by James Glaser
July 11, 2005

I believe the whole saying goes, "The Enemy of my Enemy can be my Friend, but the Friend of my Enemy is my Enemy."

Back in the 1980's, this rule was proven correct by the United States. We had our Embassy and its entire staff taken hostage by the people of Iran, and we were trying everything to get them back. Saddam Hussein of Iraq, started a war with Iran, and Saddam, dictator and despot that he was, became our "Best Friend." We gave him money, weapons, and intelligence. He was the "enemy of our enemy"... so he became our friend.

Ever since World War II, Great Britain has followed the lead of the United States when it comes to foreign policy. Terrorists from around the world have watched as England followed right behind Uncle Sam in the attack on Iraq. They know that Iraq was a sovereign nation. They also know that Iraq had nothing to do with their terrorist attacks on America, and they know that Saddam and Iraq never attacked any Western nation, nor did it have the means to.

Terrorists, as fragmented as they are, have always had some announced goals for their efforts. Contrary to what our leaders say, terrorist attacks are not against our freedom or our liberty. We have always known why they have attacked us, even though no one in Washington or London will acknowledge this fact. Consistently we have been told over and over again by terrorist organizations, that our policies dealing with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are wrong, as far as those willing to die to hurt us are concerned.

Also the presence of Western Military forces in Muslim countries is a thorn in their side. Osama bin Laden has always stated these reasons for Al-Qaeda attacks, but for political reasons both George Bush and Tony Blair claim that terrorist attacks are made against civilization, freedom, and democracy.

As Charley Reese writes, "You can't win a war unless you know who your enemy is, know why he is your enemy, and know what his objectives are. Only then can you properly direct your military and political forces to combat him successfully."

Terrorists the world over have watched as tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis and Afghanis have been killed and maimed in Bush's War on Terror. They have watched as Great Britain has sent troops wherever America has directed. So to prove the other half of the adage, "Friend of my Enemy is my Enemy," terrorists struck London.

There are terrorists all over the world. If you are looking at it from the other side, America is a terrorist State. The only difference is, our terrorists wear uniforms and have all the equipment and money they need. If terrorism's tactic is to create fear and kill innocent civilians, I ask you what the American bombing tactic of Shock and Awe is.?

CBS News Jan, 24, 2003... "They're calling it "A-Day," A as in air strikes so devastating they would leave Saddam's soldiers unable or unwilling to fight." "The battle plan is based on a concept developed at the National Defense University. It's called Shock and Awe and it focuses on the psychological destruction of the enemy's will to fight rather than the physical destruction of his military force."

"There will not be a safe place in Baghdad," said one Pentagon official who was briefed on the plan. "The sheer size of this has never been seen before, never contemplated before."

America rained down hundreds of missiles and bombs on Baghdad, day after day. Remember, Baghdad is a city with 5 million innocent civilians living there. We didn't hide bombs in the streets, but we dropped thousands from the sky, each many times more powerful that all the bombs exploded in London.

London wasn't quite "tit for tat," only because terrorists neither have the technology nor the money the United States and Great Britain have, but their "low tech, low cost" bombings did the same thing as our Shock and Awe bombings. They killed innocent civilians, and they inflicted psychological damage on the people of England.

Washington will say that their bombing of Baghdad was different because the used precision guided bombs and were going after military targets, but that premise is a false one. We learned in the first Gulf War that our precision was not precise and targets are only as good as the intelligence that picked them out. We know we went into this war almost blind when it came to intelligence about Iraq. We knew we were going to kill thousands of innocent people in a city of 5 million civilians, but we did it any way.

Inflicting psychological damage using American technology and weapons is the same thing that terrorists are doing in London, just on a grander scale.

We taught the terrorists the tactic; they just used the means available to them. Great Britain is all agog now that they have been attacked, but they are now the "Enemy of our Enemies," and it should be no surprise.

It is smart of us to have "Friends" out in front of us, because they will take the hit before we do. Logistically it is far easier to hit London or Spain from the Middle East than it is to hit our homeland.

Terror begets Terror. Every time we kill another innocent civilian in the Middle East, we fill the ranks of those willing to die to avenge their loss. Last week with a precision bomb, we killed 17 innocent men, women, and children in Afghanistan. How far out does the circle of their loved ones go? Did the Terrorists pick up ten, a hundred, or maybe a thousand new recruits?

We need a new plan, a new tactic. I know this is far fetched, but maybe it is time to look to God for the answer. We claim Christianity as our religion. The Bible and the words of Jesus Christ are filled with wisdom, maybe those in Washington should stop listening to our National Defense University and start listening to God.