Our Honolulu
Thanks for the favors, bin Laden

By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

It's beginning to appear that Osama bin Laden, in his macabre way, has taught a lot of people some valuable lessons.

Take the unexpected retreat of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Could it be that the U.S. military has learned how to fight the wars of the future?

Our troops are executing a classic campaign straight out of a book by retired Army Col. John B. Alexander called "Future War: Non-Lethal Weapons in Twenty-First Century Warfare."

Or, if you prefer, read "Kamehameha and His Warrior, Kekuhaupi'o" published by the Kamehameha Schools Press. Both books teach the same lesson.

The object of warfare in a world where we are all vulnerable to one another is not to destroy the enemy but to make him give up. Alexander explains that you don't have to kill the enemy to make him surrender.

It's much more cost-efficient to disrupt his transportation lines and his communications network so that he can't get organized to put up a good fight. That's what the bombing was all about.

That's how we will win the wars of the future.

The fewer of the enemy you kill, the better, because he has less reason to fight you the next time.

Consider this: The terrorists probably killed more people in the World Trade Center than U.S. bombs have in Afghanistan.

It's gratifying to see that somebody has taken to heart the lessons of Vietnam and Mogadishu.

And it's ironic that this was the nature of Island warfare before Hawaiians learned about guns and how to kill as many of the enemy as possible. Before that, you could win a war almost by convincing him that your god was stronger than his.

The Taliban fighters know a cardinal rule that the warrior Kekuhaupi'o learned from his master: "When one learns to be a warrior, one must also learn to run." That's another part of future war.

An additional blessing is unlikely friendships. Who would have guessed a year ago that the president of Russia and the president of the United States would take to each other like bread and butter?

So Putin and Bush can't agree on the missile defense system. What the heck, friends can disagree without going to war. I'm hoping Vladimir can talk George out of it.

The biggest favor bin Laden has done for us is his latest propaganda speech in which he's taking on the whole world instead of just the

United States. When Bush makes the same point in reverse, other nations just get irritated. When bin Laden says it, even China gets more friendly.

We cannot discount, of course, the terrible economic price that Osama bin Laden has levied upon us: the burden of heightened security.

Nothing is the same. But it's easier to adapt to change when you realize that some of it is an improvement over the past.