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Five Reasons The War On Terrorism Will Never Be Won With Foreign Invasions
Osama bin Laden and all al-Qaida leadership that aided in the 9/11 attacks should be vanquished. We can also protect our homeland from the next terrorist attack. But none of this requires America to invade a single foreign nation, and here are the five reasons why.
1. America is at risk of more terrorist attacks – but not just from the Middle East According to a recent NYPD report, the greatest terrorist threat to United States citizens now comes from our own people – homegrown terrorists. This is not news to anyone who is aware of how different the terrorist threat is from any other enemy we’ve faced. John Robb, in his excellent book Brave New War, outlines the myriad ways that any dedicated homicide-minded individual can bypass America’s woefully inadequate homeland security and exploit technology to wreak havoc on a massive scale:
“We have entered the age of the faceless, agile enemy. From London to Madrid to Nigeria to Russia, stateless terrorist groups have emerged to score blow after blow against us. Driven by cultural fragmentation, schooled in the most sophisticated technologies, and fueled by transnational crime…terrorists have developed the ability to fight nation-states strategically – without weapons of mass destruction. This new method is called systems disruption, a simple way of attacking the critical networks (electricity, oil, gas, water, communications, and transportation) that underpin modern life.”
Depraved desires for maniacal violence and the ability to carry them out are not confined to the foreign world or a single country. It’s highly unfortunate that such an obvious fact is so dangerously transcended by American neoconservatives. To spend massive resources on an invasion of a single country and render our military incapable of responding to another threat – all while domestic terrorism grows in danger – is a manifestly asinine policy at best and national suicide at worst. Protecting our nation against terrorism -fourth generation warfare – requires developing decentralized resistance and dynamic local law enforcement. There is no “fighting them over there so they don’t attack us here”. They’re already here. It’s about protecting us now.
2. Democracy doesn’t stop terrorism, policemen do
The President tells us we must invade Iraq because democracy will stop terrorism. But to think that democratic government does anything but express the views of its subjects is a delusion. Even while great democracies help to sideline radical views, they by no means eliminate the occasional expression of sadistic savagery. Timothy McVeigh and the Unabomber were American. The 9/11 hijackers planned their attacks in Germany. Angry inner city youths recently went on a pyromaniacal crusade in France. Britain’s 7/7 bombers were Britons. It’s uncomfortable, but the free speech and tolerance that democracy offers can even be a boon to terrorists, allowing them to communicate more openly, practice their faith more openly, and freely associate.
By contrast, brutal dictators are usually quite effective at crushing terrorists. Authoritarian governments are remarkably adept at obliterating any perceived threats to their power, and the threat of terrorism is no different. The Middle East is saturated with iron fist regimes that cleverly market their brutal anti-terrorist activities both as necessary for both public safety and for the Will of Allah. Shining examples of this principle are Saudi Arabia, a backward and repressed Islamic society that actively condemns Islamic terrorists as apostate and is a regime regarded as an ally in the War on Terror; and Syria, a nation that unleashed tanks and bulldozers on its own cities in order to root out the Muslim Brotherhood.
Stopping terrorism has nothing to do with democracy, and everything to do with law enforcement.
3. Invasion doesn’t work
While terrorist leaders who aided in 9/11 are a defined and finite enemy, terrorists themselves are not. As the greatest political commentator in American history, the late William F. Buckley, Jr., wrote, “Individual terrorists were only yesterday engaged in ordinary occupations, shocking friends and family when they struck as terrorists.” Indeed. One cannot invade Iraq to root out potential terrorists any more than one can invade America to root out potential terrorists. One can only protect against the inevitable strike.
While American special forces should pursue bin Laden and his henchmen with all deliberate speed, traditional nation-state warfare is utterly incapable of fighting terrorism. As Mr. Robb says in Brave New War, “From a security perspective, the most disturbing aspect of 9/11 wasn’t the horrible destruction, but that the men who attacked us on that day didn’t even factor the opposition of the U.S. military into their planning. Despite tens of trillions of dollars spent on defense over the last decades, this military force proved ineffectual as a deterrent at the point when we needed it most.”
Another historical fact counseling against foreign invasion is that no foreign power has ever vanquished a domestic guerrilla rebellion. The most powerful force in the world is a people willing to sacrifice themselves to expel a foreign occupier from their homeland. This helps explain why there was no such thing as al-Qaida in Iraq until America invaded it.
No people should understand the foolishness of foreign occupation more than Americans. Despite living under the freest country in the world in 1776 (Great Britain, providers of natural liberty, the Magna Carta, democratic government and a robust legal system), we still threw off the yoke of foreign power, and rightly so. Our very existence is a testament to the lesson that a people will always fight to expel a foreign presence, no matter how benevolent the imperialist motives.
4. Winning hearts and minds requires living people
Islamofascism is a hideous, benighted, destructive and blasphemous ideology that must be thoroughly denounced by intellectuals around the world. However, reckless American military intervention stands in the way of winning this crucial battle of ideas for several reasons.
First, it diverts world attention from Islamofascist brutality and focuses it on American belligerence. In a world largely of media censorship and ignorant public opinion, it is too easy for Islamofascists to play the victim when American tanks are rolling through their side streets. As we are forced to stoop to their level – fighting amongst civilians, villages and homes – we lose the moral high ground.
Second, American culture is remarkably adept at forging positive opinions of our country through peace and commerce. It was recently reported that as American products finally entered Iraq, locals happily flocked to buy the high quality items, even while they cursed our military occupation. We can make people love America without resorting to force.
Third, moderate Islamic scholars must publicly condemn Islamofascism. But America has recently denied visas (ostensibly for security reasons) to moderate Islamic scholars who happen (for good reason) to vigorously oppose U.S. foreign policy. We must face the fact that many of our allies in the War of Ideas are those who oppose our current prosecution of the War on Terror, and embrace the criticism for pursuit of the greater victory.
5. Yes, they hate our freedom – but they kill us for being over there
One need only consult Osama bin Laden’s declaration of war on theUnited Statesto find out why he is trying to kill us. Or, if you want it from an intelligent American instead of a murderous lunatic, ask former senior CIA analyst and head of the agency’s bin Laden unit, Michael Scheuer. The jihad has nothing to do with our freedoms and has everything to do with our military interventions in the Middle East. Al-Qaida gains financial support, moral justification and willing recruits to kill Americans by arguing that American military presence in the Middle East is interfering with their ability to implement Islamofascism in the Arabian peninsula. News Flash: Islamofascists don’t want to rule America; they want to rule Mesopotamia.
Of course, a radical adjustment in American foreign policy will not stop radical Islamofascists from despising the West any more than eight hundred McDonalds haven’t stopped the French from hating us. But the point isn’t to make them like us; it’s to starve the jihad of resources and support. The only way to do that is to stop legitimizing the Islamofascist narrative of an oppressed people suffering under American military occupation.
Recognizing America’s foreign policy mistakes is not letting the terrorists win. It is simply an intelligent recognition of reality and our own limitations. We all love this country and desire to remain safe. We do not criticize our nation’s foreign policy lightly, nor do we doubt the patriotic sincerity of those who believe otherwise. We only seek to learn from history and ensure that unlike Rome, France, and Great Britain, our glorious empire will not buckle under the weight of ill-advised imperial ventures.
About the Author
The author of The American Evolution, Matt Harrison is the founder and executive director of The Prometheus Institute, Los Angeles, CA, a nonprofit public policy institute. He has authored more than 200 articles, many of which can be found on www.ThePrometheusInstitute.org, has been a guest on several talk radio shows, and a guest blogger for CNN. Harrison earned a BBA in political science from University of Miami and has completed requirements on his law degree and master of public policy degree from the University of Southern California.
The Prometheus Institute is a public policy organization dedicated to discovering independent policy solutions to reduce the burden of government on the people, and creatively marketing these ideas to the lay public of the United States, in order to create the political demand for positive change.
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