Toftoy's Perspective for Students

By Dr. Charles Toftoy
GWBlitz! Staff
October 09, 2001

Dr. Charles N. Toftoy is the Director of the Entrpreneurship/Small Business Program and Faculty Coordinator for the Cooperative Education Program at The George Washington University. Dr. Toftoy was a 1999 National Entrepreneur of the Year award recipient. He was judged by Ernst & Young as one of the top three Entrepreneurs (supporter category) in the Nation. He is also a highly decorated (wounded twice) U.S. Army Vietnam Veteran. The following was written based on his opinions and experience with terrorism, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of GWBlitz!.

To the students:

I had two Vietnam tours as a ranger/paratrooper fighting against the terrorists. Wounded twice, shot down in a helicopter I realized that terrorists and guerillas only respect action--not words. So we have to take action.

I know what they are going through at ground zero in New York City and the Pentagon. I’ve come across 300 troops, all dead—loading bodies into helicopters as the body you were carrying blew up on you due to gases that bloated them. I feel close to the NYPD and the fire fighters as they continue digging through the rubble. I’m with them every day in my heart.

What I keep seeing, in my mind, are the hundreds of firemen and police charging up the stairs with determination in their eyes, that they are going to put the fire out and save people. No doubt in their mind about that.

Then the whole building comes down on them.

All of us could have been in one of the World Trade Towers or the Pentagon. It could have been you. This is our soil—we have been attacked. That’s different than Korea or Vietnam. Our homeland security is threatened across the land.

The head of the Japanese military operations said that his fear was that the Pearl Harbor raids only “awakened a sleeping giant.” We have been awakened again! This is World War III—there is no doubt about that. But there will be no ticker tape parades in New York or Washington after a victory over terrorism. There will be no “V’s” for victory.

Because victory cannot be won as in WWI and WWII. All we can do, over the next twenty years, is minimize terrorism so there are only small incidents around the world. That is victory in itself. So, we do not need parades anyway.

Cheer up. Most countries faced with a September 11th type of attack would have folded. We are still strong. You are going to classes. People are back at work. Only in America. Why? Because, for one thing, our geography is very different. We are spread out with many cities composed of good, responsible people who can take over during a sudden infrastructural collapse due to a tragedy.

Remember, Osama bin Laden is like a Hitler or Jim Jones. Remember Jones? He led the doomsday cult of sick, homeless, jobless people to their death in November 1998. 638 adults and 276 children died in Jonestown, Guyana.

Bin Laden’s followers are made of the same cloth--depressed, poor, and from broken families. Desperate and having lost faith in themselves, they join bin Laden to be comfortable.

We need a powerful humanitarian and educational effort to swing Afghans to our side. We can airdrop food, clothing, blankets, water and make it clear, via PSYOP (psychological operations) flyers, that it is the USA helping them. As we spot, through good intelligence, a definite Taliban military target we need to bomb that target and follow-up with infantry troops in hit and run tactics. That way our soldiers are in and out in only one or two days.

Success or not, the troops are pulled out. And we just keep doing this: humanitarian air drops, educational leaflets, and hit and run military tactics. Perhaps we can pay the Northern Alliance to help us to kill off the Taliban leadership including Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Osama bin Laden needs to be brought home in a box. If captured, it will be hard for any court to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The vulture lawyers will line up to take his case and then we will be in a three year trial that wastes money and energy, and only causes depression.

We will look extremely weak and stupid to them if we try to negotiate. They will sit down at the table, but laugh later because they are liars anyway, so negotiations are really a joke. They have no Code of Conduct. They respect only action. They slit throats and cut off the heads of prisoners and video it. Do we want this to happen to any of our troops?

More than one million Afghans died in the war against the Soviets. Five million of the 20 million may die in the next year due to starvation, sickness and deprivation. Less than 30% of them are literate. We have to take action.

It’s tough to keep funds away from the al Qaeda cells because off-shore financing is such a farce (dummy companies, no names attached). But we can strangle any country that supports terrorism with economic sanctions. And we can tighten up our immigration policies. A person needs to show that they earn the right to be here in the USA, other than as a tourist. After all, we have 11 million illegal aliens living in our country. How did that happen?

True, we need to tackle terrorism world-wide. But first we need to destroy the al Quadea cells, and eliminate the suicide-oriented members. They are the ones who can do the most damage.

One member of the Taliban, in training, said his goal is to bring down the Sears tower building in Chicago and that he is going to do it. It is his lifetime goal.

See what I mean. These are fanatics. We have to shift FEAR into PROACTIVE AWARENESS.

It’s a healthier posture for all of us. After all, I doubt if Osama bin Laden could run 20 yards without being out of breath. I doubt if he could do 2 push-ups. Also, I doubt if he could do a suicide mission himself. A real leader does not ask his/her people to do anything that he/she wouldn’t do. These are real cowards. Look at Hitler. He was a wimp. Yet people followed him due to FEAR.

People are complaining about current airline security, about long waits. We should have had tighter security all along. The government should regulate the airlines. Government deregulation has failed (Eastern, Pan Am, etc.—gone).

Poor maintenance and poor checks and balances. We have been asleep at the switch for a long, long time in airline security. Overall, we have poor/fair gate checkers, baggage handling and pickup procedures, and other security checkpoints. We need to stop the monthly/quarterly survey ratings of airlines with fewest delays.

Government regulation would eliminate the pressure put on the airlines to take shortcuts in order to depart closer to on-time; thinking potential customers will choose their airline over others because they are seemingly more efficient. Also, this is an opportunity to limit the total number of flights which have caused forward air controllers heartburn, and many near misses. We just have had too many flights with little time in between take-offs and landings.

For the past 20+ years I’ve always crossed myself just before takeoff and just before landing on every aircraft I’ve flown on. And that’s a lot of airplanes. Also, I say a quick prayer. Every time.

But not because of a possible hijacking. Rather, because of the hope that the plane is maintained well enough and the pilot is doing well. And that’s me doing that, who received the Distinguished Flying Cross, eight Bronze Stars, seven Air Medals for action in Vietnam, and the Vn Medal of Honor, in addition to other valor awards. I’m also a master parachutist with one combat jump.

So why would a guy like me have doubts about each flight I take. Because we have left it up to the airlines to do their maintenance with little or no federal government checks. The airline usually picks the lowest bidder, and thus, you get a lower quality of maintenance. That’s bad enough, but now suicide hijackers.

One thing to be clear on is the National Guard. They should have airport security as a permanent mission, not temporary until more permanent security measures can be put in effect.

The airlines go with the lowest bidder, so the security companies selected will be of poor/fair quality and it will increase airline ticket costs to the customers who will just decide not to fly as often. The Governor should also be allowed to use the National Guard for any other security problem that affect our masses of people.

In regards to the Islamic people--those who profess the Muslim belief who live in this country (there are 7 million of them!)--we need to root out the fanatical Islamics in the USA and report them. They can be a big help to us. It is their duty. Otherwise, they are letting us down and really should return to their own country.

We should not rebuild the World Trade buildings. Rather set up a national garden park with a monument dedicated to those who lost their lives. I also think that we should all wear the red/white/blue at least until the last victim is found. One woman said we should wear it forever in remembrance. I agree. We need to put nationalism first.

One more tip for students-don’t walk around in fear, just be more actively aware-there’s a difference. Be on your toes. Don’t assume anything. We should be like this anyway. Report stuff that looks out of the ordinary. I took karate and what we learned was not how to go out and whip somebody, but rather to be aware of what’s around us. So, let’s substitute FEAR for a more proactive response to the tragedy--ACTIVE AWARENESS.

Copyright 2002, 2001 GWBlitz!

Dr. Charles N. Toftoy
Director,
Center for the Advancement
of Small Business