VigilanceVoice

www.VigilanceVoice.com

Thanksgiving--Thursday--November 28, 2002—Ground Zero Plus 442
___________________________________________________________
Dancing With The Bear Of Terrorism On Thanksgiving
___________________________________________________________
by
Cliff McKenzie
   Editor, New York City Combat Correspondent News

       GROUND ZERO, New York City, Nov. 28 -- "Happy Thanksgiving," said the Bear of Terrorism, hugging its keeper as though he were a fat, succulent turkey.
        Today, we give thanks for our gifts--Freedom being the primary one.
        We have a new guest at our table this year.

         It's the Bear of Terrorism.

       Whether we accept its presence or not, it's sitting at our table, watching us eat.   It's on a leash, or so we think.   But then how do you keep a 2,000-pound bear that can run a 100 yards in six seconds under control?  That's the real question.
         Terrorism has a mind of its own.
         Some say it can't be tamed.

    Like a wild bear thought to be tamed, it might do tricks and dance for a while, but one day it will snarl and growl and lash out at its keepers.
         If Afghanistan is an example, the Terrorism Bear has stopped dancing.  

        Ilene Prusher, a staff writer for the Christian Science Monitor, recently wrote a story about the increase of rocket attacks on the 14,000 coalition forces trying to control the resurgence of Terrorism in Afghanistan.   About 8,000 of those troops are U.S. forces. 
         Attacks on American bases occur at the rate of two to three a week, usually by a Chinese or Soviet made 107 or 122-millimeter rocket.

         Officials trying to downplay the growing Terrorism claim it is mostly "green-on-green," military parlance for Afghans against other Afghans.   Others claim the recent elections in Pakistan where Islamic power was asserted represent a surge of Terrorism back into the country.
         Using guerrilla tactics, the rebels hit and run.  They use a simple firing device--such as a coffee can filled with water--they can delay the firing of a rocket until they've moved to a safer place.
        Reporter Prusher summed up the situation by quoting Charles Heyman, an Afghanistan-watcher and editor of Jane's World Armies in London.   Besides all the technical information of a growing threat to topple the interim regime and return to a world of fundamentalist Islamic control, Heyman's barometer of the situation was based on his last visit.   It was measured, he said, in cloth.  "In many areas," he concluded, "people are openly wearing black turbans again."
       All this means is that Bear of Terrorism may not like the leash.
       America has to understand that putting manacles on Terrorism doesn't mean its going to keep them on.  
       It also suggests there is no victory over Terrorism--the kind you can turn your back on.
       Terrorism is like a shadow, it moves along with us where ever we go.
       It sits with us at the Thanksgiving table.
       But there is a leash that can constrain Terrorism.
       It is the Leash of Vigilance.

       The links on this leash are made of Courage, Conviction and Right Actions.   They strengthen the weakest links of the leash made of Fear, Intimidation and Complacency.  
        They require a daily check for weakness.   They remind us that Vigilance is a muscle that must be flexed constantly, otherwise we will think we have tamed the Beast of Terror.
        That is Complacent Thinking.   It leads us to believe we are safe in the aftermath of battle.
        Our job as Citizens of Vigilance is to not to leash Terrorism and think it can be tamed.
       Instead, we must invite it to the table and treat it as a recalcitrant member of the family.  We must love it even if we hate what it does for a living, we must respect it even its actions disgust us.
       If we don't embrace Terrorism as part of our life, we might try to leash it and tame it.  That is the great mistake.  
       Only by recognizing Terrorism Within can we neutralize it without.
       When we take the Pledge of Vigilance, we automatically admit to the Beast of Terrorism's partnership in our lives.   We vow to not be afraid of it, and never to ignore it.

     If we do, then we become the turkeys we eat.   And at the end of Thanksgiving dinner, the belch of the Beast of Terror is the last thing heard.