Thursday, November 26, 2009

Opinion

Robert Schlesinger

The End of the Global War on Terrorism

December 15, 2008 11:17 AM ET | Robert Schlesinger | Permanent Link | Print

By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

I've long disliked the phrase "global war on terrorism" because terrorism is a tactic, not an ideology or movement. Patrick Cronin of National Defense University's Institute for National Strategic Studies elaborates over in the Op-Ed section today on the limitations of the "war on terrorism"

After 9/11, the United States reduced its role in the world to one big idea: prosecuting the "Global War on Terrorism." Inevitably, terrorism, which is a tactic, not a philosophy, failed to provide a universal organizing principle for U.S. security. Now President-elect Barack Obama faces a wicked dilemma: how to recalibrate America's strategy to meet myriad complex challenges with diminished power.

Cronin goes on to identify eight separate challenges that Barack Obama will face after January 20. The whole thing is worth a read.

Tags: terrorism | Barack Obama | national security

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Reader Comments

Obama is more concerned about the global temperature change

What an ingenius crisis... 4 times a year the politicians will take political advantage of season change, of course this is much worse than terrorism... everybody on the planet will be affected!

A NATION OF NINNIES....

We have become a nation divided by the mindless celebration of cultural heritage as hyphenated Americans. Our nation is controlled by the State Religion of Environmentalism and it's hysterical, intolerant dogma paralyzes our industry as well as our courts, government, schools, scientific research communities , media and agriculture. We have become a nation of weak willed victims and appeasement and blind tolerance our national goal.

Like a bear turning over a rotten log in search of soft and defenseless food - the world has discovered our flaccid will and indecision - it reeks of "victimhood".... Why are we surprised that they are coming for us?

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Robert Schlesinger is a deputy editor at U.S. News and World Report and oversees all opinion editorial content. He is the author of White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters.

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