Terrorism is the newest form of warfare. This new warfare is characterized by people who fight for a cause, not for a flag. There�s no nation on which to declare war, because the terrorists themselves cross boundaries. What makes it possible is the relatively easy acquisition of heavy artillery like surface-to-air rockets, or the resolve to turn a passenger jet into a missile. It used to be that you had to be organized as a nation to own that kind of arsenal. Now, a small group of radicals can acquire the means to wage a pretty good battle.

Technology has brought wireless communication, GPS, and dirty bombs to the masses. Countries used to need nuclear warheads and inter-continental ballistic missiles to threaten each other. Now all you need is a suitcase bomb and someone who believes enough to carry it there by hand. Don�t have a bomb yet? All you need is some funding from a rich backer or a gift from a sympathetic dictator.

We should not be surprised at this change in warfare. During the Revolutionary War it was we Americans who changed the rules of war. The British were wearing their brightest red uniforms and were prepared to line up in an open field and kill each other like civilized people. We shot at them, unseen, from the woods as they marched. Why? Because we were at a disadvantage. England was the superpower of the day. They had more formal training and were better organized. We couldn�t win on their terms. So we invented new tactics, because we wanted to win. We won, and I�m glad we did.

Now we are the superpower. And unseen people are taking shots at us. Why? Because they know they can�t win by meeting us on the battlefield on our terms. And they want to win. Our enemies are all around us, and hiding in the forest of our allies.

Now, it sounds like I�m comparing terrorists to patriots. They�re not the same. The cause we fought for was independence and freedom for ourselves. They fight for the control and oppression of others. But their resolve is familiar, and the sooner we recognize that they are in it to win, and that the rules are different this time, the sooner we can start doing what needs to be done. Never again will we be able to assume that the enemy will come dressed in uniforms so they can be differentiated from the civilians. They�re not going to negotiate a new territory and sign a treaty for a peaceful co-existence. The fight doesn�t start and end at the line on a map. They don�t want to conquer us; they want us gone from the face of the earth. You can�t negotiate with religion.

This type of fighting used to be called guerilla warfare. We helped invent it. What elevated it to where we are today were the fanatical belief that all those who do not follow a certain religion should die, and the newly available means for a small group of individuals to make that happen on an international scale.