by John Stevenson
Marcus Luttrell is a retired
Navy SEAL and winner of the Navy Cross for his actions against Taliban fighters
in Operation Red Wings. His experience
is the subject of the film "Lone Survivor." Luttrell says "Your war is here. You don't have to go searching for it."
The low-tech "lone wolf" attacks by jihadis here
on our own soil have become so frequent and common that we no longer can
remember most of them.
Here's a very incomplete refresher,
in no particular order: Mohammed Reza
Tahen-azar, who ran down fellow U.N.C. students with an SUV; Major Nidal Hassan, who shot to death more
than a dozen of his fellow soldiers and wounded dozens more at Fort Hood; U.C.
Merced student Faisal Mohammad, who stabbed four of his classmates; convert
Zale Thompson, who attacked N.Y.C. police officers with a hatchet; the Tsarnaev brothers who bombed the Boston
marathon; Jah'Keem Yisrael who beheaded
an Oklahoma co-worker who resisted his efforts to convert her to the Religion
of Peace; Dahir Ahmed Adan, the St.
Cloud mall stabber; Ahmad Khan Rahimi, the N.Y.C. bomber; Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen
Malik, the San Bernardino couple who murdered co-workers at an office
party; Omar Mateen, the Orlando night
club killer; well, you get the idea. And
the list will be obsolete by the time you read this, because there will by then
have been more attacks.
Our fellow Westerners have
suffered similar attacks: Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale
who ran over a British soldier in Woolwich and then for good measure hacked him
to death with a meat cleaver; Martin
Couture-Rouleau (aka Ahmad le Converti), who rammed soldiers with his car in
Canada; Abdel Malik and Adel Kermiche, who beheaded a Catholic priest in his church
in Normandy; Mohamed Bouhlel, who killed over 80 innocents in Nice by
mowing them down with a truck. The list could go on, but why?
After the attacks in the U.S., there
inevitably follows the government's seemingly obligatory statement that there is
no indication of terrorism---followed hours or days after with the concession
that it is, in fact, terrorism. (Except for the Fort Hood attack, which the
administration still labels "workplace violence.") Then comes the meticulous investigation
whether it was an attack directed by
ISIS or merely inspired by ISIS. Borrowing from Hillary Clinton: "What
difference does it make?"
We are in a new kind of warfare,
and it isn't for sure that our government gets it. Our jihadi enemy (ISIS and Al Qaeda today---but
surely a successor entity tomorrow and so on---but for simplicity let's just
say ISIS) does not have to direct the attacks.
Our enemy has ideological soulmates here in the U.S. and throughout the
world. It does not need a chain of
command in order to launch attacks. It
speaks to its "soldiers" via the internet.
Whereas ISIS used to urge
recruits in the West to come to join the fight in Syria, it has now
switched. It now urges potential jihadis in the West to stay put and attack
targets wherever they are.
In a recorded message to followers
in the West, ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adani offered this guidance to the
faithful: "The smallest action you
do in their heartland is better and more enduring to us than what you would do
if you were here with us." Here was
his advice for attacking the military and their families: "You could
literally search for soldiers, find their town, photos of them, look for
address in Yellowbook or something, then show up and slaughter them." But he also advocated killing Westerners
indiscriminately: "Kill the
disbeliever whether he is civilian or military....Both of them are considered
to be waging war. Both of their blood
and wealth is legal for you to destroy."
The ISIS spokesman also offered
specific advice for carrying out small-scale attacks in the "Crusader
nations:" "Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter
him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high
place, or choke him, or poison him."
Confirming this tactical change
by ISIS, FBI Director James Comey reported recently that this has resulted in a
dramatic drop in the number of Americans traveling to join ISIS. In addition, he reports over a thousand
terrorism-related active investigations in all 50 States. Are you comforted knowing the jihadis are
staying "home?"
ISIS has---whether by sheer brilliance, or by preference, or of
necessity---initiated a new kind of warfare.
In this scenario, the footsoldiers do not have to report for basic
training, march in formation, pull KP duty, or wear uniforms. More importantly, they do not have to receive
orders from---or even to ever communicate with---the chain of command. All they have to do is to believe in ISIS ideology
and to receive via the internet their inspiration---their call to arms.
The hallmarks of Western
societies include the world's most extensive political and religious freedoms,
as well as legally mandated constraints on the powers granted to law
enforcement and prosecutors. These
characteristics will make it especially
difficult to defend ourselves against the lone wolf jihadi tactics.
A good
starting place might be for our government to recognize that these lone
wolves---whether directed or inspired---are ISIS "soldiers" rather
than crazies or common criminals. If in
doubt, consult Marcus Luttrell.
