The Art of War

Today was another day of the new reality, a day when that segment of the Islamic population that wishes to reign down death and mayhem upon the West were successful in launching an attack upon us. I’ve had a feeling about our terrorist foes for a while now, a feeling that was affirmed today with their attacks on the residents of London. At the very heart of the matter, they do not understand their enemy. It is why they chose to do what they did today.

What do I mean by this? Well, London is a horrible target. Just as the World Trade Center Towers were horrible targets.

If their stated goal of defeating the US and other Western powers like they believe they is accurate they couldn’t be doing a worse job of it today. While it is possible that their goals are otherwise, they are consist with their rhetoric transmission released to Islamic media outlets. Furthermore, deception would hardly serve them well as it regards their recruits. Recruits who signup for a mission to “defeat the infidels” only to find out that the real objectives are otherwise would be more than a little disillusioned with those they believed to be brothers in arms. It would also be significantly dangerous for the leaders of such movements like bin Laden.

So why is London such a horrible target for a terrorist bombing? Well aside from the fact that Adolph Hitler dropped so many more tons of bombs on the city than al Qaeda could ever hope to drop. If Osama bin Laden and his compatriots raised funds and hid out for 10 years, they could never hope to create the terror that Hitler managed to foist upon the British population all while fighting on a second front in Russia. More recently the IRA made a go of terrorizing London into buckling to their demands. Ultimately, both failed to defeat Londoners of two different generations. Both of these generations remain alive and active in many aspects of private and public service today. It is inconceivable to think that this one attack will do anything but steel their resolve in today’s challenges.

While victory over al Qaeda and their copy cat groups will likely never occur in the fashion that one associates with traditional warfare all Americans and Europeans should take comfort in their poor choice of targets. As long as their choice in targets demonstrates a failure to understand their enemy al Qaeda will remain an outclassed foe capable only of striking at the edges. There will certainly be more bloody days like today, but we are definitely in the drivers seat in this battle.