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…to kill the Americans and their allies—civilians and military—is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it… —AL-QAEDA FATWĀ, 1998
Im ba l’hargekha, hashkem l’hargo If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first. —TALMUDIC EDICT
Our adversaries have observed us at the poker table for twenty years while having the benefit of seeing our cards. They have studied our tactics and seen our technologies evolve; they’ve observed our shifting goals and objectives. They have taken notes as we fought in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and other flashpoints around the globe. Our response to a pandemic and the civil unrest plaguing our cities at a time when domestic political ideologies seem irreconcilable has not gone unnoticed. They see a country divided. Have they accounted for that division in their battle plans?
We would be wise to remember that the Athenian historian Thucydides in the Melian Dialogue of his History of the Peloponnesian War characterizes hope as danger’s comforter. In modern military and intelligence parlance, the ancient Greek general’s text translates as hope is not a course of action. While this is true, hope is oftentimes all one has in times of despair. The lesson is one as old as time: Be prepared.
“the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”
“All warfare is based on deception.”
“One of the most striking proofs of the personal existence of Satan… is found in the fact, that he has so influenced the minds of multitudes in reference to his existence and doings, as to make them believe that he does not exist.” —WILLIAM RAMSEY
“You don’t have to like it, you just have to do it,”
“What if you could fight a war without firing a bullet? Is it still a war?” the senator asked. Sawyer studied the elder statesman sitting across from him, raised an eyebrow, and took another sip of bourbon. “That, Senator, is the highest level of warfare.”
Both her firearms were legal in Virginia, but if she forgot and drove over the invisible boundary into the District of Columbia, she risked imprisonment. Beware of the government that fears your guns. In less than the distance of a foot, she’d go from law-abiding citizen to felon. Citizens could be trusted in Virginia but not in D.C., though even that could change. Virginia had been trending away from the state motto so boldly emblazoned on their official state seal and flag: Sic semper tyrannis—Thus always to tyrants.
“Luck is the residue of preparation,” Reece whispered, his eyes focused past the clouds, beyond the windows.
