On the subject of “the war on terror” and how our country seems bent on mindless revenge, Tim Bishop had this to say:
The difficulty of dealing with terrorism is that all successful strategies are long-term, and they involve penetration of the terrorist network, the intelligent and ruthless application of force against a very small group of people, the cadre of the terrorists, and ameliorating the grievances of the people that the terrorists spring from, so as to separate the two (emphasis mine – Blogula Rasa). This takes a lot of patience, a lot of intelligence work, and the willingness to admit that some of the grievances of the terrorists are shared by the larger population and that therefore the need to be resolved (notice how Saudi Arabia very quietly expelled U.S. troops from the Hejaz during Bush’s war on Iraq, a key demand of Al-Qaeda). These are very hard things to do in any case, and they require a lot of nuance.
And of course our biggest problem is a complete lack of the nuance gene at the highest levels of State and this Administration. Anyone with a lick of nuance in their blood is instantly set upon and accused of being unpatriotic (or God help us, “French,”) for voicing concerns about policy decisions or trying to swim against the tide. It’s a war on terrorism, it’s a war on terrorism, it’s a war on terrorism. Sooner or later, even people who know it’s the Big Lie stop bothering to bring up contradictory facts, because it’s their career on the line.
I don’t see this problem finding a solution, because all of the Foreign Service types who know a thing or two about the delicate balance of appearances in international relations have been jumping ship. Fortunately, several of them have thus been given the freedom to write books about the issues and frustrations they faced “on the inside,” but they had to give up their careers to do it. And the colleagues they left behind are just a load of neocon yes-men and -women, so yes: not much hope for winning that “war” anytime soon.
I feel strongly (and have done since Day 2) that the only way to “win” – whether it be a modern shooting war or a campaign for the “hearts and minds” of hostile populations is to get at the root causes of the hostility.
Our own policies have in part made us the International Bogeyman, but we’re not entirely to blame for our own victimhood. The educational systems of the countries producing the terrorists are designed to create religious fanatics, and fanatics have to be aimed at “infidel enemies” so that they won’t make constant war in the Islamic countries over relatively minor differences in dogma. Much of the funding for these schools comes from the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia.
And that raises a whole new host of problems – again, our lack of nuance really hurts us there.
There are a lot of older stories and background on the Wahhabis and terror here.
I also don’t understand why this country hasn’t riz up in disgust and condemnation at the low cunning and sheer dunderheadedness of our so-called elected leaders, but saying that we’re out for mindless, knee-jerk revenge is as good an explanation as any.
