HOA and their doings in the Horn of Africa get missed.

The task force has had four commanding generals in four years. All were Marines, and all built the foundations of strategy from Small Wars Manual, the classic treatise on counterinsurgency warfare that was written in 1940 by veterans of the Banana Wars and dusted off again for the hearts-and-minds campaign in Iraq. Since 2002, CJTF-HOA has built 52 schools, 6 hospitals, and 21 medical clinics; dug 23 village wells; and vaccinated thousands of people—and the animals that support their livelihood—against disease. In January 2006, when a decrepit, inhabited four-story building collapsed in Nairobi, Kenya, the task force assisted with the recovery efforts.

Around the Horn by David J. Danelo illustrates the successful implementation of strategies learned from fighting insurgency in Iraq. The military is taking it's pre-emptive doctrine and running a humanitarian campaign and PR campaign. Their goal is to eliminate the environment where hatred spreads.

Why is this important? Because we are fighting The Long War and this war will be generational. These education focused heart and mind missions are our only counter to the propagandists. Battles fought with bull dozers, shovels and medical treatment are all part of the larger fight...the ideological one where we try to prove through deed we are not the Great Satan as we are referred to.

We believe the freedom to choose what is best for the individual. We cherish life and try to live this life to the fullest. It is very important that we understand our enemies will willingly surrender everything in this life to bring the world into Allah's hand. They do this because of their faith...their government-mandated faith. There is no other faith allowed by law and no other areas of religious study are allowed. This is the definition of Fascism. The limited media coverage of world events is doing us a great disservice. They report none of this and the American people are kept in the dark about this spreading ideology.

Americans are unaware of the overall context of the spreading Islamic Fascism view events in Iraq differently and fail to see them in the context of the international conflict against this radical Islam. The chaos in Somalia has coalesced into the ICC taking control of the government and implementing a Shari' a state governed by Shari’ a law. The creation of another theocracy in Iraq like the one forming up in Somalia or already in existence in Iran counters everything that we have strived for over there. We must stay until we are completely sure they will not regress into another Middle Eastern theocracy unable to control its radical citizenry and spawning jihadists who live for nothing other than the destruction of Israel and the United States.

I know the Iraq conflict is in the forefront of every American's mind, but it needs to be noticed by the American people what is going on in the rest of the world. Islamic Fascism is real and spreading. Our presence in Iraq is not the cause; the ideology predates our affiliation in the region and is designed to spread...by the sword or any other means available. This global problem cannot be contained if the world remains asleep to the problem and won't address it for what it is. One only needs to look at the effects of the totalitarian regime taking root in Somalia to see what this culture is about and what its designs for the rest of the world are. Somalia reflects the game plan to be used on the rest of the continent (assuming the ICC is ultimately successful there).

Since June 5, when the I.C.C. drove out the warlords who had controlled Somalia's official capital Mogadishu, the Courts movement has expanded its control throughout the country's south and has recently penetrated the central regions, setting up Shari' a courts, forming local administrations based on agreements with clan elders and militia leaders, and imposing civil order. Throughout its ascent, the I.C.C. has met with little resistance from local populations, has eliminated the few remaining strongholds of warlord power and has isolated the internationally recognized but impotent Transitional Federal Government (T.F.G.) in its temporary capital, the provincial town of Baidoa.

The I.C.C. is a whole hearted believer in blaming America and Israel for all of the world's problems, only they toss in Ethiopia as another group to wipe off the map...regional flavor difference I suppose:

Throughout the first two weeks of August, the I.C.C. continued its practice of mobilizing the population in mass demonstrations. The most important of them were a rally in Mogadishu on August 11 attended by 2,000 people in support of Lebanon and against the "enemies of Islam" (the United States, Ethiopia and Israel), and demonstrations on August 14 supporting the I.C.C. in the Mudug and Galguduud regions, where the Courts had recently extended their rule.

One of the primary objectives of the ICC was getting out their message. We build schools they take over media outlets:

On August 7, the I.C.C. gained its first mass-media outlet, taking over Radio Mogadishu, which was part of the facilities that came under its control when it ousted forces loyal to warlord and T.F.G. deputy prime minister and interior minister Hussein Aideed from his stronghold Villa Somalia on July 27.

Muslims worldwide are outraged when we call these groups fascists, but what else do you call people that stifle all other political or opposing viewpoints?

The I.C.C.'s strategy of imposing control over ideological and political expression was evidenced on August 17 when its forces broke up a meeting in Mogadishu of the moderate Muslim group al-Islah, which advocates dialogue between the I.C.C. and T.F.G., on the grounds that the organization had not applied for a permit. I.C.C. spokesman Abdul Rahim Ali Mudey explained that the Courts would license meetings so long and they are "not a threat to public safety or Islamic teaching."

This is exactly what we are fighting. This is what our forces in the horn are trying to oppose and control the spread of, however they are limited in their mission:

Challenges remain. For CJTF-HOA to carry out its strategy in the Horn, it must be permitted access to a country by the national government and the State Department. Eritrea does not allow Coalition forces, and the Yemeni government restricts humanitarian assistance and military training to a lower level than CJTF-HOA would like. The government of Sudan also has not granted access to the American military.

And significantly, CJTF-HOA is not allowed into Somalia. With no central government and no borders—the eastern boundary in Ethiopia's Ogaden Desert is called a Provisional Administrative Line—the lawless land is, according to CJTF-HOA, ripe for the spread of fundamentalism. However, the State Department, which is the lead organization on developing Somalia policy, restricts CJTF-HOA from officially operating in the region.5 "Somehow or another," General Ghormley said, "I have to affect what's going on in there. Because I am not allowed into Somalia, the best I can do is to surround it with U.S. forces."

This mirrors the situation we have in Afghanistan. While US special forces, intelligence groups and the marines had great success with the original campaign to defeat the Taliban and remove their strongholds, the Taliban was allowed to regroup and reform in the mountainous border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

It's also strikingly similar to the cross border rally points terrorists and insurgents operating in Iraq enjoy in Syria and Iran. Syria covers for Hamas when they kidnap prisoners and offers a place for the kidnappers to stay...if they can make it there. They also have time for Hezbollah and provide the final chain in the logistical train arming them with their rockets.

These are all parts of the same war. We must view it as the same conflict with the overreaching ideology. We can't fight these militants who enjoy the protection, funding and especially sanctuary of sympathetic nations.

Why we didn't pay attention to the lessons learned fighting limited warfare with measured responses in Viet Nam I don't know. I do know that as we continue to fight this war it is more and more apparent that we are not (willing) to fight the root cause, merely the symptoms. Handcuffed by PC paranoia, we as a country can't even agree on what to call it.

Response to President Bush's recent speech were predictable and negative. Dean dismissed the entire speech as fear mongering and the rest of the beltway merely brushed it off as politics as usual. It's not encouraging that politicians only interested in winning elections blow off the war on Islamic Fascism so easily.

So the question remains: Are we winning? I think we're currently at an impasse and are positioning for the next round. I think the better question is: Can we afford to lose?