These counter-terror tactics take advantage of the fact that Islamic terrorists are dominated by Arabs, and Arab terrorists share certain cultural habits common throughout the Middle East. The biggest weaknesses being exploited are the corruption and paranoia.
Read it all, as "they" say.
This supports my contention in September 2001 that we are hardly helpless in the face of the terrorist threat. There was much we could do against the enemy covertly, I wrote:
Intelligence and covert operations are the first line of active defense and the first echelon of attack. The aerial suicide attacks on our people and the symbols of our power took enormous amounts of time to carry out. This is one weakness of our enemy. While they may carry out small attacks using small arms or small bombs at a moment's notice, truly horrific attacks require time because they must be planned in the shadows to avoid detection. We must increase our ability to detect such preparations and make sure the information is interpreted to provide timely and specific warnings. Then, the people who need this information must actually get the warning in time to take actions.
More importantly, we must exploit the fact that these attacks take time to organize. Intelligence must track the enemy terror cells in order to strike the enemy and disrupt them by keeping them on the move and by killing or arresting their operatives. We must sow confusion and paranoia in their ranks to slow them down and get them to fight each other. Our ability to use so many weapons is one advantage of being a powerful state. We may be a large target but we are not a helpless giant. America can direct precise or massive force quickly and globally as needed. Keeping the initiative is crucial. This will compel our enemies to start their preparation from scratch again and again. Giving the enemy time to prepare only guarantees that eventually they will be ready and will strike.
Our intelligence services must also preserve allies against anti-American coups and look for opportunities to help domestic enemies of hostile regimes to overthrow those governments. This serves to isolate the terrorists and prevent surprises that will harm our war effort.
The problem in appreciating all of this hidden struggle is, as Strategypage notes, that our successes must go unheralded to keep them going. But we are achieving success on this first line of defense and our first echelon of attack.
