November 5, 2001

MEMORANDUM TO: OPINION LEADERS

FROM: TOM DONNELLY, Deputy Executive Director

SUBJECT: War on Terrorism

From the moment President Bush committed himself to waging "war on terrorism," he has made it clear that victory would not be won until terrorists, their networks, and the "states that harbor them" were defeated. Not just Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda organization, but the Taliban in Afghanistan and other state sponsors of terrorism were our enemies.

To listen to General Tommy Franks, head of U.S. Central Command and the man running military operations in the region, it is unclear whether the American military views the war the way the president does. Interviewed at length Sunday on ABC's This Week, Franks defined the goal of Operation Enduring Freedom quite narrowly. "The purpose," he repeatedly said, "is pressure." By this measure, the campaign is unfolding according to plan: "We're doing our work on our time line. We're doing our work on the basis of our initiative, an initiative which we have and we intend to keep," said Franks. Everything "is in our hands."

But as he described the actual course of current operations, Franks revealed a sharply limited strategy that falls short of the president's goals. He insisted that U.S. military actions were not themselves directed at seizing key spots in Afghanistan: "We are not occupying major strategic terrain like Mazar-e-Sharif or like Khandahar….That's not our approach." If U.S. forces were to occupy strategic points, according to Franks, "then you sort of lose - you sort of lose contact with what this is really about." Neither is Franks concentrating on destroying the Taliban's forces in the field; indeed, there seems to be little recognition that the Taliban is both a military organization as well as an "illegitimate government that harbors" terrorists. Nor is there any effort "to prompt or direct [the] activities" of the North Alliance or other opposition groups. As a consequence, in Afghanistan, Franks does not see any prospect of a long-term American military commitment; he sees "the easiest exit strategy we've had in years." But no serious action in Afghanistan can have an easy exit strategy.

To balance the natural tactical caution of today's U.S. military, President Bush should recall the his father's experience during the Gulf War. Far from leaving the conduct of that war to its generals, the first Bush Administration constantly was meddling with the military's plans to attack Iraq. And when Colin Powell recommended a halt after 100 hours of the ground campaign, the administration made a mistake rued for a decade. George W. Bush has accepted his role as a "war president." Now he must prod his generals to win the complete victory he has demanded.