The Importance of Defining an Enemy

Richard J. Hughbank, CMAS, CHS-IV

    Back when I first enlisted in the military, President Reagan was our Commander-in-Chief and among several of his impressive accomplishments was his declaration of the “War on Drugs”.  A war dedicated to eradicating the drug problem that plagued the citizens of this great nation; a war declared on an ideology.  Now, fast forward two decades, and we are still pursuing this ambiguous enemy.  Not for a lack of effort I can assure you.  The United States has committed an unimaginable amount of time, monies, and manpower to this truly important endeavor.  However, twenty years later, we are still seeking a solution that will help define success in this undertaking.  

    Now, President George W. Bush has declared war on yet another intangible enemy.  The “War on Terror” has presented our society, if not the entire Western world, with a challenge that has multiple parallels to the War on Drugs.  That said, the largest common denominator between these two ideologies is who, or even what, we are fighting.  I propose the first step to winning either of these “wars” lies in clearly defining a tangible and identifiable enemy.  

    According to Daniel Webster, terror is defined as:

1.    intense, sharp, overmastering fear: to be frantic with terror.
2.    an instance or cause of intense fear or anxiety; quality of causing terror: to be a terror to evildoers.
3.    any period of frightful violence or bloodshed likened to the Reign of Terror in France.
4.    violence or threats of violence used for intimidation or coercion; terrorism.
5.    Informal. a person or thing that is especially annoying or unpleasant.

    The first four definitions absolutely fail to meet any plausible criteria in the pursuit for defining an opposition.  The fifth interpretation, however, lends some tactile value in our much needed definition, but falls short of any great specificity.  Surely, we have not declared war on “a person or thing that is especially annoying or unpleasant?”  This is not a regular war fought on a traditionally linear battlefield against a uniformed army whose allegiance is to a particular country.  It is quite the opposite.  

    We are fighting against a rational foe that uses asymmetric warfare tactics, also known as guerilla-warfare, and aligns itself with any country that will offer financial support or a safe- haven within its borders.  Our enemy in the War on Terror dresses like and blends in with the local populace and moves around the globe with the shifting of the wind; not unlike a nomadic tribe moving from place to place hunting their prey in the form of infidels.  Furthermore, they follow the manifesto crafted by a man named Usama bin Laden who uses Ayman Zawahiri as his conduit.  

    Collectively, our true terroristic enemies come in the form of various terrorist organizations; individually, they form fundamental cells that are attached to a central hub.  Each cell working independently from the others providing the essential anonymity that follows the rudimentary principles of asymmetric warfare.  In other words, we have declared war against everybody and nobody.  The entire Western hemisphere is in dire straits, because they are an assembled group of anonymous people committed to executing the illegal fatwas issued by bin Laden all in the name of Allah.  

    So, who exactly is our current enemy?  Some have said it is all terrorists who attack us in the form of martyrs while others believe it to be specifically al-Qaeda or what Dr. Marc Sageman has coined as the “al-Qaeda Social Movement”.  Then there are those who quietly murmur their thoughts among only their closest circle of confidants that all Muslims should be our declared adversaries.  Regardless of whom our government declares as our enemy, we will fail in our current endeavor if we continue blindly down this accepted path of shimmering shadows.  Thus, it is imperative to definitively identify our enemy if we wish to successfully end this generation’s era of war.  Which brings me to another important question; how do we end the War on Terror?

    I have had countless academic and professional discussions involving this very topic.  Some argue that a quick and efficient exit strategy from Iraq would qualify.  Others suggest we must also remove all military troops from Afghanistan.  There are a select few who believe in the importance of completely eliminating the presence of Western troops from the Holy Lands, which happens to correspond with bin Laden’s first illegal fatwa.  All of these highly debatable proposals were offered in hope that plans for future terrorist attacks would be aborted and our homeland would become less of a target.  Simply stated, none of these points would provide sufficient cause or meaning to end the war in the minds of our enemies.  They are highly patient and methodical people with religious and political agendas who have branched out beyond the lands and governments of the Middle East.  However, they are also flesh and blood human beings with vulnerabilities that can be capitalized upon if properly identified.

    International terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda, Hizballah, and Hamas have been fighting their jihad, or holy war, since the seventh century when Muhammad began prophesying the Qur’an to his Islamic mujahidin.  The initial bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 followed by the much more coordinated and destructive 9/11 attacks marked the beginning of bin Laden’s desire to take their offensive jihad to the “far enemy” after defeating the Russian army during their invasion of Afghanistan.  We have awakened the proverbial sleeping giant that has transcended our natural geographical defenses time and time again which truly believes it can defeat the most powerful traditional army and nation in the world.  The distressingly simple fact is that we will not be celebrating the end to this war for decades to come, if ever at all.  However, we can successfully counter and defend against terrorism in the future in ways similar to that of Israel once we define against what, and who, we are defending.

    The act of terrorism must be clearly defined and universally accepted across our governmental and state agencies if we are to learn how to operationally fight against it.  More importantly, terrorism should be defined internationally if humanity is to survive as a collective whole.  As Americans, we have become soft and welcoming targets to a group of anonymous, committed terrorists which are unlike any enemy we have ever faced.  Our collective ignorance is their advantage.  We have become the sheep.  We must become the lion once again!

    As a final thought, I suggest that the word “terrorism” is outdated and abused as it applies to the al-Qaeda Social Movement.  We should consider renaming our enemies to help us prepare this much needed definition -- a word that better clarifies what we face now and in the years to come.  But that, my friends, is an entirely different discussion for another time!  

******

Major Richard Hughbank, U.S. Army (retired) is a graduate of the FBI hostage/crisis negotiator’s course, an academic professor and the President of Extreme Terrorism Consulting, LLC. with over 21 years experience in the Military Police Corps as a combat veteran in the War on Terror.  Richard has Master's degrees in Business and Organizational Security Management and Counseling and Leader Development, a graduate certificate in Terrorism Studies and is currently pursuing his PhD in Strategic Security at Henley-Putnam University.  He is an adjunct for the Center for Homeland Security at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Henley-Putnam University and Fairleigh Dickinson University as a graduate course instructor in terrorism studies and homeland security.  Richard can be contacted through his website www.understandterror.com or at rhughbank@understandterror.com.


**  A version of this publication was originally published in Inside Homeland Security Magazine (URL: www.abchs.com) with permission for reprint by the Editor in Chief:  Hughbank, Richard J. (Vol. 7, Issue 1, Spring 2009).  “The Importance of Defining an Enemy.”  Inside Homeland Security, pp. 50-51.