News Article: October 12, 2001 - Strategy is key in America's new war against terrorism, says Scarborough 

Jackson, Tenn. - Strategy is key in America’s new war against terrorism, said political and international relations analyst Ivy Scarborough on Wednesday.

Scarborough, who visited Afghanistan in 1985 while traveling with and observing mujahadeen rebels, said it was important for the U.S. to strike early on as it did this past Sunday.

“Though it’s unlikely to be said directly by our government, I believe one of the reasons we struck as quickly as we did was to bolster and encourage the morale and the commitment of the American people,” said Scarborough, comparing the bombings on Sunday to the famous Jimmy Doolittle bombing raid on Tokyo in the months following the attack on Pearl Harbor. “America was not in a position at the time to strike the Japanese with the force and sweeping effort it was later able to muster, but President Roosevelt and his advisors understood the need to strike back quickly to bolster American morale.”

Not only was the early strike intended to demonstrate U.S. resolve to the American people, said Scarborough, but it was also intended for the nation’s adversaries.

“Though our government is reluctant to say that the elimination of the Taliban is now one of our strategic objectives, it is clear that the steps being taken suggest that is an objective. And though we are not hearing it said openly, there is strong evidence that ensuring a complete change in the government of Afghanistan is now clearly an American strategic objective – as it should be,” said Scarborough.

The deployment of the 10th Mountain Division, one of the military’s elite units, to Uzbekistan, is a clear sign of how the U.S. military is planning war strategy, explained Scarborough, who traveled with that specific division in 1993 to Somalia for assistance in the humanitarian aid project “Operation Restore Hope.” The unit is a specialized one, specifically trained in mountain climbing in the most rugged terrain and whose presence demonstrates that at some point, according to Scarborough, American infantry troops will be on the ground in Afghanistan.

“In any war, psychological factors are critical even though they may go largely unnoticed by observers. The psychological key in our strategy,” Scarborough points out, “is to be careful in not stepping over a ‘line in the sand’ with the Afghan people that would suggest we are there as an occupying force not unlike the Russians over a decade before. If we can complete our mission without stepping over that line in the minds of the Afghans, we will have achieved a great deal.”

Mr. Scarborough, an attorney from Jackson, Tennessee, holds significant expertise on a variety of current issues, including international terrorism, foreign affairs, national defense policy and American government. He has done extensive freelance reporting and observation in various countries including Afghanistan, Bosnia, Somalia and Kosovo and is widely used by the military as a lecturer on topics including the Afghan war, international crises, and terrorism. Most recently, he was asked by the Tennessee National Guard to brief guard units statewide on the situation in Afghanistan.