The Talking Dog, commenting on the recent suicide bombing in Israel, talks about the ability of terrorists to act despite military action:
Israel can militarily crush all of its enemies combined these days, (possibly including Saddam Hussein), but it cannot stop every single Palestinian or Israeli Arab from this type of attack. Better disguises and tactics seem to be employed each time, and there continues to be a large, motivated pool of would be suicide bombers.
[…]What’s my point? Israel is the regional strongman (though a local pariah). The United States is, of course, the world’s strongman (on our way to pariah status). Israel can no more COMPLETELY stop suicide bombings than the United States could ABSOLUTELY stop 9-11, embassy bombings, or attacks on our ships and military bases in the Middle East. Military superiority gets you only so far. Intelligence is helpful, of course, but moral superiority, and well-thought policies also matter tremendously.
Israel shouldn’t be expanding its settlements, and indiscriminately killing NEIGHBORS of Hamas militants during its military incursions. But it is, and the resentment builds… The United States shouldn’t have to be in a position to permanently base troops in the Persian Gulf to contain one particular tyrant who should have been removed “back in the day”. But we do.
It would be nice if we actually backed up our talk about “democracy”, while we spit at Turkey’s (for not doing what we want) or France’s and Germany’s (for not doing what we want) or, for that matter, at our own (dissenters from this war are un-American, if not treasonous, and are, of course, giving aid and comfort to Saddam Hussein).
Right now, Israel is JUST relying on its military superiority. Israel can handily defeat the combined armies of the Arab world, but it can’t seem to make its streets safe to get a cup of coffee or go to work for its own citizens. The American President seems hell-bent on committing the United States to a comparable reliance on OUR military superiority to the exclusion of all else.
That reminds me of a discussion I had with a friend of mine soon after September 11. He said that a liberal democracy should not react too strongly to terrorist attacks; it should take it like a punch on its face, shake it off and get back to business. Now he wasn’t trying to say that one shouldn’t act against terrorists at all (we were both in support of the military action in Afghanistan). But the point is that it is too easy and tempting to react too strongly both militarily and in curbing civil liberties. We should be on guard against such tendencies. We should remember that as long as we have an open society, some terrorists will be able to get through taking advantage of the openness. Our reaction to that should not be to curtail that openness.
An excellent post.
That’s because Israel, like the US until very recently, attacks individual terrorists or terrorist groups instead of targeting and taking down the regimes that sponsor terrorism.
For a fuller idea of what I’m talking about, check out It’s The Regime, Stupid.
Terrorist attacks on America stem from the fact that many of today’s Arabs, like Yesterday’s Nazis and Communists, are influenced by regimes that are living, breathing, spawning expressions of hate and contempt for us. The precise relationship between the bombers and trigger pullers, and the House of Saud, the Palestinian Authority, or the Ba’ath parties of Syria and Iraq need not overly concern us. Nor does it matter whether terrorists get money directly from intelligence services or through circuitous routes from the leading persons (including the tolerated “opposition”) in the very same countries. One way or another, the people, the money, and above all, the inspiration for terrorist acts come from certain places because certain kinds of people are prominent in those places — the regimes. All the reasons, or excuses, commonly cited to explain Arab animosity against the West existed many decades ago. But terrorism became prevalent only after the empowerment of ruling classes that produce nothing, are ethically bankrupt, live as rent collectors, and fight through proxies.
Before the hissy fit ensues, let’s just say two reponses will be dismissed out of hand:
1. If that’s true, America (or Israel) should attack itself (hardy har har)
2. So you’ll have to take out all the muslim regimes and the 1 billion muslims will rise up and cause the “clash of civilizations.” (yeah, right).
Vae, I won’t say that the rulers in those countries are not a problem, because they definitely are part of the problem. However, what is the solution? Can we just go and replace rulers in 5-10 countries? Who’ll rule those countries then? What if the new rulers are as bad as the previous ones? Also, remember that project has the ring of the colonialism era. And trying to ressurrect the past (a la Bin Laden) is kooky.
On the other hand, encouraging the local population to change things for the better is definitely ok. However, the credibility of the US in that part of the world is kinda low right now, even lower than their own ruthless rulers.
Israel’s best hope at this point I think is the Mitzna plan. Of course, it won’t end terrorism, but I think it will reduce it significantly, both by enforcement along a proper border and by giving the Palestinian population (if not the leadership) some incentive to do better.
The situation for the US is better and worse. Better because terrorism doesn’t threaten us like it does Israel. And worse because we are the world’s only superpower with committments around the globe, which gives rise to resentment and targets.
In our article published by the London-England-based STWR, we talk about a new book by U.S. Army Col. Brian Rees entitled “Terrorism, Retaliation and Victory.” Dr. Rees’s groundbreaking book advocates a new scientifically validated and field-tested technology to prevent terrorism. This approach could be used in Israel.
We also discuss a new study just published showing 72% reduction in international terrorism using this new approach. The study used Rand think tank data.
In particular, you may also be interested in an article published in Tikkun Magazine at:
http://www.tikkun.org/magazine/index.cfm/action/tikkun/issue/tik0005/article/000526.html
if this link does not function try:
http://www.davidleffler.com/tikkun.html
You may recall the article “When Nothing Works” in the 28 Oct 85 issue of the Navy Times. In the article a scientist proposed sea-basing this technology on an aircraft carrier. Since this time this technology has been successfully deployed by the armies of two countries. If you would like information about their field-tests asa well as studies done in the Middle East please visit our website.
Please forward this information about our new article to anyone that you think might be interested. The article is referenced below:
Major General Kulwant Singh & Dr. David R. Leffler (2003, October 14). “Invincible Defence Against Terrorism.” Share the World’s Resources, (Available at: http://www.stwr.net/articles/articles7.htm)
Thank you.
Sincerely,
David R. Leffler, Ph.D.
http://www.davidleffler.com
In our article published by the London-England-based STWR, we talk about a new book by U.S. Army Col. Brian Rees entitled “Terrorism, Retaliation and Victory.” Dr. Rees’s groundbreaking book advocates a new scientifically validated and field-tested technology to prevent terrorism. This approach could be used in Israel.
We also discuss a new study just published showing 72% reduction in international terrorism using this new approach. The study used Rand think tank data.
In particular, you may also be interested in an article published in Tikkun Magazine at:
http://www.tikkun.org/magazine/index.cfm/action/tikkun/issue/tik0005/article/000526.html
if this link does not function try:
http://www.davidleffler.com/tikkun.html
You may recall the article “When Nothing Works” in the 28 Oct 85 issue of the Navy Times. In the article a scientist proposed sea-basing this technology on an aircraft carrier. Since this time this technology has been successfully deployed by the armies of two countries. If you would like information about their field-tests asa well as studies done in the Middle East please visit our website.
Please forward this information about our new article to anyone that you think might be interested. The article is referenced below:
Major General Kulwant Singh & Dr. David R. Leffler (2003, October 14). “Invincible Defence Against Terrorism.” Share the World’s Resources, (Available at: http://www.stwr.net/articles/articles7.htm)
Thank you.
Sincerely,
David R. Leffler, Ph.D.
http://www.davidleffler.com
In our article published by the London-England-based STWR, we talk about a new book by U.S. Army Col. Brian Rees entitled “Terrorism, Retaliation and Victory.” Dr. Rees’s groundbreaking book advocates a new scientifically validated and field-tested technology to prevent terrorism. This approach could be used in Israel.
We also discuss a new study just published showing 72% reduction in international terrorism using this new approach. The study used Rand think tank data.
In particular, you may also be interested in an article published in Tikkun Magazine at:
http://www.tikkun.org/magazine/index.cfm/action/tikkun/issue/tik0005/article/000526.html
if this link does not function try:
http://www.davidleffler.com/tikkun.html
You may recall the article “When Nothing Works” in the 28 Oct 85 issue of the Navy Times. In the article a scientist proposed sea-basing this technology on an aircraft carrier. Since this time this technology has been successfully deployed by the armies of two countries. If you would like information about their field-tests asa well as studies done in the Middle East please visit our website.
Please forward this information about our new article to anyone that you think might be interested. The article is referenced below:
Major General Kulwant Singh & Dr. David R. Leffler (2003, October 14). “Invincible Defence Against Terrorism.” Share the World’s Resources, (Available at: http://www.stwr.net/articles/articles7.htm)
Thank you.
Sincerely,
David R. Leffler, Ph.D.
http://www.davidleffler.com