Army Col. Joe Willingham of Grenada realizes that, at this point, the war with Afghanistan is one of intelligence.
Speaking to the Greenwood Exchange Club on Tuesday, Willingham, a 27-year Army veteran, spoke briefly about the United States and its involvement in terrorist control and gave the group a chance to ask some hard-hitting questions about what's really going on.
"With the bombing in New York City, people became more aware of terrorist activity," Willingham said. "We've had terrorist acts going on inside this country for a long time, but America never really considered these acts of terrorism because they were planned and carried out by American citizens." He made reference to the Oklahoma City bombing, the Waco, Texas, incident and the numerous racist groups that are active in this country.
"This was a wakeup call for America, and this will not be over when we finish bombing Afghanistan," Willingham said. "But, this type of war is going to be harder for America, because it will be primarily one of military intelligence.
"We must try to understand what these terrorist networks are trying to do," Willingham said. "This war will be different. Other countries, including the British and the Russians, have learned from their involvement with Afghanistan that this is no small task."
Willingham also said that special forces units are more than likely inside Afghanistan right now gathering intelligence information so that American forces can carry out their goals.
"What's going on doesn't just happen without someone being there to begin with to set those targets up ahead of time," Willingham said, referring to the bombings of specific Afghan sites during the past few days. "It's no accident that our military hit those specific targets. Someone had to be in there ahead of time to tell them what targets to hit."
Willingham, commander of the 631st Field Artillery Brigade headquartered in Grenada, is also the full-time administrative officer of the brigade. He was also the administrative officer of the brigade in Greenwood for eight years in the late 1980s. At the time he oversaw the Greenwood brigade, it was named the best battalion in the nation. He also has influence over four other battalions, including two units in Alabama who help with war planning.
Willingham has been through rigorous Army training, including intelligence, electronics, nuclear and chemical weapons training. He is a graduate of the Army War College, headquartered in Carlisle Barracks, Penn.
"The more informed we as citizens are, the more immune we will be to this terrorist activity," Willingham said. He also urged American citizens to be patient and not to bicker among themselves about whether our involvement and actions are justified.
"How can someone live in this country and see what has been done to us and not understand this cause?" Willingham asked.
He also reassured the group that the U.S. military is going to extreme measures to prevent civilians from being killed in the actions.
"I hope the American people will have the stamina and patience to endure this and see it out," Willingham said. "We must maintain our resolve. The military can't do this without the support of our citizens."
