The Next Phase of the War on Terror

Yesterday we saw another Islam-inspired attack on civilian, non-Muslims in Nairobi, Kenya.

The big, audacious attacks like the embassy bombings and 9/11 are still the dream but are harder to execute. These smaller attacks are easier to plan and supply so now have become the norm. It's easier to take five or six young men, fill their minds with jihadi bullshit, teach them basic guidelines of where to attack for massive effect then set them loose.

As seen in Mumbai where LeT hit several sites throughout the city, this was an attack that had but one goal and that was to terrorize the local population. Al-qaeda and al-Shabbabb know exactly what they are doing: enter a populated area, secure it from escape, instill panic, allow Muslims to leave and then kill as many people as possible in the short time they have until security forces arrive.

These attacks are cheap, effective and will continue unless we change our tactics once again.

So what can be done to stop these types of attacks? A good question and one without easy answers. Short of arming and placing police and other security within every potential attack area, we have to be smarter before the attacks occur.

There were warnings in Mumbai and information will come out that warnings were received in the case of Kenya. These warnings will have to be investigated--and 95% will turn out to be a dead-end--and every one will have to be run down with old fashioned detective work. A colossal feat but cheaper and easier than placing armed security forces in every mall and sports arena in America. We have a large apparatus in the Dept. of Homeland security and FBI who can handle this challenge--if we change how we do business.

The Obama administration is loathe to be accused of racial profiling and thus has essentially been bullied into not investigating cases that could lead to sopping an attack. We need to get past that. There's history to support using profile-like tactics. During WWII, German and Japanese agents and those who supported the cause of their former homelands were rooted out by good detective work. And for the record, I am not even remotely suggesting we inter those of the Muslim faith like that great liberal hero FDR did with the Japanese. What I am saying is that we have to get over our national hang up of questioning those who may be most suspect but belong to a group that is most capable of causing harm. Every time the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issues a letter condemning the profiling of Muslims, we need to hit back and tell them that they need to do more to stop it within their community. Instead, we allow them into the highest places of power and scoff at laws that ban their involvement in government. Every time CAIR accuses us of racial profiling or files a lawsuit, we need to remind the world just who they are involved with.

Until we change our tactics and--within the confines of our legal system--look long and hard at who wants us dead, we will continue to be a ripe target. We've been lucky, and thanks to the diligence of those in law enforcement and the intelligence community we have not been hit in an attack of this type. However, our enemies are changing tactics regularly and probing for weak spots.

We continue down the path we are on at our own peril.

Update: Or we can do what the Israeli's are doing in Kenya. Imagine if a rapid-reaction force of special operators was dispatched to the scene of every one of these attacks (think Rainbow 6) and exterminated the perpetrators then tracked down the planners and liquidated them as well. I would guess these cowardly attacks would be fewer.

Pirates Attacking American Ships Now

Send in the Navy:

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - The luxury American cruise ship teeming with hundreds of tourists just might have been too much for the Somali pirates to resist.

But the bandits, riding in two skiffs and firing rifle shots at the gleaming ship, were outrun in minutes when the captain of M/S Nautica gunned the engine and sped away in the Gulf of Aden, a spokesman for the company said Tuesday.

Still, the implications had the pirates hijacked the ship add a new dimension to the piracy scourge as NATO foreign ministers groped for solutions at a meeting in Brussels and the United Nations extended an international piracy-fighting mandate for another year.

The potential for massive ransom payments from the families of hundreds of rich tourists on a pleasure cruise may encourage similar attempts, especially following the successful capture in recent weeks of a Ukrainian cargo ship laden with tanks and a Saudi oil tanker.

Lovely, crazy-ass Somali's hopped up on khat are now attacking US-flagged ships. Perhaps it's time to detail a couple of cruisers and frigates to the area from the Gulf. If they see a pirate ship or are alerted to a potential high jacking, give them orders to shoot to sink and leave the survivors to the sharks. That'll do it. I'm sure the 72-virgins will be thrilled to see the dead pirates less an arm and a leg if they get into Paradise. Suicide bombers supposedly go to heaven so I would imagine piracy would not preclude someone from that honor. They'll call them "martyrs" and be done with it.

Of course it doesn't help that some nations (possibly even Saudi Arabia) are paying ransom to get their ships back and it seems no one else has the balls to confront them so we should.

For the record, these particular pirates should lose their piracy union membership for getting outrun by a cruise ship.