sacrifice.’” George paused and glanced at Buffalo. “Fifteen or twenty years ago, it made a lot of sense.”
“Yeah, during the Cold War it made a lot of sense,” Buffalo responded. “Our strategic assets provided the U.S. with a convincing deterrent force when there was an identifiable enemy we could hit in a retaliatory strike.”
“But the terrorist strike on Washington DC changed all that,” George continued. “The strike made us impotent and worthless. Now, all of the great power of the United States of America, all of its ICBMs, all of its long-range strategic bombers, and all of its ballistic missile submarines are useless. You can’t use those to strike back at terrorists!”
“Teats on a boar hog,” responded Buffalo, mimicking George.
“With terrorists hiding in dispersed countries around the world, the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction is dead. If terrorists hit us with a nuclear, biological, or chemical weapon of mass destruction, we can’t strike back. Like you said, there’s no identifiable target.”
“Teats on a boar hog,” Buffalo repeated. “You’re preaching to the choir, you know.”
George continued unabated, “The U.S. is a lumbering giant—unable to change its course, unable to adapt its strategy to changing circumstances. We continue to deploy our boomers. Our crews continue to endure the separation and sacrifices of sixty-day submerged patrols. For what? Who are we deterring? We’re certainly not deterring the terrorists—they’ve shown us that.”
“Teats on a boar hog,” said Buffalo, hoping his repetitive responses would finally shut George up, but it took their arrival at their next stop to do that.
The third and final member of their carpool, Commander Lannis Wayne, served as the intelligence officer on the SUBLANT staff. George really didn’t like Lannis, and their opinions differed on almost everything. But there wasn’t really any polite way to exclude him from the carpool. Lannis lived just a few blocks away from Buffalo.
As George pulled up in front of Lannis’s house, he gave a long blast on the horn, knowing the neighbors would complain to Lannis later for this pre-dawn awakening. Lannis came out of the house and hurried toward the car, no doubt hoping to prevent another horn blast by George. Lannis was not exactly the poster-child image of a military man. He was five foot seven at the most, with a slight build, big ears, and round horn-rimmed glasses. George’s best analogy was that Lannis had to be the spitting image of a young Ross Perot.
The drive at once turned silent when Lannis got in the car. They continued toward the Naval Station Norfolk in the dim, predawn light. Lannis sat in the backseat reading the New York Times with a flashlight. After several minutes, Lannis broke the silence.
“There was another subway bombing in Europe. This time in Paris.”
“Oh yeah?” responded Buffalo. “Let me guess who’s claiming responsibility—”
“Who do you think? Al-Qaeda, of course,” answered Lannis. “Those guys will never stop, and they don’t seem to care who they attack.”
George glanced at Lannis in the rearview mirror and provokingly said, “Kind of odd they would attack the French, though. The French have been nonexistent in the War on Terrorism.”
“It just shows you appeasement doesn’t work with terrorists,” retorted Buffalo. “There’s nothing the French or anyone else can do to satisfy those nuts—they’ll attack anybody and everybody.”
George agreed and added, “Back in 2001, after 9/11, I thought the terrorists had made a huge strategic mistake by attacking the United States. Historically, Western democracies have shown it’s impossible to defeat them militarily. In fact, democratic societies throughout history have shown they will fiercely defend themselves against outside military invaders. We showed that resolve by attacking Afghanistan and Iraq after 9/11 to eliminate the terrorists’ safe
“Yeah, during the Cold War it made a lot of sense,” Buffalo responded. “Our strategic assets provided the U.S. with a convincing deterrent force when there was an identifiable enemy we could hit in a retaliatory strike.”
“But the terrorist strike on Washington DC changed all that,” George continued. “The strike made us impotent and worthless. Now, all of the great power of the United States of America, all of its ICBMs, all of its long-range strategic bombers, and all of its ballistic missile submarines are useless. You can’t use those to strike back at terrorists!”
“Teats on a boar hog,” responded Buffalo, mimicking George.
“With terrorists hiding in dispersed countries around the world, the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction is dead. If terrorists hit us with a nuclear, biological, or chemical weapon of mass destruction, we can’t strike back. Like you said, there’s no identifiable target.”
“Teats on a boar hog,” Buffalo repeated. “You’re preaching to the choir, you know.”
George continued unabated, “The U.S. is a lumbering giant—unable to change its course, unable to adapt its strategy to changing circumstances. We continue to deploy our boomers. Our crews continue to endure the separation and sacrifices of sixty-day submerged patrols. For what? Who are we deterring? We’re certainly not deterring the terrorists—they’ve shown us that.”
“Teats on a boar hog,” said Buffalo, hoping his repetitive responses would finally shut George up, but it took their arrival at their next stop to do that.
The third and final member of their carpool, Commander Lannis Wayne, served as the intelligence officer on the SUBLANT staff. George really didn’t like Lannis, and their opinions differed on almost everything. But there wasn’t really any polite way to exclude him from the carpool. Lannis lived just a few blocks away from Buffalo.
As George pulled up in front of Lannis’s house, he gave a long blast on the horn, knowing the neighbors would complain to Lannis later for this pre-dawn awakening. Lannis came out of the house and hurried toward the car, no doubt hoping to prevent another horn blast by George. Lannis was not exactly the poster-child image of a military man. He was five foot seven at the most, with a slight build, big ears, and round horn-rimmed glasses. George’s best analogy was that Lannis had to be the spitting image of a young Ross Perot.
The drive at once turned silent when Lannis got in the car. They continued toward the Naval Station Norfolk in the dim, predawn light. Lannis sat in the backseat reading the New York Times with a flashlight. After several minutes, Lannis broke the silence.
“There was another subway bombing in Europe. This time in Paris.”
“Oh yeah?” responded Buffalo. “Let me guess who’s claiming responsibility—”
“Who do you think? Al-Qaeda, of course,” answered Lannis. “Those guys will never stop, and they don’t seem to care who they attack.”
George glanced at Lannis in the rearview mirror and provokingly said, “Kind of odd they would attack the French, though. The French have been nonexistent in the War on Terrorism.”
“It just shows you appeasement doesn’t work with terrorists,” retorted Buffalo. “There’s nothing the French or anyone else can do to satisfy those nuts—they’ll attack anybody and everybody.”
George agreed and added, “Back in 2001, after 9/11, I thought the terrorists had made a huge strategic mistake by attacking the United States. Historically, Western democracies have shown it’s impossible to defeat them militarily. In fact, democratic societies throughout history have shown they will fiercely defend themselves against outside military invaders. We showed that resolve by attacking Afghanistan and Iraq after 9/11 to eliminate the terrorists’ safe
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