If internal opposition could end the role of the last president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, why not Khamenei’s?
Nothing of the sort will be undertaken by the Obama administration, because this president wants to be remembered as the man who embraced the Islamic Republic, not as the American leader who brought it down. Our challenge to the mullahs and their allies in the Kremlin will have to await new leadership in Washington. Those new leaders will have to craft a winning strategy that will bring freedom to Iran, thwart Putin’s ambitious undertakings in the Middle East and Europe, and break the worldwide enemy alliance.
Assembling Our Forces
We are not without resources. Although our enemies are strong and growing stronger, and although our military and economic strength has been gravely weakened in recent years, we can win this thing. But only with good leaders capable of galvanizing the country, restoring morale and better intelligence to the military and the intelligence community, and establishing new and rebuilding our current international alliances. Our new leaders are going to have to undo the alienation of traditional friends from Europe and the Middle East to South Asia and Latin America. Diplomacy alone will not be sufficient; at the moment, nobody takes us seriously. We will have to demonstrate the ability and the resolve to crush our enemies.
We should start with strengthening our relationships with Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Israel is the only country in the world that routinely defends itself against terrorist attacks—when most of the world refuses to call it terrorism. The Israelis live next to terrorist states, and are constantly asked not to treat them as threats, but to make generous concessions to them.
Israel is enormously valuable to us. Israeli intelligence organizations are exceptionally good, their understanding of Radical Islam is very deep, and their technology may be the best in the world. Of the many mistakes of the Obama presidency, its open hostility to Israel is one of the most damaging to our national security. I find it simply incredible that an American president should believe a strategic alliance with Iran to be more attractive than our traditional embrace of Israel. Our new leaders need to reverse that, pronto. We will need Israel if we’re going to defeat the Radical Islamists, and above all, the Iranians.
Egypt is the biggest Arab country, which saved itself from the clutches of the Muslim Brotherhood. I have quoted at some length from President Sisi’s brave call for a Muslim “Reformation,” and he well understands the urgency of destroying the jihadi armies in Libya, Gaza, the Sinai, and Yemen, as well as doing everything he can to fight the Brotherhood inside Egypt. If we are to defeat al Qaeda and ISIS in North Africa, Egypt is indispensable. Here, too, we must reverse policy.
Jordan has long been the one Arab country to really make peace with Israel, and Egypt has joined their ranks. King Abdullah’s kingdom is now doubly threatened: hundreds of thousands of refugees have headed to Jordan from the Syrian and Iraqi wars, and the Jordanian government lacks sufficient money and supplies to deal properly with them. Second, the Iranians and Syrians are supporting terrorist attacks, and although Jordan has a first-class intelligence community, they can certainly use additional help.
We need to support the Jordanians any way we can, and our Middle East strategy should be coordinated with all three of these nations. We will also want to undo the severe damage that has been done to our relationship with the Saudis, who will have to deal with an intensifying Iranian campaign in the immediate future.
We will also need to revive our working relations with countries such as Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, India, and Argentina. Long-standing friends such as Australia, Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy will be easier, but there’s an awful lot of hard work to do.
Good, strong diplomacy will be indispensable, but you can’t undo years of dithering and retreat with words alone. We will have to take real steps, we will have to take action on the battlefield. I don’t want to make specific tactical recommendations here, because the situation is changing so quickly, and good leaders are always ready to abandon a losing strategy in favor of something more promising.
We wouldn’t have a country at all if our first commander in chief, General George Washington, hadn’t been willing to try something dramatically new at the darkest hour of the Revolutionary War. At the beginning of 1781, the British were clearly winning, having defeated the French in Rhode Island and Americans in the South, and were in firm control of New York. Washington was broke, unable even to pay the cost of delivering supplies to his soldiers, and was receiving intelligence to the effect that the French were on the verge of bailing out.
The intel reports were wrong (sound familiar?). The French commander, Count de Rochambeau, told Washington that money was coming from Paris. He also suggested a change in military strategy: instead of concentrating on New York, it would be better for the Americans to coordinate with the French navy in the Chesapeake Bay, and Rochambeau’s own ground troops against General Charles Cornwallis. Over the course of the next several months, General Cornwallis moved his British troops south to Yorktown, Virginia, and Washington quickly agreed with the French to spring a trap. First, the French navy thwarted British efforts to relieve Cornwallis. Second, the Marquis de Lafayette kept Cornwallis in place. And third, Washington committed his troops to a joint operation with Rochambeau. That was the battle of Yorktown, won decisively by the French-American forces in October. It marked the effective end of the Revolutionary War.
That is what good leadership is all about. We want the world, very much including our own people, to see that we are effective and determined to prevail. We will do whatever it takes to win, and we’re prepared to rethink our strategy at all times. If they see it, those who share our values will join with us to win the global war against Radical Islam and its allies. But I don’t think we can win without them. Like Washington at Yorktown, we will need help.
As we enter the field of fight, we must never forget the firm convictions of our enemies. The man who created al Qaeda in Iraq and laid the groundwork for the Islamic State, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, wrote their motto: “The spark has been lit here in Iraq, and its heat will continue to intensify—by Allah’s permission—until it burns the crusader armies in Dabiq.” Dabiq is a town in Syria where a famous Ottoman Empire battle occurred in 1516, and where the leaders of the Islamic State expect the decisive battle between themselves and the West to take place. That is why they named their monthly publication “Dabiq.”
We killed him in Iraq, now we must destroy the global jihad he spawned.
Suggested Reading
Ansary, Tamim, Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes. New York: PublicAffairs, 2010.
Bar, Shumel, Warrant for Terror, The Fatwas of Radical Islam and the Duty to Jihad. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006.
Beck, Glenn, It Is About Islam: Exposing the Truth About ISIS, Al Qaeda, Iran, and the Caliphate. New York: Threshold, 2015.
Cleary, Thomas, The Art of War: Sun Tzu. Boulder, Co.: Shambhala, 1988.
Finkel, Caroline, Osman’s Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire. New York: Basic Books, 2007.
Gabriel, Brigitte, They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2008.
Gertz, Bill, The China Threat: How the People’s Republic Targets America. Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2002.
Gorka, Sebastian, Defeating Jihad: The Winnable War. Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2016.
Hamid, Tawfik, Inside Jihad: How Radical Islam Works; Why It Should Terrify Us; How to Defeat It. Mountain Lake Park, Md.: Mountain Lake Press, 2015.
Hopkirk, Peter, The Great Game. New York: Kodansha International, 1992.
Ledeen, Michael, Accomplice to Evil: Iran and the War Against the West. New York: Truman Talley Books, 2009.
______, The Iranian Time Bomb: The Mullah Zealots’ Quest for Destruction. New York: Truman Talley Books, 2007.
______, The War Against the Terror Masters: Wh
y It Happened. Where We Are Now. How We’ll Win. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2003.
______ and W. H. Lewis, Debacle: The American Failure in Iran. New York: Knopf, 1981.
Murawiec, Laurent, The Mind of Jihad. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Nakash, Yitzhak, The Shi’is of Iraq. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 2003.
Naylor, Sean, Relentless Strike: The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2015.
Patai, Raphael, The Arab Mind. Tucson: Recovery Resources Press, 2010.
Quataert, Donald, The Ottoman Empire: 1700–1922. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Rashid, Ahmed, Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. New York: Penguin, 2009.
Weiss, Michael and Hassan, Hassan, ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror. New York: Regan Arts, 2015.
Zakaria, Fareed, The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad. New York: Norton, 2003.
Index
The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your e-book. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
25th Infantry Division
82nd Airborne Division
Abdel-Rahman, Omar
Abdullah, king of Jordan
Abizaid, John
Abu Ghraib
Adams, Sam, War of Numbers
al-Adel, Saif
al-Adnani, Abu Muhammad
Afghanistan
intelligence about
International HQ
Iraq’s involvement in
Islamic foundation of
listening tour in
Soviet operations in
U.S. operations in
Afghanistan war (2001-)
Aflaq, Michel
Alavi, Mohammed
Al-Azhar, Cairo
alcohol in Muslim countries
Algeria, French in
Ali, Ayaan Hirsi
Al-Kibar
al Qaeda
online skills
still a growing threat
training camps
See also Radical Islamists
al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI)
al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)
al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS)
al-Qaim
Anbar Province
Ansar al-Islam
Ansar al-Sunnah
anti-Communism
anti-semitism
Apple Computer
Apselof, Roy
Arafat, Yasser
Archer, Edward
Argentina
al-Assad, Bashar
Assad regime
Atmar, Hanif
Australia
Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF)
Awakening, the
Baath Party
Baghdad
al-Baghdadi, Abu Bakr
el-Baghdadi, Iyad
al-Baghdadi, Omar
Bagram, Afghanistan
Bakr, Haji
Balad, Iraq, HQ
Bangladesh
Barakat brothers
Baramshah, Pakistan
battlefield
technology on the
value of intelligence on the
Belgium
Ben Ali, Zine
Benghazi investigation
Beslan, North Ossetia
bin Laden, Mahrous
bin Laden, Osama
files captured at hideout of
Bishop, Maurice
blood, drinking of
Bolivia
book publishing in the Muslim world
Bosnia
Brazil
Brezhnev, Leonid
Brezhnev Doctrine
Britain, and U.S.
Bunker Hill, Battle of
bureaucracy
Bush, George H. W.
Bush, George W.
Caldwell, William
Campbell, John F.
Carter, Jimmy
Casey, George
Castro brothers
Catholics
cell phones, used in terror attacks
censorship of analysts
CENTCOM (Central Command for the war in the Middle East)
Central America
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Chavez, Hugo
Chechnya
China
Churchill, Winston
civilizations, war of
clerical fascism
Clinton, Bill
Clinton, Hillary
Cold War
Commander of the North
Communism
defeat of
in Grenada
International
in Iran
in Palestine (1920s and 30s)
Soviet
in war against the West
Congress for Cultural Freedom
Congressional investigations
Connable, Alfred R.
Constitution, U.S.
Cornwallis, Charles
corruption
counter-terrorism
criminal networks, and financing of terrorism
crusaders
Cuba
Czech Republic
Dabiq, Syria
death, worship of
Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
democracy
contempt for, among our enemies
foreign policy a weakness of
dictators/strongmen, extolled by our enemies
digital warfare
diplomacy
Diyala
Djibouti
documents, enemy, information from
Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)
East Africa embassy bombings (1998)
Egypt
as U.S. ally
Ekhtesari, Fatime
electronic warfare
executions, Islamic
Facebook
Faith Campaign (Iraq)
Fallahian, Ali
Fallujah
Fascism
defeat of
Fatah
Fedayeen Saddam
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
“field of fight” (Homer)
Flynn, Charlie
Flynn, Helen
Flynn, Michael T. (author)
arrest and probation as youth
birth family
career in military intelligence
college years
Grenada operation
Foley, Laurence
foreign policy
of democracies
U.S.
foreign terrorists in the Middle East
Fort Bragg NC
Fort Devens MA
Fort Huachuca AZ
Fort Polk LA
France
in Algeria
and the American Revolution
as U.S. ally
Francis, Pope
Freeh, Louis
Free Syrian Army
Friendship Gate
Fumento, Michael
Gates, Robert
Gaza
George (terrorist)
Germany
modern
Nazi
Global Coalition to Counter ISIL
Google
Google Maps
Gorbachev, Mikhail
Gore, Al
Grand Mosque, Mecca
Grant, Ulysses S.
Green Movement (Iran)
Grenada
Grishin, Aleksey
guerrilla war
Haiti
Hamas
Haqqani
Hartnett, Jesse
Hayes, Stephen
headscarves
Helmand Province
Hezbollah
hijab
history
belief in inevitability of
end of
Hitler, Adolf
Homeland Security
Honduras
human intelligence (HUMINT)
Hungary
Hussein, Saddam, regime of
al-Husseini, Amin, grand mufti of Jerusalem
ideologies
regimes and movements driven by
waging war against
illiteracy in the Muslim world
imperialism
India
Indonesia
infidels
information
bad, dishonest
from captured documents
classified and suppressed
real-time, actionable
Ingush
innovators and risk takers
intelligence
failures of
increased importance of
politicization of
supporting war fighting
truthful
intelligence agencies (NSA, CIA, DIA) “three-letter”
intelligence professionals, abilities needed by
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)
Internet
Internet service providers (ISPs)
interrogation
real-time, connected with operations
Iran
anti-American actions of
capture of American ships by (January 2015)
central to the anti-West alliance
Communist Party of (Tudeh)
espionage in U.S.
failure of country
intelligence about
in Iraq
Islamic Republic of
nuclear program
opposition within
oppression of citizens in
poetry forbidden in
and Russia
sanctions on banks and trading companies of
shah overthrown
terrorism sponsored by
U.S. failure to challenge
weapons from
Iranian Revolution (1979)
Iranian Revolutionary Guards
Iran-Iraq War
Iraq
Islam in
Iraq War (2003)
Iran’s involvement in
a mistake
Radical Islamists in
U.S. departure from (2011)
U.S. success in
Islam
avoiding criticism of
politicization of
precepts of
reformation of, urged
Sunni vs. Shi’ite
Islamic Jihad
Islamic State (ISIS)
allies of
believe victory is inevitable
criminal activities of
intentions of
The Field of Fight Page 14
