Goal is Clear Enough

Gary Schmitt and Tom Donnelly
USA Today
September 26, 2001

In a stirring call to arms, George W. Bush last week removed all doubt about the goals of the war on terrorism. That war is, Bush said, not simply against Osama bin Laden and his al Qa'eda organization, but also against other Middle East terrorist groups and "every government that supports them." That's a tall order, to be sure, but a defined mission.

Certainly, there are and will continue to be debates about tactics and timelines. This war will require us to employ the full range of tools — diplomatic, economic, intelligence — and a wide variety of military forces. And unlike the Gulf War, the struggle against terrorism will be a long one, with sometimes-indeterminate battle lines, obscured by the "fog of war."

The president's clear strategic goal should be the beacon that helps us chart a course through the uncertainties and possible setbacks that lie ahead.

We also must understand our enemies' precise goals. What they share — what links ascetic zealots such as Osama bin Laden with paunchy tyrants such as Saddam Hussein — is not simply a hatred of America but also a political desire to drive the United States out of the Middle East and in particular out of the Persian Gulf.

Knowing that, it becomes clear how we must fight them.

We must first drive deeper wedges into the anti-American axis in the region, dividing our enemies and uniting our allies. This is not an entirely new form of warfare, as many commentators have said; rather, it is almost a classic "theater war" in the sense that it is a struggle for control of the Middle East.

As our enemies in their weakness turn to terrorism, so should we apply our conventional forces and high technology "asymmetrically" against our opponents to ensure that we remain the guarantors of security and stability in what remains an area of vital national security interest.

But even as we struggle to map out the route to our destination — and even adjust our course along the way — we should hold in mind the clear goal President Bush has established: digging out terrorism "root and branch."

The job demands not only eliminating terrorist cells such as bin Laden's, but also terrorist states such as Saddam's, and using our power to prevent terror from growing again to endanger future generations of Americans.