Michael Mann

2015-12-07 17:31:41 -0500

With what I know about terrorism, the statement, “We’ll kill the terrorists. And every Islamic extremist will know, if you wage jihad against us, you’re signing your death warrant,” isn’t, to me, a promise that can be fulfilled. There is no way we can kill enough terrorists to end terrorism, and I don’t think death is the deterrent we think it is.



However, continuing to bomb, invade, and/or influence the leadership in those countries is a hell of a recruitment tool for them. So are all the civilians, women, and children our drones have and will continue to kill. In no way am I excusing violence against noncombatants. But that’s no reason not to reasses our foreign policy. We sort of have had an experiment on counterterrorism measures. Clinton’s responses to al-Qaeda terrorist attacks was a minimum, and we even launched missiles on a pharmaceutical factory that, it turns out, had nothing to do with making chemical weapons. It was what we would call a ‘proportional response.’ By not properly assessing what bin Laden was capable of, 9-11 happened. I am not putting blame on Clinton, just saying that it’s possible that a measured, but disproportionate response to capture or kill bin Laden might have prevented it. Maybe it would have accelerated al-Qaeda’s attacks. When September 11th happened, Bush decided to go ape shit. We started the ‘War on Terror,’ with Afghanistan, and then for whatever reason—I guess to show the middle east we meant business—went to Iraq. We invaded with ground troops, airstrikes, everything we had, and the objective was regime change in both cases. And what do we have now? ISIS , a cesspool in Iraq, Syria, and Libya. I think we should probably realize that the War on Terror is a war with no winner and will likely result on a long-term hemorrhaging of the United States. Terrorism has tangible and intangible costs beyond just lives lost, and terrorists exploit those in many ways. The most commonly understood cost is fear. With news in San Bernardino that middle eastern men were possibly casing theaters as well as the recent attack, how many people are fearing an attack on, say, Star Wars screenings in the US? But terrorism also has other costs they exploit as well. Counterterrorism and military costs get added to an already enormous debt. And there are also costs on our way of life.



The two parties are fighting each other on which basic rights we should be taking away from us. Spying on all Americans without probable cause is an affront to the freedom promised when this country was created. Terrorism isn’t always about fear, despite the name. It can also be about the long play of exploiting other costs. And I don’t think we have really realized that yet. Obama talked the other night about ‘defeating’ terrorism. You can’t do it.

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