Americans should prepare for unconventional war and live without fear, says USU professor
If the United States is going to prevail in its war against terrorism, American citizens must realize conventional war is not going to solve the problem and they must look at the situation without fear, said Larry Boothe, adjunct professor for national security affairs at Utah State University.
Boothe said there are three stages of war. The first is terrorism, which can be defined as an act of war, authorized by a person or a group of people who are lashing out. In the present instance, the terrorists wanted to spread fear among Americans and they wanted to demonstrate their power to two audiences, the one that supports them and the one they are trying to impact.
He said the second stage is guerilla warfare and the third is conventional.
“Conventional warfare is about the only type of warfare the United States thinks about, as a people. Many of our people don’t think about it at all,” Boothe said. “The president has decided to do what he’s doing. And why has he decided to do it? Because you’ve got the majority of the people screaming for the traditional, conventional strike,” he said.
Jeannie Johnson, an instructor in the political science department who has a broad background in intelligence, said President Bush is doing a “stellar job” with the tasks he is undertaking.
People must realize “his capability to act is limited to the sphere that is acceptable to the American people,” Johnson said.
She said she is “praying that he will get serious about humanitarian aide.” She noted that the United States is dropping its food packages from 40,000 feet onto mine fields, and the food is “tempered for Western tastebuds.” This type of propaganda pacifies Americans and is great cinematography, but it is not of great use to the Afghan people, she said.
Boothe, who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency for 31 years, said the United States needs to think of a more practical way to fight the Taliban. He said the United States must realize the battle is with a tribe, not a nation.
“We don’t have anything to bring Mr. bin Laden out of his cave,” he said. “We’re ill-equipped to fight that tribe.”
Most nations know not to take on Afghans in Afghanistan for two reasons, Boothe said. The first is they are the most ferocious, determined people in the world when it comes to defending their tribe. In addition, their harsh environment offers them protection. Afghanistan has “18,000-foot mountains, with narrow gorges and very few valleys, a very severe cold climate, or [one that is] hotter than hell.” In contrast, the Wellsville mountains are approximately 9,200 feet high.
The Afghan people have personalities which match their environment, Boothe said. When the military enters Afghanistan, they fight the environment and the people. He said the only way to reach Osama bin Laden is to enter the country by foot because the mountain passes will be blocked by snow in about 40 days. Small divisions will have to be sent in because planes can’t enter the territory where bin Laden is hiding.
Boothe said the “battle will be long and tough, we’re probably going to lose some more people. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of the terrorist strikes.”
The thought of more terrorism on U.S. soil makes many people fearful. However, Boothe said this is the worst mistake American citizens can make. Bin Laden has two main goals. The first is to unify the Muslim world, which he thinks he can do by getting the United States engaged in war. The second objective is to establish a world-wide government dominated and run by Islam and his view of Islam, Boothe said.
Johnson said the Taliban has a definite advantage over the United States because they only have to say things to make people afraid.
“They only need to send threats to cause chaos and make people feel insecure,” she said.
Boothe said Americans will be doing the work for bin Laden if they alter their lives and are always fearful.
The attacks of Sept. 11 were terrible, but people must push their emotions aside and keep it in perspective, he said. The best way to look at the events of the past month is to become more educated about terrorism.
“Backing away from emotion [is] the most difficult thing that any human being must do,” Boothe said. “What good does it do to get all upset about something that you can’t do anything about?”
There are going to be other things that happen that make people fearful and there probably won’t be a way to prevent them, but people must not live their lives being afraid. The recent attacks didn’t impact America’s ability to defend itself, the military was not destabilized, the government was not brought down and the economic system was not destroyed, he said.