What the terrorist forget..

by Col Gary Johnston

Published on September 29, 2006 By ShadowWar In War on Terror

What the Terrorists Forgot

A couple weeks ago we were all thinking about where we were on September 11th. Personally, I was inbound to Reagan National Airport in Washington D.C. on an early flight.

The flight would be diverted and it would be 6 hours before I would be able to get in touch with my family.

It would take me almost another 24 hours to get home from the airport I was diverted to.

In the years following the attack on the two Towers and the Pentagon, there's been many theories and analysis as to why terrorist targeted the World Trade Towers.

One theory has been that in the wake of Vietnam and Somalia, that the United States public demonstrated an unwillingness to support the type of long term sustained military operations required to fight a war on terror.

It was felt that terrorists identified our vulnerabilities and took the opportunity to attack our morale.

As a soldier, I understood that if the nation decided to take on a war on terror it would be a long and protracted war.

I must be truthful in that I was concerned about our nation’s willingness to support a long-term campaign against terrorists and its corresponding casualties.

Then one day while returning home from work on the train while stationed in Chicago something happened that made me change my perspective on America’s staying power.

It wasn’t a presidential multi-country tour, Secretary Rice getting support funding for Iraq or Lebanon, or the democratic debates. It was that the Cubs lost.

That’s right. It was the year that the Chicago Cubs had a chance of making it to the World Series.

There were all types of speculation about an all Chicago world series between the Sox and Cubs.However, it was not to be, the Cubs lost.The Cubs loss put what the terrorist may have forgotten about in perspective for me.

Now, being new to the Chicago area, I didn’t know about the Cubs goat jinx, but having grown up in Louisiana as a Saints fan, I did understand disappointment.This perspective came slowly in the days after the shocking Game 6 loss and the final Game 7 elimination.

After all the finger pointing, blaming an overzealous fan, and armchair second guessing of the coaching staff, I started hearing fans on the train ride into Chicago, and even in the papers, begin to utter the enduring words "wait till next year."

As I heard the loyalty embedded in these simple words it dawned on me what the terrorists forgot.They wanted to break our morale but forgot that we are a nation of Cubs fans, Saints fans, Marlin, Red Sox, and yes—even Yankee fans.

We are a nation that will accept a loss but will never accept defeat.Those enduring words "wait till next year"express the same eternal hope and optimism that our forefathers had for our constitution.

A team may be beaten, but that hope by their fans of a better next year will carry it through the bad times.

It's my belief that as the War on Terror continues that the fans of freedom will endure and sustain efforts to win something far greater than the World Series.Wait till next year…what the terrorist forgot is that it is impossible to defeat hope.

God bless the Cubs

God bless the Saints

God bless America

Comments

scatter629

on Sep 29, 2006

I liked your post in that it was one of Hope - showing a willigness to accept alternatives as to how to improve and possibly win "next year's" fight.
If this hope is sincere, there is one obigation we must face - and that is, even just within ourselves or our inner circles, to humbly accept our mistakes in tactics or strategy and to try
to find solutions within the framework of a well-defined goal. To learn from the enemy is never a bad thing. China's People's Liberation Army during the time of their People's Protracted Revolution called this "Criticism and Self-Criticism (CSC) and this was carried on an in-depth level discussion involving not only the military, but the political and ideological level and it helped sustain their movement to victory. The same was true for the North Vietnamese and the VietCong. Their top leaders had first to accept their initial mistakes before they could correct and move on..and win. If it is true that it is a protracted people's war we are facing, then we first need the humility to accept our mistakes, correct ourselves, then move on to win.
Despite my having to yell my head off due to the deaths of my dear friends during this War, I had often been misunderstood in my pre and post 9/11 blogs critical of the methods employed to face this War as being "unpatriotic" or "pro-terrorist", but history has proven my observations to have merit and a worthy input in helping correct the course of the War . It's really because of the hope shared by Col. Gary Jonhston and other soldiers carrying the burden of this War that I will continue to rally Hope and speak out.

ShadowWar

on Sep 29, 2006

I find it strange you use two examples that are both from Communist Counties. Especially when trying to describe what was an article from a man who is talking of the fact that we will and can still win this war on terror we are fighting. No one mentioned anything about reconsidering our tactics or course. Only that even through tough times, one must have hope that "next year" we will be able to win, or the next or the next.

I think using the examples of two comunist governments is a poor choice to demonstrate what you thought was the Col. Point.

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