America’s Enemies

“Bleed the Dragon”

The enemies at home and abroad and demeanors of the United States have taken to view our country as an evil Dragon that must be bled of its power and stature. As the mythology of the dragon goes, you could not slay the dragon with one spear but that it would take many spears into the body of the dragon to slay it and “bleed it to death”.

“Ride through the valley in thunder and rain. The battle is raging, redeem this domain. The castle of Eden lies silent above. Darkness surrounded us, away we must go. I look through the eyes of the world. I see there are strangers among us. Awaiting a sign from above to conquer the power and the glory. Enter the battle, our will to enchain. Bringing us forward, defeating the pain.

Into the meeting with swords made of steel. Were standing together the secret reveals. I look through the eyes of the world. I know the stranger among us. Awaiting a sign from above. To conquer the power and glory. Come across to the Promised Land. Close your eyes, I will take your hand. Through the river of steel well go. When the dragon lies bleeding.”

– “The Dragon Lies Bleeding” by Hammerfall

As you look as it is at the world today, our enemies both foreign and domestic are sending those spears into the body of the United States. I do not have the opportunity in this writing to discuss the various spears in detail other than to list those spears …

• Economic and Financial
• Radical Jihad/Enablers of International Terrorism and the planned Caliphate
• The naïve and progressive Media
• Weak and misguided leadership in Congress and the White House
• Globalism and multi-culturalism
• United Nations and their subversives
• Progressive Socialists
• Rogue nations pursuing the development and use of nuclear /EMP technology and delivery systems
• War on the Southern Border

These are just ten of the “spears” that must be addressed by a revised US National Strategy to survive. The US has always drawn operational plans from strategic doctrine. The American people face unprecedented threats and vulnerabilities. The global “Chessboard” (see our Chessboard series of articles) is being reset daily as we observe the key players of the world cleverly moving their chess pieces.

If we continue America’s near-total reliance upon the logic of deterrence and appeasement we will be doomed to be bled to death.

Continued belief in classical threat-system dynamics could be problematic, even if American planners were to focus on just state sponsors and terrorist proxies (like Hezbollah). These states, like their surrogates, value particular religious or ideological preferences more highly than their own lives and freedoms.

Our nation simply does not have the human and financial resources to continue investing blood and treasure into nation building enterprises or foreign aid packages into the Middle East. Obama along with other broke, financially strapped European countries is now committing billions of new US dollars to new nation building to the Middle East. All of these Islamic countries seem to be willing to protect terrorists/jihadists, rule by Sharia law in the guise of seeking democracy, and chastise America at every opportunity for their own selfish interests and hope of keeping U.S. money flowing into their coffers.

How senseless is this? Oh, Treasury, keep printing money – no problem there! Maybe I am naïve, but I think we need to shore up America first.

As I was advised years ago (2001 to be precise) by an Arab confidant,

“Do not put bases or large land forces into the Middle East, as it is a giant SPONGE that will soak up everything with no viable end!”

… meaning human and financial resources … Our enemies understand that by bleeding the United States that they will see America fall in self-destruction and commit national suicide. It is time to reposition our forces and change our global strategy.

We must have more sense and wisdom about engagement and conflicts in this year 2011 but we do not seem to look back in history well and have major problems in seeing the future. We seem to be a nation that is rudderless. We, the people, are the Masters of our Fate and Captains of our Soul and Destiny.

The Nature of change

War and conflict will remain a human endeavor, a conflict between two forces, yet changes in the political landscape, adaptations by the enemy, and advances in technology and techniques will change the character of the battle. Leaders are often late to recognize such changes and adjust to the proper uses of hard and soft power options, and even when they do, inertia tends to limit their ability to adapt quickly.

Driven by an inherent desire to bring order to a disorderly, chaotic universe, human beings tend to frame their thoughts about the future in terms of continuities and extrapolations from the present and occasionally the past. But a brief look at the past quarter century, to say nothing of the past four thousand years, suggests the extent of changes that coming decades will bring.

Any updated US strategic doctrine will still have to include preemption across many fronts. Inevitably, there will be new perils that may require “anticipatory self-defense.” Where rationality cannot be assumed, and where the effectiveness of missile defense would be low, the only alternative to capable and lawful forms of American preemption could be surrender and defeat.

All policy makers need to ask and answer to the American people, for what is US and Western civilization fighting? What is it that we are defending and protecting based on our Constitution? Well, it’s everything that shariah Islam stands against: Judeo-Christian principles, individual liberty, equality before the law, equality of Muslim and non-Muslim, men and women; it’s the freedom to believe as our conscience directs us, even if that means no belief at all, or changing beliefs; it means protections for minorities; pluralism, and tolerance….but all within the ethical framework of human reason as laid down by the Founding Fathers.

Until we know who and what we are, we will not only be unsuccessful at nation-building elsewhere – we will steadily lose what we have here at home too – and not just for economic reasons.

That’s the fundamental problem that has us squandering our blood and treasure all over the place – the enemy knows this and counts on it – his doctrine is fixed, sure, immutable … and he knows we are post-modern, progressive, multiculturalism, morally relativist, etc, … that’s the foundation of this conflict.

He knows who he is and what he’s fighting for and we do not.

We will be able to find our way through chaos and changing circumstances only when we acknowledge and celebrate and hold fast to our own core beliefs and history and principles and traditions. It is not a simple world. Strategic doctrine is always a complex matter, and any improved US plan will have to be creative as well as comprehensive. In turn, the options will require enemy perceptions of persuasive American power and of an American willingness to actually use this power. Meaningful policies can emerge only from a carefully re-conceptualized US strategic doctrine.

To me financial collapse of America is now our greatest threat. Stop the bleeding.

Paul E Vallely, MG US Army (Ret), is Chairman of Stand Up America

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