Let It Be Them

December 2, 2001

by Brian W. Peterson

The American people are going to have to accept the fact that innocent civilians die during war. The thought of such deaths may seem brutal, but war has a way of bringing home cold, hard realities.

The military does not want civilian deaths; the American people certainly do not want such deaths. However, when the option is between an innocent person dying or an American soldier dying, the choice is painfully obvious. When terrorists cower among civilians, tough decisions follow.

American troops will face situations - in Afghanistan or future operations in other nations - that mirror Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein’s habit of hiding military targets among civilians. Terrorists will hide in mosques, homes, even hospitals. To give the enemy a haven is to increase the likelihood that the enemy will have another opportunity to kill American soldiers. This is not acceptable.

During the Vietnam conflict, our politicians were in the habit of “playing general.” As has been noted by military personnel, we had 536 commanders in chief (435 in the U.S. House, 100 in the U.S. Senate, and the president). We never lost a major battle but we bungled the entire war. The military was constrained to the point that victory was never a true possibility.

Similarly, our strikes against Afghanistan got off to a bad start when we had the opportunity to kill Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar but passed on the chance because of bureaucratic rules placed upon our military. Published reports state that a Judge Advocate General (JAG) decided that we needed to be more certain of the identity of the target. Our identification of the target was accurate, thus we missed our chance to kill the Taliban leader on the first night of the military campaign.

This kind of failure can prove deadly in the future.

We Americans are a forgiving, generous, compassionate lot. But we must temper such positive qualities with the basic quality of self-preservation. To allow these heinous creatures to live is to invite future catastrophes such as that of September 11.

To ensure that we kill the enemy, some innocent people will unfortunately meet their demise.

Our leaders are doing an admirable job of ordering precision strikes. But when the enemy hides among the innocent, we must remember September 11. We must remember that one of those cowering terrorists who is allowed to survive may someday kill American soldiers or civilians. Forget the niceties: it’s either us or them. Let it be them.

If accepting the fact of Afghan civilian deaths is difficult, consider the following scenario: A Taliban soldier grabs a child as a shield and fires on an American soldier. Does the soldier decline to return fire? Does he pause to study the situation? Either option means that he will have a nice funeral, but that does his country and family no good.

President George Walker Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and the rest of the civilian and military leadership are performing their duties exceptionally well. They understand that the end of the Afghanistan campaign will not mean the end of our war against terrorism. But they need the support of the American people. Today our leaders have that support. Will they have it in three years?

The key to winning the war against terrorism is the resolve of the American people. Only if we retain our resolve will we see this war through to victory. Our resolve is even more important than our unity.

How long our resolve holds up will not be known for years. If we allow ourselves to take a politically correct view of war, then our resolve will not hold up for long. We must accept unpleasant facts if we are to attain the victories that will protect our citizens.

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Brian W. Peterson writes a political column for the Antelope Valley Press (circulation approximately 60,000) in Palmdale, California. He is a graduate of Oral Roberts University, where he majored in TV/Film. Brian’s weekly commentary and newspaper columns can be found at www.LifeAndLiberty.com.

Send the author an E mail at Peterson@ConservativeTruth.org.

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