The experts warn that the war on terror is really just beginning, just
as Americans appear to be "growing tired" of it. They say that America
must win the war of ideas, and in order to do that, need to place a
greater emphasis on nonmilitary tools.
.
I'm not sure what "...greater emphasis on nonmilitary tools." means to
the current policy makers in the US government. It could mean the
establishment of a Department of Peace, or it could mean "Surveillance
State", with mandatory mind-washing for everybody...
.
Terrorism & Security
posted June 16, 2006 at 11:30 a.m.
Experts: US must win 'war of ideas'
Survey of foreign policy experts shows majority want US to use
'non-military tools' to win war on terror.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0616/dailyUpdate.html#
By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com
In a survey of 117 of America's leading foreign-policy experts, both
conservative and liberal, The Toronto Star reports that a large majority
of those polled (84 percent) believe that the US is not winning the war
on terror. And most of the experts surveyed believe that if the US is to
win that larger war, it must first win the 'war of ideas' through the
use of 'non-military tools' like diplomacy and multilateral organizations.
In its first "Terrorism Index," released [Wednesday], the
influential journal Foreign Policy found surprising consensus among the
bipartisan experts. Some 86 per cent of them said the world has grown
more, not less, dangerous, despite President George W. Bush's claims
that the US is winning the war on terror. The main reasons for the
decline in security, they said, were the war in Iraq, the detention of
terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay, US policy towards Iran and US energy
policy.
The survey, conducted by Foreign Policy magazine and the Center for
American Progress, targeted people who have "run America's security
apparatus over the past 50 years." Organizers describe the survey as the
first of an annual series to establish a “terrorism index.” Those
surveyed include individuals who have worked as secretary of state,
national security adviser, retired top commanders from the US military,
seasoned members of the intelligence community, and distinguished
academics and journalists. More than half of those interviewed have
worked for the executive branch, one-third have served in the US
military and 17 percent have served in the intelligence community.
The experts warn that the war on terror is really just beginning, just
as Americans appear to be "growing tired" of it. They say that America
must win the war of ideas, and in order to do that, need to place a
greater emphasis on nonmilitary tools. They also called on the
government to think more creatively about the real threats to America -
half of those surveyed say that "loose nukes and other weapons of mass
destruction" pose the great long-term threat, while only 25 percent said
Al Qaeda and terorism, and four percent said Iran.
United Press International reported that the organizers weighted the
sample "to compensate for the slightly larger number of liberals in the
sample," but that conservatives who took part in the survey shared many
of the same concerns as their more liberal counterparts.
Foreign Affairs reports that those surveyed also believe that another
9/11 style attack is "not a question of if, but when." And a majority
also see Saudi Arabia as the "premier incubator for terrorists."
Overall, they agree that the US government is falling short in its
homeland security efforts. More than 8 in 10 expect an attack on the
scale of 9/11 within a decade. These dark conclusions appear to stem
from the experts’ belief that the US national security apparatus is in
serious disrepair. “Foreign-policy experts have never been in so much
agreement about an administration’s performance abroad,” says Leslie
Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and an
index participant. “The reason is that it’s clear to nearly all that
Bush and his team have had a totally unrealistic view of what they can
accomplish with military force and threats of force.”
Reuters reports that a two-thirds majority of the experts also believes
that the next attack on US soil will come in the form of suicide bombs
and not chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
"Americans have never feared a suicide bombing the way the people of
Amman and Jerusalem have," the survey says. “But the odds that America
can elude the world’s most popular form of terrorism may be fading fast."
Reuters also reports that the foreign-policy experts, asked to grade US
departments that deal with terrorism and foreign policy, only gave a
grade higher than five to the National Security Agency. On a scale of 1
to 10, the Department of Homeland Security received a grade of 2.9, the
Directorate of National Intelligence got 3.9 and the State Department
was marked at 4.4.
The one area where the experts felt that the government had done a good
job in reducing the possibility of attacks on the US was the war in
Afghanistan. And the survey also noted that the single most important
thing that America can do to win the war on terror, is reduce its
dependence on foreign oil.
Eighty-two percent of the experts said that policymakers should make
ending America’s dependence on foreign oil a higher priority. And nearly
two thirds said that current US energy policies are actually making
matters worse, not better. “We borrow a billion dollars every working
day to import oil, an increasing share of it coming from the Middle
East,” says index participant and former CIA director James Woolsey.
“[F]or example in Saudi Arabia, billions are transferred to the Wahhabis
and like-minded groups who then indoctrinate young people to hate
Shiites, Sufis, Jews, Christians, and democracy, and to oppress women
horribly.”
If US policymakers don’t take this vulnerability seriously,
terrorists do. Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s No. 2, has labeled the
global energy infrastructure a key strategic target for terrorists. In
February, Saudi Arabia’s government foiled an al Qaeda plot to attack
the Abqaiq oil facility, the country’s largest. Some 30,000 security
forces are now guarding the country’s oil fields. Global oil markets are
so tight that even the threat of a supply disruption can cause a spike
in price. These tight markets are partially responsible for the higher
prices Americans will pay at the pump this summer. But the index
suggests that there may be a greater price for our energy policy: losing
the war on terror.
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