One theme I hear reiterated by the Republicans at their convention is the need to be on the offensive against terror. I couldn’t agree more.
Where we disagree is on what it means to be on the offense.
There’s a whole lot of macho swagger and Rambo mentality about this War of Terror. “They attacked us on 9/11 and we’ll have our revenge!” These ideologues think somehow that we can win the War on Terror like we won World War II. Shoot enough people, bomb enough towns, soon enough, you’ve won.
It was easy enough to understand your enemy in World War II. He was a member of the Nazi army, sworn to fight on behalf of the Nazi government, a government dedicated to conquest and genocide. The Nazi government was headed by Adolf Hitler and based in Berlin, Germany. There was a clear opponent to fight and a clear location to invade.
The problem in this modern war is that there is no Terrorslavia. We are not fighting an opposing army. There is no Terror City. There is no Terror Government. Our enemy is not an army or even a people, it is a mindset. Guns and tanks and bombs are great at destroying armies, not so great at converting minds.
Why do they hate us? What makes a terrorist? We get simplistic answers from our Commander-in-Chief, like “they hate us for our freedoms.” That doesn’t go far in explaining why they don’t seem to hate Canada, Sweden, Australia, or a whole host of other nations with democratic elections and guaranteed civil liberties.
Perhaps they hate us because we keep military bases in their holy lands. Perhaps they hate us because our bombs and sanctions have killed hundreds of thousands of their people. Perhaps they hate us because we encouraged them to take up arms and revolt against Saddam, but when they did we turned our back on them. Perhaps they hate us because they perceive our military efforts as a “crusade” against their religion and people. Perhaps they hate us because of our unquestioning support of Israel.
In my opinion, using our mighty military machine to be “on the offense” against terror is a lot like using water to put out a gasoline fire. Water is a great tool against a wood fire, but with gasoline it will just spread the conflagration.
That is not to say that military efforts aren’t completely out of the question. If a government like the Taliban obviously provides aid and comfort to terrorist organizations, then certainly our armies should remove them from power.
But the real tools against terrorism are human intelligence operatives, cooperation with our allies, and dare I say, a little sensitivity toward the religious and cultural realities of the region. We need to use diplomacy to move the repressive regimes of region, like Saudi Arabia, into a democratic future. We need to work harder at solving the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
What we cannot do is arrogantly stomp around the world, virtually alone, imposing our views of governance and democracy upon people. We must not invade and occupy countries based on “faulty intelligence”. We must not be perceived as crusaders or corporate imperialists. We must not alienate the very people we claim to liberate by rounding them up and torturing them in their prisons.
Being on the offense against terrorism cannot be accomplished by being offensive.
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_ | "RADICAL" RUSS BELVILLE | Read More at http://radicalruss.net/blog/
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