Welcome to SixthFleet.Com, the Cyberspace Home of author David E. Meadows. "When Meadows' men set sail, it's sure to be a mission like no other." --W.E.B. Griffin "Rip-snorting, realistic action-adventure from a man who has been there. David Meadows is the real thing," --Stephen Coonts author of numerous bestsellers, including Flight of the Intruder, Saucer, America, and Liberty. "An absorbing, compelling look at America's future place in the world. It's visionary, and scary. Great battle scenes, believable heroes, plus villains you'll love to hate!" -Joe Buff, bestselling author of Straits of Power, Tidal Rip, and Crush Depth. "David E. Meadows is simply the best writer of naval thriller/adventure fiction out there today." --Tom Wilson, acclaimed author of Black Canyon, Desert Fury, Tango Uniform and other best selling military thrillers.

SHEFTALL’S KAMIKAZE & TERRORISM PARADIGM
by David E. Meadows , 2005

ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED AT MILITARY.COM, September 26, 2005

On 9/11, we members of the Joint Staff J6 stood near the 14th Street Bridge watching smoke curl upward from the other side of a Pentagon, which we had just evacuated. Comments equating the terrorists to World War II Kamikaze pilots abounded. Next day papers filled with the comparison.

The Japanese took great exception to the comparison, pointing out the Kamikazes of World War II only gave their lives in defense of their country and only against military targets.

In 2004, I was asked by Penguin Group to review a book Blossoms in the Wind: Human Legacies of the Kamikaze by Professor M.G. Sheftall, released July 2005. Sheftall lives in Hamamatsu City Japan with his wife, Keiko, and their two sons. Professor Sheftall teaches U.S./Japanese comparative culture and creative writing at Shizuoka University as an associate professor of Informatics. He speaks fluent Japanese, knows the culture, and mingles easily within a society famed for its xenophobic leanings. He is a translator and journalist, specializing in aviation and military history.

Sheftall spent 2-years at the United States Military Academy until an encounter with calculus nudged him into the humanities.

He went to Japan shortly after graduating from Fordham College in New York City in 1985. Professor Sheftall is also a former writing student of Frank McCourt, author of the bestselling “Angela’s Ashes.”

After 9/11, Sheftall traveled over Japan, searching down and interviewing Kamikaze pilots who had–through luck or timing–survived the war, and perhaps even more poignantly, interviewing family members of Kamikaze pilots whose missions were “successful”. He was even allowed to attend their equivalent of our Veterans of Foreign Wars for several years–unprecedented honor for a foreigner.

I was fascinated with the book; established contact with the professor, and through a series of email discussions concluded his research provided a roadmap for stopping today’s radical Islamic suicide murderers.

I call this set of observations ‘Sheftall’s Paradigm.’ There are crucial parallels between the Japanese and suicide terrorists that can be highlighted in the four steps of Sheftall’s Paradigm:

1) Cult-like, highly organized aspects of training/indoctrination – For the Kamikaze it was the cult of unquestioning obedience to authority as the ultimate expression of Japanese identity, personified in the institution of the emperor; for the terrorist, it is radical Islam as taught by teachers at the Madrasahs and Mullahs at the Mosques.

2) Long "gestation" period during which the relevant personnel lead an almost "living dead" existence, in full knowledge that their upcoming missions entail their own deaths. For the Kamikaze, this period was passed after assignment to a Kamikaze squadron, during the training they received, and over the weeks and sometimes months they waited for their sortie orders. For the modern day radical Islamic-terrorist, this period commences with their assignment to become a suicide bomber, during the training they receive, and while awaiting their mission orders.

3) Full public awareness/support among sympathetic home population giving "hero" status to the bombers; and

4) Dependence on a religious (or in Japanese case, quasi-religious) ideology to legitimize this unnatural tactic, in large part by depicting the target (i.e., USA, rational West) as decadent, evil, cowardly, apostate, fundamentally "weak", lacking both in humanism and "natural vigor", etc. For both Kamikaze and Islamic terrorism, step 4 applies.

In an interview with Professor Sheftall, he described these four parallels thusly: “Despite the obvious differences between Islamic suicide bombers and Japanese kamikazes that I take pains to delineate and emphasize in my book, I do also think that there are crucial parallels between the Japanese and current Al Qaeda (et al) programs. Clearly, the Achilles heel of the suicide bomber lies somewhere in this overall picture. History has shown us--through the example of the kamikaze--that causing the collapse of factor (4), the spiritual/ideological foundation, is the most effective way to bring the whole system crashing down. In the case of Japan, this was done with a single radio broadcast from Emperor Hirohito that destroyed forever the myth of his own divinity and of Japan's invincibility, and in so doing, caused utter and complete motivational collapse in the Japanese fighting machine, Kamikaze personnel included.”

We are today at step number three within radical Islam, and we will remain at step number three until the mullahs and Madrasahs teachers cease preaching the glory of suicide and start preaching the glory of acceptance. Those that don’t must be treated as an equal to the suicide fanatics worshipping an evil form of Islam glorifying murder of innocent men, women, and children.”

You are right on target, Professor. Let’s hope our leaders recognize these four-cause & effect principles for stopping suicide terrorism.

Thus, we come back to including those who promote suicide martyrdom as terrorists themselves. (See my column titled: Include the Terrorism Supply Chain.

David E. Meadows / SixthFleet.Com David E. Meadows Washington D.C. E-Mail readermail@SixthFleet.Com