How America (Successfully) Dealt with Terrorists in Former Times
Posted By Rich Bryant on February 16, 2009
Recently I completed reading ‘Comanches: The History of a People’ by T.R. Fehrenbach (a book I can highly recommend). The Comanches, I learned, were a fierce and ruthless warrior people that plagued the settlers of Texas and Oklahoma throughout most of the 1800’s. As a group they were particularly known for the gristly fates that were met out to those who became their captives. (For the sake of the squeamish I will not elaborate further on these fates, other than to say that one would be very much challenged to devise tortures that approach the cruelty of those that the Comanches imposed on their victims).
In the context of a post 9/11 world in which terrorists distribute videos of the beheadings of their innocent victims it becomes quite apparent that the modern term ‘terrorist’ could easily have been ascribed to the Comanches of the 1800’s as well.
During the decades of conflict between the American settlers in the West and the Comanches many remedies were pursued, and almost always to no avail. Ultimately the state of Texas commissioned a new, quasi-vigilante group known as the Texas Rangers to deal with the problem posed by the Comanches. The Rangers were an unorthodox group that was given great autonomy in determining how best to pacify the Comanches.
The approach adopted by the Texas Rangers, which proved to be quite effective, was one of relentless pursuit coupled with cold-blooded ferocity. Their approach was the epitome of that old saying ‘the best defense is a good offense’. It was typical for small groups of Texas Rangers to plunge headlong into pursuit of groups of Comanche warriors who were well-armed and many times their number. Once the Comanches became accustomed to constant flight, they remained on the defensive.
The Texas Rangers, coupled with the effects of disease of the near extermination of the American Buffalo, were ultimately successful in pacifying the Comanches, and the American West was made safe for settlement and cultivation.
There are lessons here for America (and the world) today in dealing with terrorists. If we are to prevail it is imperative to adopt brutal tactics and to stay on the offensive. With modern technology we have the means to easily defeat terrorism, it remains only to be determined if we have the will.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: It is not my intention to infer in this article that the Comanche people are without merit. I am sure it is very rare that one can find any culture that does not have its redeeming qualities, and that often those qualities that are not redeeming are reactions to external forces. However, when two cultures collide those qualities can present a problem that absolutely must be resolved, and the long history of humanity seems to indicate that armed conflict is often a necessary component to any such resolution.
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