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The Myth of the Guerrilla is not new. The use of global media to convince the world of the truth of the myth is not new -- the Tet Offensive is the model here. What is new is the global scale of the conflict. Al Qaeda and its allies can create momentum in rural Afghanistan, and thereby humiliate the Coalition. It appears to be more powerful than America, more powerful than NATO, because it can defy their will and exert control where we cannot. That control is based on the careful application of a small amount of strength; the worldwide appearance of power is based on the global media carrying today's one small success to every household with a television. Even if every household in Afghanistan but one sleeps safely tonight, that one is all that is needed to portray the insurgency as unstoppable, and capable of exerting its will when and where it pleases.
It is not, of course: it would rather strike the White House than a farmhouse in Afghanistan. But we cannot stop the one attack in Afghanistan, and therefore the insurgency is winning. Its goal is to attack, ours to defend, and since it has attacked somewhere, that is enough. Readers of newspapers see an example of their strength, that small but carefully applied strength, each and every day. It becomes an article of faith.
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