Operation AXIOM

Ten years ago to the day, 7 July 2005, four jihadist suicide bombers murdered fifty-two commuters in the heart of London; the attack, the first suicide bombing in British history & the worst terrorist attack since the Lockerbie bombing in 1988, came to be known as "7/7," such as the 11 September 2001 attacks came to be known as "9/11." Three suicide bombs were detonated in the "Tube," the London Underground (subway), while a four was detonated on a bus. The jihadist terrorists—three of whom were British-born sons of Pakistani immigrants while the fourth was a Jamaican convert to Islam—were inspired by Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni-American recruiter, mouthpiece, & propagandist for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Awlaki would go on to inspire many other bombings, shooting, & attempted acts of terrorism until his death in 2011 (death from above! by drone strike). The 7/7 bombings shocked Great Britain, which had been a friendly haven for Islamist recruiters & propagandists, even after 9/11, despite partnering with the United States in the liberations of Afghanistan (2001) & Iraq (2003). Another wave of bombings on the Tube & a double-decker bus a fortnight later, 21 July '05, resulted in almost no casualties due to the failure of any of the bombs to detonate properly. There have been a string of jihadist terrorist attacks in the decade since 7/7, & innocents have died, but there have been no further mass-casualty attacks; several mass-casualty plots have been foiled in the planning stages. A wave of coordinated suicide bombings killed fifty-two in the heart of London, ten years ago to-day: 7/7-link.

The Savage Wars of Peace
The war we fight to-day, the war we've been fighting since 9/11, is not, as some have irksomely suggested, a "clash of civilizations" 'twixt Christendom & the Ummah, 'twixt West & East, but it is a war for civilization. We fight against savages, savage in their morality if not in their technology & methodology. Will we be governed by the rule of law, under parliaments & constitutions & the consent of the governed, or will we be governed the whim of men, under the sway of the most violent & fanatical? Will right make might, as President Lincoln insisted it must, or will might make right, as has been the sad case throughout most of history? These savages respect no law of war, they make no distinction 'twixt uniformed soldier & innocent civilian. They view slaughtering innocents on subway trains & double-decker buses as a legitimate means of war. There is no negotiation with such an enemy, there can be no accommodation. He will grant no quarter, so he cannot be granted any. This savage war of peace, now almost a decade & a half old, began on 9/11, but has roots that stretch back a century or more; it will not be over any more suddenly than it began; as the delightfully acidic Mr. Rumsfeld said, this war for civilization will be "a long, hard slog." There are but two choices before us: victory or slavery. If you ask me, that's no choice at all.

Some have characterized this war as something new, as "fourth-generation warfare": 4GW-link. Me, I say there's nothing new under the sun, & I see features of this kind of war throughout history. Either way, victory is no less imperative.

Poetry Smackdown
The title "The Savage Wars of Peace" is taken from Rudyard Kipling's oft-misunderstood poem, "The White Man's Burden," excerpted below.

"The White Man's Burden" (excerpt)
by Rudyard Kipling

Take up the White Man's burden—
The savage wars of peace—
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for other sought,
Watch Sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hope to nought.