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DefenseWatch – Dec. 19, 2001 Soldiers For The Truth (SFTT) Weekly Newsletter When we assumed the Soldier, We did not lay aside the Citizen. General George Washington, to the New York Legislature, 1775 In this week’s Issue of DefenseWatch: War, Lies and Videotape ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- EDITORIAL and ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Ed Offley Editor, DefenseWatch Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] J. David Galland Deputy Editor, DefenseWatch Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] David H. Hackworth Senior Military Columnist Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chris Humphrey SFTT Webmaster Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Hack’s Target for the Week: Do the Job and Get Out Article 01 – Islam Responds to the Bin Laden Tape, by Robert G. Williscroft Article 02 – Ten Things I Do Not Know Or Understand, by Lt. Col. Matthew Dodd Article 03 – Feedback: Scary Airport Security Article 04 – For the Record: Afghanistan Service Personnel Get Tax Break Article 05 – Feedback: Readers React to Hackworth Article 06 – Feedback: Army Leadership Failures Are Not New Article 07: Future Limits in Human Intelligence Collection, by J. David Galland Medal of Honor: Article 08 – A Janitor’s 10 Lessons in Leadership, by Col. James Moschgat USAF Article 09 – Crawford, William, Pvt. USA EDITOR'S NOTE: Your Support is Important! EDITOR'S NOTE: Article Submission Procedures/Subject Editors Sought GLOSSARY OF MILITARY ACRONYMS HACK BOOK SALES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Hack’s Target For The Week: Do the Job and Get Out ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- By David H. Hackworth It was a big week for television: Osama bin Laden, currently Numero Uno monster on our Hit Parade list, sharing prime time with our first-rate warriors in and over Afghanistan. First, the video marathon of OBL and his gleeful pals sitting around on pillows, hugging, kissing, high-fiving and hissing. You know, the Top Ten Tape where weird-looking cats are speaking in tongues, sipping tea, sharing nightmares and praising Allah for what a neat job their gang of goons pulled off murdering thousands of innocent noncombatants whose big worry before Sept. 11 was lunch. For those of the Greatest Generation, it must have been like watching a 1940 movie of Adolf Hitler cheerily extolling the efficiency of his latest-model oven. The tube kept flicking from OBL gloating with his groupies to maneuvers in Afghanistan that would have to be the most eclectic military operations in history: mobs of primitive warriors with horses, mules and junkyard pickup trucks at the bomb craters of Tora Bora looking as soldierly as Ringling Bros. circus clowns, being supported by the most sophisticated weaponry warfare has ever known. Good intelligence sources say OBL has vowed never to be taken alive. The word is, "He'll self-vaporize" as we're about to grab him. If that's the scenario, be prepared for rumors galore and OBL sightings well into the next century, kind of like what happened with Elvis. Of course, there'll also be the T-shirt – Osama at the Eternal Oasis. But no matter what goes down with OBL, all proclamations of victory will only make these twisted terrorists – who've been programmed to hate us since they were training in demolition diapers – even more determined to do their evil thing. Their loathing of us won't disappear in clouds of bomb dust. Watching the tape only reinforced my conviction that we need to wipe out OBL's worldwide al-Qaeda network along with the rest of the terrorists from Algeria to Zambia. It's clear that these zealots from hell are all hustling hard for the big bang. And once they get the lethal chemicals, the bugs and nuke bombs in their hands, bet on them being used. Speed is of the essence here – either we close these monsters down, or we get closed down by them. For centuries, if not forever. There are more than 60 states around the globe that currently provide support and sanctuary to terrorists. In some places, like Afghanistan and Iraq, we'll need to use a lot of military muscle, while in others, like the Philippines, where there are competent, reliable friendlies, we'll only need to provide advisers, intelligence info and resources. The key to this long-term global campaign is to get in, do the job, then get out fast. In Afghanistan, for example, once we've terminated OBL's gang, we need to get our military out ASAP. I worry about our Marines now defending the Kandahar airport. Lebanon in 1983, when 242 Marines and sailors were killed by a truck bomb while sitting like ducks on a dumb mission, keeps coming to mind. Or how our Rangers were sucked into an ambush in Somalia in 1993, losing 18 good men because overeager COs went for the bait. Have no doubt that there are Taliban fanatics in Afghanistan standing in line for just such a ticket to punk Paradise. Once that airport is running and U.N. troops arrive, they must free up our Marines to move on to the next objective. Another reason for splitting Afghanistan just as soon as our military objectives – taking out the Taliban and Al-Qaeda leadership and military – are reached is that the country's become one big minefield. There are more than 10 million mines scattered across that war-ravaged land, vicious weapons that have already drawn Marine blood in Kandahar and accounted for one-third of our casualties in Vietnam. And then there's the problem identifying the bad guys when almost every male packs an AK-47 and changes sides as fast as he can change his turban. The longer we stay in a hot spot, the more we're asking for trouble. No question that whoever's set on replacing OBL will try to make his bones by taking American warriors out. We must not overstay our unwelcome. 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 Table of Contents ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- ARTICLE 01 – Islam Responds to the Bin Laden Tape ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- By Robert G. Williscroft By now, anyone remotely interested has viewed and listened to the video tape of Osama bin Laden discussing the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center with a Saudi named Khaled al-Harbi, identified as a former anti-Soviet fighter in Afghanistan who was stripped of his Saudi citizenship in 1994 for attempts to organize opposition to the monarchy. (Initial news reports erroneously identified him as Sheikh Ali bin Said al-Ghandi, a Saudi Arabian cleric known for extreme anti-western views). Nevertheless, it is interesting to review reactions to this tape compiled from Reuters and Associated Press reports from various elements of the Islamic world community. Following the video's release, several Palestinian men at a coffee shop in East Jerusalem were asked about the tape. Most said they had seen it on Arabic satellite television channel Al-Jazeera, but none believed bin Laden was guilty. "If I, Abdullah, am saying I am going to attack the United States; if I am saying that, does that mean I am going to do it?'" asked Abdullah Alkam. "I don't think bin Laden was responsible for this attack." They considered the video U.S. propaganda to justify the war in Afghanistan. "Anyone who opposes them, who tries to implement Islam, is a terrorist," said another man. Abu Johara, a Jerusalem jeweler who acknowledged seeing the video, commented: "I can't say or judge that bin Laden was responsible." In Cairo, Mohamed al-Amir al-Sayed Awad Atta, Egyptian father of the suspected hijacker Mohammed Atta, dismissed the video as a farce. "The whole world has been saying this name [Mohammed Atta]. Where did bin Laden get the name from? Bin Laden got it from America. All this is a forgery, a fabrication," he said. Investigators believe Mohammed Atta personally crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center, and that he was the ringleader behind the four hijacking teams. Cairo advertising agent Munir Salem charged, "It's a Hollywood farce. They have studios which can simulate earthquakes and all sorts of special effects so nothing would stop them from finding a bin Laden double." Egyptian architect Hend al-Alfi asked, "If they can make a film with an actor shaking the hand of the American president, what prevents them from using such special effects to fake a video?" He then added, "Even the inaudible parts were done deliberately to give it an authentic flavor." Amr Abdel Mohsen, a political science student at the University of Cairo, said, "The Americans lie as easily as they breathe. They had promised a Palestinian state and now they bless Israel's destruction of Palestinian land, so to fabricate a cassette is nothing." Egyptian militant defense lawyer Muntasser al-Zayyat accused the United States of launching an onslaught on Afghanistan without proof of Osama's responsibility. He said, "[The tape] shows that the United States had no evidence whatsoever when it blamed bin Laden hours after the September 11 attacks, and when it launched its air raids on Afghanistan on October 7, killing people and destroying homes." "Tell me something," said former Pakistani intelligence chief Gen. Hamid Gul. "Osama has been denying he did the job, and then he conveniently has himself recorded and leaves the tape behind in a house? Come on … in this high-tech world, a look-alike of Osama can be made to say and do anything." Pakistani writer Ameena Khan said, "This is all just an American game, a negative media portrayal against Osama. This tape doesn't convince me." Abdullah Omar Abdel Rahman, whose brother, Ahmed Omar, was seized last month in Afghanistan as a suspected leader of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network believes the United States " … has the technology to forge a videotape of this kind." He said, "In openly admitting his involvement, bin Laden is contradicting himself, as he has always blessed attacks, but has never explicitly claimed them." Their father is Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind Islamic cleric sentenced in 1995 to life in prison for a foiled plot to bomb several New York landmarks. Muhammad Rizieq leader of the radical Indonesian Islamic Defenders Front: "I am sick with its [U.S.] propaganda to cover up their war crimes in Afghanistan. You know Americans have all the technology. Making up a videotape is so easy for them." Hasyim Muzadi, who heads the more moderate 40 million member Indonesian group Nahdlatul Ulama, commented, "Is Osama the culprit? It still looks rather doubtful, doesn't it?" Malaysia Muslim opposition party members dismissed the tape as a fake. Even Chechen fighters questioned the tape's authenticity on their kavkaz.org website, saying that it raised more questions than answers. "The quality of the tape was quite bad. Modern technology makes it possible to alter any taped sound." There were some positive responses to the bin Laden video from the Muslim world, primarily from within the United States and Pakistan, and there were even some "I've changed my mind" responses, but the overwhelming Islamic reaction was outright rejection. The collective world of Islam prayed urgently to heaven: Great Allah, in your utmost goodness and mercy, grant that no fact, convincing though it may be, even when proven beyond doubt, grant that no fact will sway our considered opinion. Robert G. Williscroft is DefenseWatch Navy Editor. He can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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