Brenda, thanks for posting this article by a "retired US Foreign Service officer, (who) served as US Ambassador at Large for Counterterrorism between 1994 and 1997."
Many people here have been saying these very things. Maybe his experience will give more credence to these issues. Indeed, it would be the road less travelled.... He said: "Armed force, however, while politically popular, is usually an ineffective and often counterproductive weapon against terror... But a new national security strategy must (deal) not just with the symptoms but with the roots of terrorism, broadly defined." "The use of military force is questionable for other reasons. Islamist terrorists throughout the world seek death through martyrdom. Far from deterring these self-proclaimed holy warriors, US military attacks would likely inspire them to carry out even more dangerous acts of terrorism; the effect could well be to increase recruitment and raise the stature of the terrorists in the underworld of militant Islam." "At the same time, using military force against terrorists in sovereign foreign states is likely to raise difficult legal issues. Unilateral attacks may violate international laws, including treaties against terrorism that the US has worked hard to strengthen; and they may alienate governments, especially in the Islamic world, whose cooperation we need." "The most important deficiency in US counterterrorism policy has been the failure to address the root causes of terrorism. Indeed, there is a tendency to treat terrorism as pure evil in a vacuum, to say that changes in foreign policy intended to reduce it will only "reward" terrorists." "But the US should, for its own self-protection, expand efforts to reduce the pathology of hatred before it mutates into even greater danger... Limiting the proliferation of lethal materials also deserves higher priority as a measure against terrorism as well as for arms control." "We should also search for ways to strengthen the common bonds between Western values and Islam to combat the notion of a "clash of civilizations" and to weaken the Islamist extremist fringe that hates the West and supports terrorist actions. Such new departures in US foreign policy would require devoting far greater resources to support a more engaged, cooperative, and influential American role abroad. Redefining national security and counterterrorism in this broader sense is the most promising way to fight the war against terrorism. It is vital that we do this soon, now that the stakes have been raised so high." ******************************************** Kate Bennett www.katebennett.com sponsored by Polysonics www.polysonics.com Discover the Indies at Taylor Guitars: http://www.taylorguitars.com/artists/awp/indies/bennett.html ********************************************
