In Fighting al Qaeda, Bush's "Global War on Terrorism" Is Off Target
A New Rand Corp. study urges a "fundamental rethinking" of counterterrorism strategy
Reader Comments
Robert
I am stunned at the naive nature of this report after watching al quaeda for nearly 20 years.
The only thing that has defeated them is war. Without war they would still be controlling Afghanistan. Did these researchers even read their playbook to see how they seize civilizations?
There has never in the history of the world been a terrorist group of this size and nature. Bush's approach has been the best and most successful.
Wow!
there are a number of posters here, including Norm of North Carolina, Chris of Arizona and Kevin Brink of Washington, who obviously don't have a clue.
For example, ideas like "the terrorists have been frozen into the Middle East.","we have been fighting terrorists for over 200 years and fought the Muslims a hundred years ago", "we need a military strategy". These are either ill-informed, or you are believing all of the propaganda being spewed out by the neocons in the Bush "dim"inistration.
Please -- seriously, do your homework. There are many lives at stake over this -- not just American lives. This needs to be done absolutely right.
So Obvious
After eight years, the Bush administration still doesn't understand this. No wonder the US is in a mess.
This is so fundamental to strategy -- it certainly highlights to me the lack of a sensible context and strategy to execute the war on terror in America today.
Change is so obviously needed. What is required is a level of understanding that parallels exactly what you are talking about here from this study. In my mind, the study was never necessary -- this was so obvious. You don't fight terrorism with "boots on the ground". You need a surgical coordinated global strategy. You need cooperation and help from all countries. Of course, all of this runs counter to the Bush ethic and views.
Correction
I meant to type, "It WASN'T al Qaeda".
Correction
I meant to type, "It WASN'T al Qaeda".
Pete, yes, I have angst. Confused angst, no. My angst is directed at the Bush Administration from top to bottom. I agree that Islamist/terrorism/whateveritisism is complex and spans the globe from Western Europe to Southeast Asia. The problem is, al Qaeda wasn't in Iraq before the U.S. invaded. So why are we there? I have done a lot of research about this and have not come to a definitive conclusion. It was al Qaeda, I know that. WMD? No, not that. Oil? Maybe. Wolfowitz Doctrine? Probably. To establish a permanent military presence in the Middle East? Likely. To spread democracy? Possibly. If so, how is that working? It looks to me like W. used the anger and fear from 9/11 to launch his preconceived war in Iraq. And yes, he likes to keep us afraid by answering "war on terror" and "national security" to every question.
US Constitution
Do John McCain or conservative republicans respect the moral foundation of this country? The U.S. Constitution was designed to protect the people of America from misguided government.
U.S. Constitution: Amendment I - Freedom of Religion
Right now, for the first time ever, your tax dollars are funding religious groups you may not agree with. To add insult to injury, conservative judges have ruled that taxpayers do not have a right to challenge this expenditure.
Amendment IV - Search and seizure
Under the guise of court action against abortion, Conservative republicans had John Ashcroft subpoena all the medical records of literally thousands of women just like you and members of your family. Conservative republicans are invading your privacy every day. Unfortunately for all of us, they don't appear to care about our U.S. constitution, or by extension, the people of our great country.
Amendment X - Powers of the States and People
John McCain and conservative republicans have tried consistently to overturn States Laws. They used your tax dollars to destroy the will of the people of Oregon, and the famous "Death with Dignity" law; they lost, but undoubtedly will try again. Conservative republicans and John McCain do not respect States Rights.
Amendment VIII - Cruel and Unusual punishment
Would you rather die, or support a government which supported and sanctioned torture? The founding fathers would rather have died, and in fact they were proud to fight and die for our government: A government which specifically outlaws cruel and unusual punishment for very important reasons.
John McCain and the conservative republicans are destroying the moral foundations of our country. I urge you to keep this in mind in the coming election as we rebuild our nation together by voting Democrat.
Rand Terrorism Report
How much were the Rand experts paid to conclude the obvious? Stopping terrorists with an army is like trying to swat a fly with a cannon.
Sad to see
It is obvious from the comments left here that many people simply DO NOT KNOW what "terrorism" is. The Bush administration has misused the word and applied it to so many situations in which it did not belong that people are now totally confused as to the meaning of "terrorist" and who the actual enemies ARE.
In fact, it seems like the majority of people now label as "terrorist" any country or person which does not support democracy. This is patently untrue.
"Terrorism is an anxiety-inspiring method of repeated violent action, employed by (semi-) clandestine individual, group or state actors, for idiosyncratic, criminal or political reasons, whereby - in contrast to assassination - the direct targets of violence are not the main targets. The immediate human victims of violence are generally chosen randomly (targets of opportunity) or selectively (representative or symbolic targets) from a target population, and serve as message generators. Threat- and violence-based communication processes between terrorist (organization), (imperilled) victims, and main targets are used to manipulate the main target (audience(s)), turning it into a target of terror, a target of demands, or a target of attention, depending on whether intimidation, coercion, or propaganda is primarily sought."
So, the crazy militants in Iraq (NOT Al Qaeda) who are attacking our soldiers cannot be branded "terrorists" - they are simply enemy combatants, because they attack their chief target - our soldiers - instead of attacking a symbolic target, like the city of New York.
Neither can "Muslims" in general - and that really pisses me off. The President of Iran's name is Ahmadinejad, by the way, Kevin, and he cannot be considered a terrorist either.
