David H. Hackworth

The U.S.-led international coalition against terrorism is steadily marshalling political, economic and military assets to strike back against the al Qaeda terrorist network of Osama bin Laden and his protectors, the Taliban movement ruling wartorn Afghanistan. We dedicate this issue of DefenseWatch to a number of key issues pertaining to the ongoing effort.

We call particular attention to the commentary articles by former U.S. Army Infantry officer Richard Kidd; retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, and our own deputy editor, J. David Galland. All bring unique perspectives to a complicated and challenging mission now confronting the United States and its coalition allies. Also, Air Force Editor Paul Connors provides a striking overview on the decline of America’s continental air defense capabilities since the end of the Cold War. And guest contributor Alan Caruba has a vigorous commentary on the impact of environmentalists on the ability of the U.S. military to prepare for combat.

In addition, Soldiers for the Truth Foundation has created a special web index on our main page that provides access to a number of government and private websites dealing with the issue of terrorism. We hope you find this useful in your own search for information and understanding. The link can be reached at http://www.sftt.us/terrorops.html.

And if you have any additional sites in mind that you think we should add to the roster, please contact me at defensewatch@aol.com.

And your own opinions and observations are most welcome to the overall team effort at DefenseWatch.

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Table of Contents

Hack’s Target For The Week: Beware the Enemy Within

By David H. Hackworth

When Jane Fonda visited North Vietnamese army troops while our GIs were being killed by those she was comforting, we tagged her “Hanoi Jane.”

Now she and other Vietnam-era war protesters are back at their divisive, feckless game. They and their latest recruits apparently can't compute that our country has just been assaulted by madmen as bad as Hitler's worst.

Self-appointed geo-strategist Fonda, commenting about the attack that killed more than 6,000 civilians in New York City alone, has already concluded, “It would be a mistake for America to retaliate militarily.”

Fonda, a born-again loose cannon concerned about “the saber rattling and calls for vengeance,” is urging people to “try to understand the underlying cause of the crime.”

Right - and while we're turning the other cheek, terrorists will be taking out the Statue of Liberty.

Where do we get such wrongheaded, solipsistic Looney Tunes? Want more?

Self-anointed Saint Madonna - not exactly known for her vows of poverty, chastity or acts of humility - is praying for peace while paraphrasing her apparent role model, Mother Teresa. “Violence,” she says, “begets violence.”

Try that one from the Material Girl out on the families whose loved ones didn't come home from work on Sept. 11. Or the orphans who want their moms and dads to hold them and tell them it's all been a bad dream.

Phil Donahue remained true to his hippy roots when he argued on television that “the memory” of those killed in the attacks wouldn't “be honored by going out and killing other civilians.”

Bill Maher, the host of ABC’s “Politically Incorrect,” put the icing on the appeasement cake for all his pacifist pals when he announced: “We have been cowards. Lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away, that's cowardly. Staying on the airplane when it hits the building, say what (you) want about it, (is) not cowardly.”

Mr. Maher, check out how that message went down with the rescue crews digging through smoking ruins with their bare hands, searching for survivors, while you were pontificating on prime time. Ask the widows of the firemen and policemen who paid the ultimate price about who's cowardly and who's brave.

Besides big mouths, what these celebrities have in common is that they all live in secure palaces where even their servants have access to gas masks. They're about as connected to the American people and the enormity of this tragedy as the terrorists themselves.

My wife, a former flower child, supposes that they might be so into denial they can't accept the hard truths that on Sept. 11, American civilians suffered almost three times the deaths inflicted upon our soldiers and sailors at Pearl Harbor, and that our very survival is at stake.

Whatever their hang-ups, one would think that even these high-profile yo-yos would get their acts together enough to support protecting their fellow Americans from clear and present danger. But the clueless celebs keep compulsively stirring the peace protest pot - even though their calls for pacification amount to providing aid to an implacable enemy whose publicly avowed purpose is to destroy our land of the free.

For sure, lots of rats are rolling in the aisles in Kabul and Baghdad while watching these clowns rant and rave on the tube. And the word from many who fought to preserve the Constitution, which gives these wonders the right to make fools of themselves, is that their treachery is over-the-top. That now, more than ever, we need to be a country united - not torn apart as we were over Vietnam, when protests aimed at the troops caused far more deaths by destroying our soldiers' will to fight.

Our privileged betrayers should ask what the world would be like had the USA not stood tall in the 20th century. Then, if they like the answer, they can go visit the Taliban as Fonda did the NVA.

David Horowitz, a Vietnam-era peacenik, said, “If I have one regret from my radical years, it is that this country was too tolerant towards the treason of its enemies from within.”

We can and should dissent when it's appropriate - but our first priority must be to secure Fort America from future strikes. Until then, we need to rally round the flag and practice unity, not division. And, as we used to say in Vietnam, “Stay alert, stay alive.”

Http://www.hackworth.com is the address of David Hackworth's home page. Sign in for the free weekly Defending America column at his Web site. Send mail to P.O. Box 11179, Greenwich, CT 06831.

© 2001 David H. Hackworth

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ARTICLE 1 - Prepare for a War of Extreme Brutality

By Richard Kidd

I was one of the last American citizens to have spent a great deal of time in Afghanistan and would like to offer my perspectives on the country, our impending war against the Taliban movement and the prospects of apprehending Osama bin Laden.

My first involvement there was in 1993, providing relief and assistance to refugees along the Tajik border, and in this capacity I have traveled all along the border region between the two countries. In 1998 and 1999, I was the Deputy Program Manager for the United Nation’s landmine action program in Afghanistan.

This program has been the largest civilian employer in the country with over 5,000 persons clearing mines and UXO [explosives]. In this later capacity, I was somewhat ironically engaged in a “Holy War,” as decreed by the Taliban against the evil of landmines; and by a special proclamation of Mullah Omar, all those who might have died in this effort were considered to be “martyrs” -- even an “infidel” like myself. The mine action program is the most respected relief effort in the country and because of this I had the opportunity to travel extensively throughout Afghanistan

In light of Dr. Tony Kern's excellent comments on the war against terrorism (“We Are All in the Terrorists’ Crosshairs,” DefenseWatch, Sept. 26, 2001) I would like to use them as a basis for sharing some of my own observations.

First, Kern is absolutely correct. This war is about will, resolve and character. I want to touch on that later, but first I want to share some comments about our “enemy.”

Our enemy is not the people of Afghanistan. The country is devastated beyond what most of us can imagine. The vast majority of the people live day-to-day, hand-to-mouth in abject conditions of poverty, misery and deprivation. Less than 30 percent of the men are literate, the women even less so.

The country is exhausted, and its people desperately want something like peace. They know very little of the world at large, and have no access to information or knowledge that would counter what they are being told by the Taliban. They have nothing left except for their pride.

Who is our enemy? Well, our enemy is a group of non-Afghans, often referred to by the Afghans as “Arabs” and their sponsors, the fanatical group of religious leaders and their military cohort we know as the Taliban. The non-Afghan contingent came from all over the Islamic world to fight in the war against the Russians, and many came using a covert network created with assistance by our own government.

OBL (as Osama bin Laden was referred to by us in the country at the time) resurrected this network to bring in more fighters, this time to support the Taliban in their civil war against the former Mujehdeen. Over time, this military support along with financial support has allowed OBL and his “Arabs” to co-opt significant government activities and leaders. OBL holds the formal title of Inspector General of the Taliban armed forces; his bodyguards protect senior Talib leaders and he has built a system of deep bunkers for the Taliban, which were designed to withstand cruise missile strikes. His forces basically rule the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.

This high-profile presence of OBL and his fighters has, in the last two years or so, started to generate a great deal of resentment on the part of the local Afghans. At the same time, the legitimacy of theTaliban regime has started to decrease as it has failed to end the civil war, as local humanitarian conditions have worsened, and as its “cultural” restrictions against the population have become even harsher.

Taliban Power Is Slipping

It is my assessment that most Afghans no longer support the Taliban. Indeed, the Taliban have recently had a very difficult time getting recruits for their forces and have had to rely more and more on non-Afghans, either from Pushtun tribes in Pakistan or from OBL. It is my assessment that bin Laden and the Taliban, absent any U.S. action, are probably on their way to sharing the same fate that all other outsiders and outside doctrines have experienced in Afghanistan -- defeat and dismemberment.

During the Afghan war with the Soviets, I and my fellow West Point classmates paid close attention the martial prowess of the Afghans. Most of us had high-minded idealistic thoughts about how we would all want to go help the brave “freedom fighters” in their struggle against the Soviets.

Those concepts were naive to the extreme. The Afghans, while never conquered as a nation, are not invincible in battle. A “good” Afghan battle is one that makes a lot of noise and light. Basic military skills are rudimentary and clouded by cultural constraints that no matter what, a warrior should never lose his honor. Indeed, even firing from the prone position is considered distasteful (but still done).

Traditionally, the Afghan order of battle is very feudal in nature, with fighters owing allegiance to a “commander,” and this person owing allegiance upwards and so on. Often such allegiance is secured by payment. And while the Taliban forces have changed this somewhat, many of the units in the Taliban army are there because they are being paid to be there. Still, all such groups have very strong loyalties along ethnic and tribal lines.

Again, the concept of having a place of “honor” and “respect” is of paramount importance and blood feuds between families and tribes can last for generations over a perceived or actual slight.

That is one reason why there were seven groups of Mujehdeen fighting the Russians. It is a very difficult task to form and keep united a large bunch of Afghans into a military formation. The “real” stories that have come out of the war against the Soviets are very enlightening and a lot different from our fantasy visions as cadets:

* When the first batch of CIA-supplied Stinger anti-aircraft missiles arrived and were given to one Mujehdeen group, another group -- supposedly on the same side -- attacked the first group and stole the Stingers, not so much because they wanted to use them, but because having them was a matter of prestige.

* Many larger, coordinated attacks that advisers tried to conduct failed when all the various Afghan fighting groups would give up their assigned tasks (such as blocking or overwatch) and instead would join the assault group in order to seek glory.

* In comparison to Vietnam, the intensity of combat and the rate of fatalities were lower for all involved.

As you can tell from above, it is my assessment that these guys are not that good in a purely military sense and the “Arabs” probably even less so than the Afghans. So why is it that they have never been conquered? It goes back to Dr. Kern's point about will.

During their history, the only event that has managed to form any semblance of unity among the Afghans is the desire to fight foreign invaders. And in doing this, the Afghans have been fanatical.

The Afghans' greatest military strength is the ability to endure hardships that would, in all probability, kill most Americans and enervate the resolve of all but the most elite military units.

The physical difficulties of fighting in Afghanistan, the terrain, the weather, and the harshness are all weapons that our enemies will use to their advantage and use well. (Self-appointed military planners and armchair generals please note: around Nov. 1, most road movement is impossible, in part because of the onset of winter and because all the roads used by the Russians have been destroyed. Air movement will be problematic at best.)

And those who will be fighting us are not afraid to fight. OBL and others do not think the United States has the will or the stomach for a fight. After the [Clinton administration’s] absolutely inane missile strikes of 1998, the overwhelming consensus among Afghans was that we were cowards who would not risk one life in face-to-face combat. That particular action and others of the not so recent past, have reinforced the perception that the United States does not have any “will” and that we are morally and spiritually corrupt.

Our Enemies’ Weaknesses

Our challenge is to play to the weaknesses of our enemy, notably their propensity for internal struggles, the distrust between the extremists/Arabs and the majority of Afghans, their limited ability to fight coordinated battles, and their lack of external support.

More importantly, though, is that we have to take steps not to play to their strengths, which would be to unite the entire population against us by increasing their suffering or by killing innocents; to get bogged down trying to hold terrain, or to get into a battle of attrition chasing up and down mountain valleys.

I have been asked how I would fight the war. This is a big question and well beyond my pay grade or expertise. And while I do not want to second-guess current plans, I would share the following from what I know about Afghanistan and the Afghans.

First, I would give the Northern Alliance a big wad of cash so that they can buy off a chunk of the Taliban army before winter.

Second, I would pay some Afghans to kill some of the Taliban leadership, making it look like an inside job to spread distrust and build on the existing discord.

Third, I would support the Northern alliance with military assets, but not take it over or adopt so high a profile as to undermine its legitimacy in the eyes of most Afghans.

Fourth, I give massive amounts of humanitarian aid and assistance to the Afghans in Pakistan in order to demonstrate our goodwill and to give these people a reason to live rather than the choice between dying of starvation or dying fighting the “infidel.”

Fifth, I would start a series of public works projects in areas of the country not under Taliban control (this is a much larger area than press reports indicate), again to demonstrate goodwill and that improvements come with peace.

Sixth, I would be very careful not to put any female U.S. service members into Afghanistan proper. My apologies to them, but within Afghan culture a man who allows a women to fight for him has zero respect, and to gain the cooperation of our Afghan allies, we will need their respect.

For the near term, I would hold off from doing anything too dramatic, instead keeping a low level of covert action and pressure up over the winter and allowing this pressure to force open the political fissures around the Taliban that have already been developing.

I expect that they will quickly turn on themselves and on OBL, and we can pick up the pieces next summer, or the year after. I would make sure that we do so on the ground, “man to man.”

While I would never want to advocate American casualities, it is essential that we communicate to OBL and all others watching that we can and will “engage and destroy the enemy in close combat.” We should not try to gain or hold terrain, but it is essential that we mount infantry operations against the enemy. There can be no excuses or lingering doubts in the minds of our enemies regarding American resolve and nothing - nothing - will communicate this effectively except for ground combat.

And once combat operations end, unlike in 1989, the United States must provide continued long-term economic assistance to rebuild the country.

Prepare For a War of Brutality

I think it is also important to share a few things on the subject of brutality. Our opponents will not abide by the Geneva Conventions. There will be no prisoners unless there is a chance that they can be ransomed or made part of a local prisoner exchange.

During the war with the Soviets, the Mujehdeen made videotapes of Soviet prisoners having their throats slit. Indeed, within Afghanistan there was a “trade” in prisoners among the different groups so that souvenir videos could be made by outsiders to take home with them.

This practice has spread to the Philippines, Bosnia and Chechnya where similar videos are being made today. We can expect any of our soldiers taken captive to be treated the same way, and I expect sometime during this war we will see videos of U.S. prisoners having their heads cut off.

Our enemies will do this not only to demonstrate their “strength” to their followers, but also to cause us to overreact, to seek wholesale revenge against civilian populations, and to turn this into the world-wide religious war that they desperately want.

This will be a test of our will and of our character.

This will not be a pretty war. It will be a war of wills, of resolve and, conversely, of compassion and of character.

We must show a level of ruthlessness towards our enemies that has not been part of our military character for a long time.

But to those in Afghanistan who are not our enemies, we must show an unprecedented level of compassion. We should do this not for humanitarian reasons (even though there are many), but instead for shrewd military logic.

Richard Kidd is a 1986 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and a former Infantry officer. This essay was originally distributed as a letter to his West Point classmates.

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ARTICLE 2 - Gen. McCaffrey On the War Against Terrorism

Editor’s Note: Retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, a 1964 U.S. Military Academy graduate, and the current Olin Distinguished Professor of National Security Studies, provided an interesting answer when recently asked by a cadet to identify what he would consider to be the “end state” in responding to terrorists. Gen. McCaffrey has given permission for distribution of his answer.

Question from Cadet:

Sir, I was hoping you could describe what you think the United States should consider as an "end state" on the matter of dealing with terrorists?
Eradication, containment, or some other option? And what would the United States consider the literal and figurative center of gravity?

Gen. McCaffrey's Answer:

Great issue to consider ... we have too liberally borrowed from the language of science to deal with the imperfections of political and security analysis. There will be no end state …. We will, if successful, manage this chronic threat to our survival, economy, and self-confidence by dramatically lowering the risk. We will build a series of defensive programs that will make a multiple order of magnitude increase in our day-to-day security.

Second, we will form a coalition based on common danger. Much of the globe will join us to leverage foreign intelligence services and security forces to fight {terrorists] forward in the battle area. Finally, we will at last take the gloves off and use integrated military power to find, fix, and destroy these organizations.

We are going to disrupt these people through pre-emptive attack ... we will
deceive them, we will run psyops on them…. [A]t selected points and times
they will be killed suddenly, in significant numbers, and without warning.
Tomahawk missiles, 2000-pound laser-guided weapons dropped from B-2s or F-22s at very high altitude, remote control booby traps, blackmail, and at
Places ... small groups of soldiers or SEALs will appear in total darkness
... blow down the doors and kill them at close range with automatic weapons and hand grenades.

We will find their money and freeze it. We will arrest their front agents. We will operate against their recruiting and transportation functions. We will locate their training areas and surveill or mine them. We will isolate them from their families. We will try to dominate their communication function and alternately listen, jam, or spoof it.

We will make their couriers disappear. If we can find out how they eat, or play, or receive rewards, or where they sleep ... we will go there and kill them by surprise.

The military component will be a supporting but lessor aspect of a strategy that will be based fundamentally on diplomatic and economic leverage to compel cooperation with international law. Of prime importance, we must reduce the environmental factors that feed this type of extremist madness …. [F]oreign aid must be dramatically increased to address the misery and poverty of the Palestinians, the Afghans, the Sudanese and others.

We must also not be unwilling to confront the state sponsors of terror: Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Cuba, North Korea …. [N]one can be allowed to provide the base for another sickening strike against our civilian population or our allies.

Conventional military power will be used at the end of the day to place at risk those states who present a direct threat to our security. If deterrence does not work with coherent political and economic measures in support of a threat capability … then their political will must be shattered with overwhelming violence directed at their armed forces and the political decision-makers.

The big challenge will be to organize America to protect our transportation, our economic activity, our entertainment, etc. with minimal invasion of our privacy and our free movement.

We will constrain domestic law enforcement through the protection of our judicial system. We will ensure the unfettered operation of a free press. We will have to be zealous to protect the Bill Of Rights and the dignity and safety of foreigners living among us during this war. We can do all of this. We have no option.

The American people will depend on you and your fellow soldiers to step forward and stand between us and the barbarians.

Gen. McCaffrey served in Vietnam and commanded the 24th Infantry Division in Operation Desert Storm. He served as commander of the U.S. Southern Command and after his retirement from the Army, served as Director of the White House Office of Drug Control.

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ARTICLE 3 - A Soldier’s Promise to America

By J. David Galland

Since the cowardly attack on the United States three weeks ago, most of us serving in uniform have become perplexed listening to the news media babble about the capabilities - or lack of capabilities - of the U.S. military toward confronting the terrorist perpetrators.

We have seen many references in the news media to Operation Enduring Freedom as “a new kind of war” and “an intelligence war” and “a new level of warfare.” My response, as a career Army intelligence specialist, is that such questions expose the level of ignorance in the news media on even basic military concepts.

I heard one television reporter ask, “But is this new Army up to this, since it is completely made up of young people brought up in the computer whiz-kid generation?” This really makes me wonder what the heck these media people think we are doing when not engaged in war. I’m starting to believe they actually think we just sit around the barracks in some sort of “Sergeant Bilko” program, waiting to get yelled at, or getting drunk, or smoking and joking.

I have patiently watched the endless parade of retired generals and all the resolute, self-professed terrorism experts (of whom few of us had heard of a month ago). None of them seems to realize realizes how off-base they are in their snap judgments and sidewalk assessments.

One wonders, how can these people know so much about today's military and its capabilities when many of them have been retired for a decade or more? Many on the interview circuit seem to know as much about the military and war as I do about redecorating the Vatican.

I can assure all Americans that soldiers in the U.S. Army and service personnel in all branches of the armed forces are feeling the intense bond of solidarity and team spirit that has spread throughout our country since Sept. 11.

You may soon observe how wrong it is to challenge the United States and endanger its beloved Freedom.

I don't know of a single soldier who does not equate the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon with an assault on his or her own family or homestead.

We will leave our homes when we must, we will venture into new terrain both uncertain dangerous. We are soldiers and we are volunteers, and we will keep you safe and we will ensure freedom.

So it is with pride and assurance that I report to the rest of America that your military is ready, stalwart, capable, and resolute in its conviction to protect you from all enemies. With the grace of the Almighty, we will do just that.

J. David Galland, Deputy Editor of DefenseWatch, is a career U.S. Army senior Non-Commissioned Officer currently serving in Germany who has served in combat in Vietnam, Grenada, Panama and the Balkans.

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ARTICLE 4 - Continental Air Defense Requires Major Upgrade

By Paul Connors

As the tragic events of Sept. 11 begin to fade from newspaper front pages and television, there is a lesson that must not be forgotten: The continental United States is not adequately protected from airborne threats entering our sovereign airspace.

The sad fact is, that despite having a dedicated air defense force, whose primary mission is air defense and air sovereignty, the United States suffered one of the most devastating days in its 225-year history.

Not too many Americans realize that the mission of continental air defense and air sovereignty protection is carried out by the Air National Guard. The mission area was transferred from the U.S. Air Force to the Guard in November 1997. The ANG organization responsible for command and control of this functional area is 1st Air Force, headquartered at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. First Air Force itself came under operational control of ANG with the arrival of Maj. Gen. Philip G. Killey in 1994

The transition was not just about turning the defense of the United States over to part-time military personnel. Currently under the command of Maj. Gen. General Larry K. Arnold, 1st Air Force headquarters is staffed by full-time military members, 80 percent of whom are full-time Air Guardsmen, with the remaining 20 percent coming from the active Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps.

Control of the national airspace is conducted by three regional air defense sectors, staffed by a combination of full- and part-time Air Guardsmen. The Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) operates at the former Griffis Air Force Base in Rome, NY. The guardsmen and women who are employed there are members of the New York Air National Guard. The Southeast Air Defense Sector (SEADS) co-located with 1st Air Force headquarters, is at Tyndall. The Western Air Defense Sector (WADS) operates at McChord Air Force Base, Wash. Air Guard personnel at the sectors are under state control during normal operations, but in the event of a real-world mission, they are self-federalizing while conducting air control and intercept operations.

While these men and women guard America’s skies, the persistence of Pentagon budget cuts has cut seriously into their strength and capabilities. That fact was brought home quite forcefully on Sept. 11, when none of the command’s dedicated air defense fighters could be scrambled quickly enough to prevent the disasters that befell the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

When the active duty Air Force first handed over the responsibility for CONUS air defense to the Air Guard, there were 10 Guard air defense fighter wings available for the air defense/air sovereignty mission. Continued cutbacks and force restructuring brought that number down to six wings and later to four.

Former units dedicated to the air defense mission were reassigned to the general purpose fighter force and larger holes appeared in the American air defense screen.

The really scary fact is that at any given time, the continental United States is protected by only eight F-15s and F-16s, and these aircraft sit alert at the four corners of the country. That is why when the hijacked airliners deviated from their flight plans and honed in on their final targets, no air defense fighters were in position to intercept and prevent them from making those devastating attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

To be sure, the fault does not fall on the Air National Guard units that carry out the air defense mission. After all, the air defense sectors are designed to protect against “intruders,” not commercial airliners legally cleared for their assigned routes. No one in the world expected them to make such radical course changes and then, plunge into assigned targets. The fault lies elsewhere and hopefully, accountability will be determined.

With over 6,000 civilians and military personnel dead in the four hijackings and subsequent suicide crashes, with severe disruption to our daily lives, with damage in the hundreds of billions of dollars to an already faltering economy, and with the failure of the federal government to protect America and her people, it is imperative that a full investigation be conducted into the disaster of Sept. 11.

However, we won’t have to look too hard to determine the blame. When Congress decides to do so, it should first look in a mirror, because it is Congress that controls the purse for the military. The House of Representatives and the Senate need to realize - and appear to be doing so in the aftermath - that defense against such dedicated terrorists will not be cheap.

To do so, Congress must adequately fund the Pentagon and the intelligence agencies. They must permit the nation, through the armed forces and intelligence community, to act in our own defense, regardless of world opinion. And they must allow intelligence and law enforcement agencies the freedom to act first so that there will be no repetition of Sept. 11.

Finally, to prevent any further airborne assaults like the one the nation just endured, Congress and the Air Force need to return more ANG fighter wings to the pool of units available for the air defense/air sovereignty role. If we do not do so, the gaps will widen and terrorists will know right where they are and how to exploit them. If we don’t provide a better air defense screen, we have no one to blame but ourselves if this disaster repeats itself.

Paul Connors, Sr. is DefenseWatch Air Force Editor.

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ARTICLE 5 - Champs and Chumps, by DefenseWatch Editors and Readers

CHAMPS

In this inaugural edition of “Champs and Chumps,” the editors of DefenseWatch award our highest Champion titles to the brave passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 who gave their lives on Sept. 11, 2001, to thwart the hijackers who had overtaken their aircraft. As we proposed last week, these were the first American fighters to respond to the unprecedented terrorist attacks, and Congress should consider creating a special medal for them and other civilians who distinguish themselves in fighting a war that targets all Americans. Our salutes to the late Jeremy Glick of Hewitt, N.J., Thomas E. Burnett Jr., of San Ramon, Sal., Mark Bingham, of San Francisco, Todd Beamer of Cranbury, N.J., as well as flight attendants Deborah Welsh of New York, and Sandra Bradshaw of Greensboro, N.C., who called their spouses to tell them they planned to throw boiling water on the hijackers. And to unknown others on the aircraft who helped.

Also deemed Champions are the hundreds of New York firefighters, police officers and other response officials who perished in the collapse of the World Trade Center and their counterparts in the northern Virginia area who assisted Pentagon employees in rescuing survivors from the building after it was struck by a hijacked aircraft.

A Champion award goes, too, to President Bush and his administration for the determined and resolute leadership they have shown in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. And to New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani, for his inspirational leadership in the hours and days after his city came under assault.

CHUMPS

A belated but emphatic Chump award goes to Bill Maher, host of ABC’s “Politically Incorrect,” for accusing the U.S. military of cowardice. “We have been the cowards," Maher said on his late-night show on Sept. 17. "Lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away, that's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it - not cowardly."

Another retrospective Chump award to the city of Berkeley, Calif., where firefighters were ordered to remove American flags from their firetrucks. The reason? City officials feared that anti-flag protesters trying to rip the flags off the trucks might be injured. Chump City, U.S.A.

Several SFTT members nominated Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, for what many observers say was a demonstration of petulant theatrics during President Bush’s speech to a joint session of Congress on Sept. 20. Her eye-rolling facial antics and tepid applause (described by columnist Michell Malkin “as if there were razor blades strapped to her palms”), earns Ms. Clinton the title of Madame Chump.

And a reachback Chump award to newspaper columnist Mary McGrory for her cheap shot at President Bush and damning-with-faint praise of New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani the day after the attacks. She wrote, “He [Bush] allowed himself to be hauled about the country like a fugitive to bunkers at air bases in Louisiana and Nebraska. … Bush said the attack was a ‘test’ for the country. It was also one for him. He flunked. But he says he believes in education and he has three years to take a makeup exam in leadership.” Of Guiliani, she hissed, “For those who find His Honor abrasive and even fascist, it was a surprise to find themselves waiting for his return to the screen.”

Harper’s magazine Publisher John D. MacArthur earned Chump designation last week when he told a reporter that U.S. Army Special Forces commandos would probably murder any American reporters they might find in Afghanistan. “This may turn out to be the freelancer's war,” MacArthur told The Village Voice. “This may be the first war where an American reporter is killed or garroted by a Green Beret for getting in the way.” You Chump.

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ARTICLE 06 - It’s Time for the Military to Fight the Greens

By Alan Caruba

As America begins to mobilize to win the war against terrorism, the quality and capability of the U.S. armed forces is going to become an important priority. During the eight years of the Clinton-Gore administration following the 1991 Gulf War, faceless bureaucrats - pledged to environmentalism at any cost - hastened the destruction of our military. Many of these holdovers are still in place today.

Just a year ago the following news article appeared in The Washington Times: “Endangered species has power to halt war training.” Datelined Fort Irwin, Calif., the report by Steve Miller began, “What may be one of the most formidable threats to national security today has a craggy face, scaly arms and, well, he likes a little grass now and then.” The reporter was referring to the desert tortoise.

Soldiers on the Army National Training Center were instructed to call a commander if a desert tortoise crawled out of a hole. At that point, the entire training exercise would stop. This insanity has been repeated on every military base in the nation in one fashion or another.

The Defense Department oversees and controls 17 million acres of U.S. land, down from 30 million acres after World War II. It has been losing the fight for space to train a modern military for years. When asked about the need for national security, a spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management (the same one that shut off water to the farmers of Klamath Valley) was quoted in the article as saying, “It is not in our purview to make a determination related to national security. Ours is to make sure the Endangered Species Act is complied with.”

There are hundreds of federal employees throughout many agencies who are little more than covert agents for the environmental movement. Their concern is not for national security, but for the security of an endangered species or some other environmental mandate that makes it impossible to train and equip our military to protect our nation at home or on foreign shores.

And then there's Rep. Bob Filner, D-Cal., now in his fifth term from the 50th congressional district in the San Diego area. His district includes the second-largest U.S. Navy port complex including three aircraft carriers and dozens of other warships as well as the U.S. 3rd Fleet and Pacific Fleet Naval Air Forces headquarters, and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center.

In June, this moron introduced the “Military Environmental Responsibility Act” (H.R. 2154) that seeks to remove all military exemptions from existing environmental, worker, and public safety laws and regulations. Apparently, Rep. Filner is not aware that serving in the Marine Corps, Air Force, Navy or Army is a very dangerous occupation and that part of the job description is being willing to die for the defense of the nation. Worse, his bill would put every element of our military under the thumb of the Environmental Protection Agency!

Our military is currently exempt from the millions of environmental and other laws to which everyone and every business in America must submit because of the doctrine of sovereign immunity. It means the federal government is not bound by the same laws as the rest of us unless Congress votes to waive that immunity. So far that has not happened because the business of the military is very different from doing research on the sex lives of catfish or manufacturing belt buckles.

The national and international environmental movement - generically known as the Greens - has been engaged in undermining the U.S. military for years. Few people have taken notice of it.

One of the most egregious examples has been the campaign to force the U.S. military to switch from lead-based ammunition to that requiring tungsten. This “green ammo” was said to be necessary because of the “environmental threat” from lead bullets and other shells. The bullets fired from standard issue M-16 rifles have always been made of lead, as was virtually every other bullet ever fired by our military going back to the days of the American Revolution.

The Green mandate for tungsten bullets ignored the fact that this metal costs easily twice as much as lead and that the greatest source of this metal is in mainland China. For several years, the U.S. Army - under intense pressure from the Greens within the Clinton-Gore administration - have been testing the overhaul of its ammunition.

In 1999, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-CA, warned that “The Clinton-Gore team has bled the military such that the Army is short $3.5 billion worth of basic ammunition alone.” He reported that the combined shortages for Marines, Navy and Air Force had caused “critical shortages of spare parts, equipment and training.” At that time. mission capability rates had fallen below 70 percent across the boards for all services.

In 1993, under then-Secretary of Defense, Les Aspin, an Office of Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Environmental Security as created. Its mission was to address issues such as “environmental degradation and the role of the military.” The only thing the military is supposed to degrade is the enemy's ability to wage war.

The office has been run by a former environmental lawyer, Sherri Goodman. As recently as last year, the office was bragging about protecting the environment of military personnel and their families, despite the fact that many bases have long since fallen into disrepair. Her office pushed for”environmentally sound technology and management programs within the Department of Defense.”

What has occurred, in reality, is the diversion of U.S. military personnel to undertake environmental projects that have nothing to do with the security of the United States or our fighting forces stationed overseas.

In just the few ways enumerated here, we can see how, once again, the Greens have infiltrated our military establishment, just as they have done in our nation's schools, and throughout federal and state government agencies. In every case, they have instituted and supported programs that will continue to have serious consequences for our national security and sovereignty.

It is time to identify and root out these enemies of our military. A good first step would be to rescind the DoD Office of Environmental Security. This would help to begin restoring our nation's ability to wage war effectively against its enemies at home and abroad.

Alan Caruba, an Army veteran, writes a weekly column, “Warning Signs,” at www.anxietycenter.com, the website of The National Anxiety Center.

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ARTICLE 07 - Medal of Honor Recipient - Pfc. Leo J. Powers USA

Heroes come in all shapes, sizes, and ranks. Initiative is the key to all Medal of Honor recipients. During this war on terrorism we will all need to show initiative.

POWERS, LEO J.

Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, 133d Infantry, 34th Infantry Division.

Place and date: Northwest of Cassino, Italy, 3 February 1944.

Entered service at: Alder Gulch, Mont. Birth: Anselmo, Neb.

G.O. No.: 5, 15 January 1945.

Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. On 3 February 1944, this soldier's company was assigned the mission of capturing Hill 175, the key enemy strong point northwest of Cassino, Italy. The enemy, estimated to be at least 50 in strength, supported by machineguns emplaced in three pillboxes and mortar fire from behind the hill, was able to pin the attackers down and inflict eight casualties.

The company was unable to advance, but Pfc. Powers, a rifleman in one of the assault platoons, on his own initiative and in the face of the terrific fire, crawled forward to assault one of the enemy pillboxes which he had spotted. Armed with two hand grenades and well aware that if the enemy should see him it would mean almost certain death, Pfc. Powers crawled up the hill to within 15 yards of the enemy pillbox. Then standing upright in full view of the enemy gunners in order to throw his grenade into the small opening in the roof, he tossed a grenade into the pillbox.

At this close [range], the grenade entered the pillbox, killed two of the occupants and three or four more fled the position, probably wounded. This enemy gun silenced, the center of the line was able to move forward again, but almost immediately came under machinegun fire from a second enemy pillbox on the left flank.

Pfc. Powers, however, had located this pillbox, and crawled toward it with absolutely no cover if the enemy should see him. Raising himself in full view of the enemy gunners about 15 feet from the pillbox, Pfc. Powers threw his grenade into the pillbox, silencing this gun, killing another German and probably wounding three or four more who fled.

Pfc. Powers, still acting on his own initiative, commenced crawling toward the third enemy pillbox in the face of heavy machine-pistol and machine gun fire. Skillfully availing himself of the meager cover and concealment, Pfc. Powers crawled up to within 10 yards of this pillbox fully exposed himself to the enemy gunners, stood upright and tossed the two grenades into the small opening in the roof of the pillbox. His grenades killed two of the enemy and four more, all wounded, came out and surrendered to Pfc. Powers, who was now unarmed.

Pfc. Powers had worked his way over the entire company front, and against tremendous odds had single-handedly broken the backbone of this heavily defended and strategic enemy position, and enabled his regiment to advance into the city of Cassino. Pfc. Powers' fighting determination and intrepidity in battle exemplify the highest traditions of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Editor’s Note: If you know of any MOH recipient who is hospitalized or has passed away recently, please email MOH Correspondent James H. Also, if you would like more info on MOH recipients and their stories, please email James H at bulldogleader@mindspring.com.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Article Submission Procedures/Subject Editors Sought

1. Try to keep articles to 750 words or less. SUBMIT IN MS WORD FORMAT, if
possible!

2. Submit your piece to one of the following editors:

Ed Offley
Editor, DefenseWatch
Email: defensewatch@aol.com

J. David Galland
Deputy Editor, DefenseWatch
Email: defensewatch02@hotmail.com

DefenseWatch is looking for volunteer subject editors willing to assist in screening and editing article submissions. We are looking for experts in the following areas: U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, U.S. Coast Guard, Special Operations forces/counter-terrorism, weapons of mass destruction (NBC), Reserve and National Guard affairs, and veterans affairs. If interested in joining the DefenseWatch team, please contact Ed Offley at defensewatch@aol.com

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GLOSSARY OF MILITARY ACRONYMS:

We've had numerous requests from troops in different branches of the
military to establish this link so that we will all know how "all you
others" talk that talk. The DoD site is not working but the nonprofit Federation of American Scientists has an excellent online acronym roster. Please see below:

http://www.fas.org/news/reference/lexicon/acronym.htm

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HACK BOOK SALES

Hack's books, About Face, Hazardous Duty, The Price of Honor and The
Vietnam Primer can be found at www.hackworth.com. They make a great addition
to any library. Hack is offering them at a special SFTT price.

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