What Is Terrorism?

The definition of terrorism is the deliberate use of violence and brutality for the purpose of political gain. Terrorism is not a new form of warfare. It has been around as long as mankind.

It is typically used by a group of people who are weaker and have fewer resources against a superior enemy. One of the best examples of terrorism in history is the Revolutionary War. To get an idea what is involved, I recommend that you watch the movie, "The Patriot." You will see some excellent examples of a weaker force defeating a far superior standing army. And yes, we were the terrorists, and we all agree that it was the right thing to do.

Now, here is an important point. If you take a stroll back through history you will discover that in almost all cases involving the use of terrorism, the superior army was defeated. Terrorism works because there is no central command. There is no way for the attacking army to take out command and control because there is no command and control.

Why do I bring this up this morning? Because our country's leadership has declared war on terrorism and history tells us that we cannot and will not win a war against terrorism. And yet, we are now considering sending more troops into Iraq because, as we have known all along, we are severely undermanned. We are sending more of our children into a conflict that we cannot win.

Why? Well the standard answer is to avoid complete chaos in Iraq. To finish our mission is another. I believe the true answer is that someone wants to save face. A withdrawal now would be to admit defeat.

When we first went into Iraq, my fear was that we would end up in another Viet Nam. Anyone remember that conflict? Sure enough, we are in another Viet Nam, only instead of swamps, we're fighting in deserts.

History is very clear, the Viet Cong did it to us in the 60's, the Afghans did it to the Russians in the 80's, and now the Iraqi's are doing it to us again. What the rest of the world sees, that for some reason we cannot, it that the best way to defeat a superpower is to fight a war of terror.

Are we winning the war on terror? No, unless you keep score by counting bodies and if that were the case, why not just sit back and bomb the whole country into the stone age and save our sons and daughters. Because body counts are not a measure of victory in war.

History will once again prove that if we do not remember our history lessons, we are doomed to repeat them. The common saying of "this time it is different" is a lie.