Hi friends…and welcome back!  Yesterday I introduced Dr Sebastian Gorka, an esteemed counterterrorism expert and lead instructor for US Special Operations Command’s Combating Terrorism course.  I had the privilege of hearing him lecture several days ago, and I shared some general information about ISIS and its most influential pioneers in yesterday’s post.  Today, we’ll glean from his thoughts regarding America’s response to terrorism, and his ideas regarding strategy.

According to Gorka, the key to winning the war against terror is to know your enemy…how they think, what they do, etc, and apply strategy accordingly.  To date, America does not seem to understand the essence of asymmetric warfare.  Gorka’s statement is, “America cannot kill itself out of this war.”  Simply targeting leaders and taking out key operatives will not suffice.  When one is killed, ISIS recruits 15 to replace him, and they are adept at turning the death of their operatives into recruiting tools.

Gorka confirmed what has previously been postulated by Bible-believing prophecy experts: that this is not a political or foreign policy battle.  It is an ideological battle, and the only way to win the war with radical Islamic groups is to attack their ideology.  Both Sunni and Shia Muslims have apocalyptic theology which calls them to bring about chaos and kill all infidels in order to bring about a world-wide Islamic caliphate.  The Shia version is most widely known, including the appearance of the long-awaited twelfth imam (Islamic messiah).   Thus, negotiating with radicals who believe it is their calling to destroy you is utterly pointless.

It is also important to understand what is behind the name of ISIS.  Though there are disagreements about whether to call the group ISIS, ISIL or the Islamic State, consider what ISIS stands for: Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.  Gorka explained that al-Sham is not really a geographical location, but rather the afore-mentioned apocalyptic ideology.

Rather than fighting against such ideology, the Obama administration has been exceedingly favorable to the very ideology that is out to destroy us.  In fact, in 2011 the White House was bombarded with letters stating that counterterrorism is “Islamaphobic.”  As a result, 700,000 pages of government documents were reviewed in about 2 months.  Though very important government actions get bogged down for months or years when a few thousand pages of documents are involved, somehow the White House was able to free up officials to review 700,000 pages in a very short time.  The outcome:  use of words such as “jihad” and “Islamic radicals” are not permitted, even in the training of special forces in counterterrorism!  Should Dr Gorka use such words in his lectures to our nations special ops units, he faces immediate dismissal!

So, having an advanced understanding of terrorism and the mindset behind it, what does Sabastian Gorka suggest in terms of US strategy in the Middle East?  He outlined these 6 things:

1. Do not attempt to negotiate with Iran. They have been at war with us since 1979 and have consistently tried to kill us and our greatest Middle East ally, Israel. They have identified Israel as the “Little Satan” and the US as the “Great Satan.”  If they blatantly threaten to wipe Israel off the map, what do you think they want to do to the US?
2. The US must not fund Syrian rebels. There is little to keep that funding from reaching Iraq…and ISIS leadership.  We are not able to discern between moderates and extremists, so why fund them?
3. To stop ISIS, they must be soundly defeated. Airstrikes are not enough.  We must put special forces on the ground in order to have any true success.  We have left a power vacuum by completely withdrawing from Iraq, and ISIS has gladly filled that void.  The same is about to happen in Afghanistan.  When we’re on the ground, Iraqi troops will fight.  Without American presence, weak militaries lay down their arms and run.  ISIS has taken control of millions of dollars worth of US military equipment left in Iraq, and that equipment is now being used to kill Christians and anyone else who doesn’t agree with ISIS.
4. Egypt and Jordan are key players (as is the United Arab Emirates) and should be cultivated as allies. (That seems to confirm my previous posts regarding the President of Egypt and the King of Jordan.)
5. Domestically, US churches must engage. 50,000 Christians were purged in only a few days as ISIS barged into Iraq, and the death toll continues to grow steadily.  Gorka describes this as a Christian Holocaust.  America has stood up around the world to save Muslims in places like Bosnia, Serbia, Albania and Kosovo.  It is time for Americans to stand up for Christians, and that effort should be led by American Christians.  (Amen!  Let’s fight that battle on our knees, as well as verbally in sharing the Gospel, and in letting our Congressmen hear from us.)
6. Very importantly, attack the ideology. The war on terror is not so much about territory as it is ideology.  The goal of ISIS and other radical Islamists is to create a world-wide caliphate, either through conversion or killing.  We must fight the ideological war!

I am not able to verify whether Dr Gorka is a follower of Jesus Christ, but this I do know: he shares conservative values, at least in terms of dealing with Middle East issues.  Let’s pray for him as he trains our nation’s Special Operations operatives.

Finally, you can hear portions of Dr Gorka’s lectures at the Center for Security Policy.  For anyone interested in an expert’s view of counterterrorism, I recommend the two videos found there.