ABSTRACT
At the height of public concern after September 11, 2001, there was a different claim, about a study showing that “statistically, most guerrilla and terrorist campaigns last between thirteen and fourteen years.” As victims, enemies of terrorists, and eventually victors, American citizens must understand the contest, fight where necessary, work steadily against them as appropriate, and always direct our energies well, with a strategy. For most citizens, its lingering specter is emotionally and psychologically inseparable from the current increase in white terrorist incidents, including mass murders, as in Pennsylvania and Texas. The civil order’s response to the terrorist challenge is also a matter of will, resources, leadership, and skill. Many foreign organizations were also defeated by force, by democracies. The legacy of “decapitation” of terrorist organizations is limited and offers dozens of disappointments for every known success.
