War on Terror

[Guest fountainhall]

This from Britain's Guardian Newspaper today.

 

The British foreign secretary, David Miliband, today argues that the use of the "war on terror" as a western rallying cry since the September 11 attacks has been a mistake that may have caused "more harm than good".

 

In an article in today's Guardian, five days before the Bush administration leaves the White House, Miliband delivers a comprehensive critique of its defining mission, saying the war on terror was misconceived and that the west cannot "kill its way" out of the threats it faces.

 

British officials quietly stopped using the phrase "war on terror" in 2006, but this is the first time it has been comprehensively discarded in the most outspoken remarks on US counterterrorism strategy to date by a British minister.

 

In remarks that will also be made in a speech today in Mumbai, in one of the hotels that was a target of terrorist attacks in November, the foreign secretary says the concept of a war on terror is "misleading and mistaken".

 

"Historians will judge whether it has done more harm than good," Miliband says, adding that, in his opinion, the whole strategy has been dangerously counterproductive, helping otherwise disparate groups find common cause against the west.

 

"The more we lump terrorist groups together and draw the battle lines as a simple binary struggle between moderates and extremists or good and evil, the more we play into the hands of those seeking to unify groups with little in common," Miliband argues, in a clear reference to the signature rhetoric of the Bush era. "We should expose their claim to a compelling and overarching explanation and narrative as the lie that it is."

 

"Terrorism is a deadly tactic, not an institution or an ideology," he says.

 

[Guest lvdkeyes]

"War on Terror" was Bush's idea and we all know what an idiot he is.

[Guest shebavon]

It will be very interesting to see how the Obama Presidency will change foreign policy in general, and the so-called War on Terror in particular.

 

It needs to be re-packaged, but nonetheless, world terrorism is getting more and more deadly, witness 9/11 and Mumbai; and like piracy, requires an international response.

 

The problem is, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter (or fighter for Allah, Jesus, whatever). Which is why you have such situations as America's early support for the Taliban under Reagan, Iranian support of Hezbollah and Hamas, and many other dangerous situations around the globe.

[Guest fountainhall]

one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter

 

Excellent point.

 

Another, I think, is that most western countries do not have nearly enough analysts with detailed local knowledge of the world's trouble spots, analysts who can think through short term policy proposals and look at them from a longer term perspective. Witness the lack of Arab speakers in the CIA at the time of 9/11. Even the appointment of Ms. C Rice as National Security Adviser was a huge mistake. She was a Soviet expert at a time when the Soviet threat was down and out.

 

A prime example of shooting yourself in the foot for short term political gain came in August 2006 when Bush and his cronies highjacked the British government's efforts in the plot to bomb aircraft flying from London to the US. The Brits were aware of this plot for more than a year. They were tracking all the main suspects in the UK and Pakistan, and were certain the bombers were many months away from being close to realising their plan. They wanted time to build a watertight case to make sure that they could eventually grab the key players, not just in Britain but also the masterminds in Pakistan.

 

Yet because they shared their information with the US and Bush wanted an intelligence coup prior to the November congressional elections, Bush/Cheney suddenly captured one key Pakistani suspect. This gave the Brits just a few hours to arrest the UK plotters before they vanished. End result? When the case came recently to court in London, only 3 of the 8 plotters were convicted. The jury could reach no conclusion re the other 5. And of course, the key plotters in Pakistan disappeared.