Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Underestimating the enemy?

Malcolm Nance, an ex-spy, answers "yes" to this question in the current Foreign Policy. He argues that we are focusing our counter-terrorist activities on "military-aged Arab males", while Al Qaeda, for one, is using women, children, husband-and-wife teams, Caucasians and who knows who else as suicide bombers. They are spending a lot of time recruiting in Europe and using the Internet as a recruiting and training tool. So, the idea that the next bomber is a "military-aged Arab male" is likely false at this point in the game.

Nance contends that we are underestimating the intelligence and sophistication of the enemy. We are not training our counter-terrorism people in trying to understand the enemy and his culture. We are not fully understanding the connection of the terrorist to his society and his dependence upon that society.

In short, he's advocating that we wage a "hearts and minds" campaign, which is something that I've been advocating for quite a while.

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