Another View of the War on Terror

Remember when Kerry claimed that we might be better off if we treat terrorists as criminals rather than being at war with them? As with much he said in that campaign, this idea never got the traction it deserved. If you want a reasoned argument for Kerry’s claim, read this month’s issue of the Strategic Studies Newsletter, a publication put out by the US Army War College. This issue reports on a conference held earlier this year on “Law vs. War: Competing Approaches to Fighting Terrorism”.

The article you want to read is “Squaring the Error” by Michael German, who worked as an undercover agent in terrorist groups for the FBI. His basic argument is that we have played into the terrorists’ hands by abandoning the strengths inherent in a free democracy largely because we have failed to try to understand terrorists. In German’s experience, terrorists see the world in “us” versus “them” terms. Kind of like the way we see the world in our War on Terror.

In his experience, all terrorists, by and large, have a very similar view of the world: they don’t like the status quo; they can’t change the status quo through legitimate means; they don’t have the military power to force change. Their goal is to devise an attack that will change the status quo and throw things into chaos out of which right will emerge.

Like Richard Clarke, German thinks of the terrorist’s world as being made up of concentric circles. The hard-core members are at the center and those with lower levels of commitment are in different circles. The terrorists have to act to gain influence among these various circles. As they move to different circles, the circle is bigger, the people’s commitment less; thus, it becomes harder to gain the circle’s attention and confidence. So, they perform an act that seems to benefit the community, such as killing a policeman who has been shaking down local businessmen. German argues that this stage is critical and the terrorists must be branded as criminals; overreacting by treating them as warriors in battle and clamping down hard on both the innocent and guilty members of the community will only bolster the terrorists’ position.

He uses the French actions in Algiers as an example of what can happen. The French broke the FLN, but activated other Algerian resistance so that eventually the French lost the war in Algeria, although they won the Battle of Algiers. German thinks that we are close to being in the same situation as the French: “divided at home, alienated from allies abroad, fighting an enemy all over the globe that can strike when and where it wants.”

What can we do to avoid our own Battle of Algiers?

One thing we have to keep uppermost is that “Nothing makes it more difficult for a terrorist to convince people that the government is oppressive and unjust than scrupulously protecting his rights in a public criminal trial”. Tell that to the people in Guantanamo!

Take Sun Tzu’s advice and know ourselves as well as we know our enemy. Knowledge cannot exist unless we are honest about why 9/11 was not prevented. We had the information; we just didn’t act on it due to bumbling and mismanagement.

Treat terrorists as criminals. Their community will see them as bad guys, not heroes, and see us as validating our authority. Try them in public.

One of the biggest fears of the terrorist is that their group has been compromised by an infiltrator. Sharing and publicizing information about one terrorist group has a negative effect on other terrorist groups in that instead of acting they have to constantly resort to other plans.

We stepped on the solidarity the world provided us after 9/11 and handed terrorists a golden opportunity to legitimize themselves by departing from the rule of law and alienating our friends. Respect the law. Restore international cooperation.

Stop demonizing our enemies as the terrorist demonizes us.

“Terrorism will never go away, and free and open societies will always be especially vulnerable. But we do not win by becoming less free and less open. Ironically, al Qaeda does not have the power to destroy the United States of America. But we do.”