Posted by
Tim Blessing on Sunday, April 06, 2008 5:38:14 PM
The Terror War: What is the way to fight it?
The terror war from the terrorists standpoint is a generations long conflict that began in the 1970s or so and will continue in the Jihadists collective mind for as long as it will take.
The United States and our allies have only been fighting back for the last 7 years or so.
It has a domestic component in each country and foreign policy/defense policy component.
This Terror War will continue for a generation or so and we need to get use to the fact that it is a shooting war.
Islam like any religion has moderate and silent majority as well as its radical minority.
That mean's we are dealing with Islamic Jihadists, Fascists, or Nazis of some sort.
They have been empowered by Saudi Wahabis and Saudi Oil Money.
They have spread out from Saudi Arabia over the last 20 years or so because the Saudi Government wanted domestic stability.
Ironically, Saudi Arabia may be consumed by its own fanaticism in the long run.
We have a problem that the American People have not been thoroughly schooled in terms of all the elements of this Jihadism and how long it will take to win.
Bush has chosen what Political Scientist like me call Messianic Conservatism as his approach to the Terror War.
Meaning, we will convert them to become Muslim/Capitalist/Democracies. This is a deliberate attempt through Military Force to change the basic meaning of Middle Eastern Nations from their basic way of life into the contemporary era.
Terrorists throughout the Muslim World see this in what they call in their history Crusades.
To them the Crusades happened the day before yesterday. To us the Crusades are a historical curiousity in High School and College History Classes. Something to be studied once and not remembered.
In the book called Diplomacy by Henry Kissinger, he talked of two schools of thought in American Foreign Policy: The Missionary and the Psychiatric.
Bush push's The Missionary approach only like Carter, Clinton, Johnson, Kennedy, and Wilson. Idealism that is not grounded in the hard realities of foreign policy.
If you are going to employ the psychiatric approach you look at the causes of the problem and possible solutions.
I know the problem come's from Saudi Arabia so that is the focal point for containment and eventual resolution.
We have for the most part secured the West, East Asia, and Russia now we work our way into Islamic Countries.
First, we need to make economic and military agreements with India, Syria, Iran, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Sudan.
Second, we need to determine the best use of our military forces in the region.
You cannot invade Saudi Arabia because it is the Holy Land of Muslims and they may all turn against us as a result.
This does not mean we cannot operate within the Arabian Pennisula in terms of covert action.
I noticed studying China once upon a time that outside powers keep that country from forming into one whole entity.
The Arabian Pennisula, I think, can be best managed through the maintenance of chaos, until the wahabis ideology burn's itself out.
In my study of this ideology, the time estimate that it would take for this Islamism to burn itself out would take 50 years.
It would not be safe to go in there in any terms, except through, again, covert action.
Cntainment plus division through a naval blockade, defense perimeter in southern Iraq, and alliances with surrounding countries.
It could be used as a drop off point for the Jihadists in other countries as well as some sort of penal colony for unreformable convicts in other countries. Australia come's to mind.
The Muslim Majority is empowered by their faith upward's of 90% of the total Muslim Population.
The Radical Minority adhere's to some religious ideology of Islam that is violence prone for some reason.
Is it an economic, social, or military problem?
I think it is a social problem mainly rather than an economic problem with military overtones.
If it is a social problem then it is best handled by mental health people.
A Military Solution like Bush chose is working, but the Jihadists are empowered by war.
We need a new mix for the foreseeable future.