Posted on 02/24/2008 11:11:42 AM PST by Behind Liberal Lines
To win the war on terrorism, America needs to move beyond killing and capturing enemies, according to terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman. He told a Syracuse University audience this afternoon that Americans need greater cultural and linguistic understanding.
"Without that understanding, we are going to fail," he said.
Hoffman was the keynote speaker at the fourth annual Conference on Peace and Security at SU. More than 50 people attended the daylong event, sponsored by SU's Student Association on Terrorism and Security Analysis.
Terrorists tend to recruit members from countries with a poor economy, polarized government and high unemployment, Hoffman said. He said it's important to understand why people join terrorist groups so that the cycle of recruitment can be broken.
About 90 percent of terrorist groups don't last more than one year, Hoffman said. Al-Qaeda has been a notable exception. Osama bin Laden founded Al-Qaeda on Aug. 11, 1988, making this year the group's 20th anniversary. Hoffman said the terrorist group's staying power underscores its adaptability, flexibility and ability to learn from successes and mistakes.
As the terrorists change and adapt, Hoffman said the United States needs to do the same and move beyond conventional warfare. He said terrorist leaders hope that the U.S. remains in Iraq, distracted from other growing threats, especially in Pakistan.
Hoffman teaches and researches on terrorism at Georgetown University and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He has held a counterterrorism chair at the Rand Corp. and was an adviser on counterterrorism for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad. In his speech Saturday and during an interview on Friday, terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman listed 10 things that Central New Yorkers should know about terrorism:
1. Terrorism is the defining challenge of this generation. In the Cold War, the U.S. knew who the enemy was, where they were, and their strengths. Terrorism is different. There are many enemies in different places that are offshoots of the main adversary, al-Qaida. The enemies are not always visible, and it's difficult to measure their strengths.
2. Terrorism has existed for 2,000 years, and it's not going to go away. That doesn't mean that we're powerless or defenseless. For instance, the country has remained safe from attack for the past six-plus years.
3. In the past, when terrorists bombed, kidnapped and killed, the effect was felt in a small area. Today, terrorists operate globally, unconstrained by nations' boundaries.
4. Countering terrorism should not rely only on military operations. "Soft power" is equally essential. Hoffman defined that as information, economic development, political reform, and local empowerment. Military force can temporarily weaken or eliminate terrorists' capacity to attack. But that only addresses the immediate threat. A successful counter-terrorist policy combines military force with "soft power" over the long term. The goal should be not just to kill and capture terrorists but to break the cycle of recruitment and regeneration that sustains terrorist movements.
5. Americans need to understand why people become terrorists. It's important to know what messages terrorists use to recruit people so that effective means can be developed to prevent recruitment.
6. A comprehensive approach cannot be left only to the military and the intelligence community. It takes all the instruments of national power, including diplomacy from the State Department, communications from the U.S. information agencies, political reform in foreign nations aided by the departments of Treasury and Commerce. It takes determined inter-agency cooperation, which doesn't always happen.
7. The State Department and similar agencies should not work only in traditional government-to-government ways. The world is permeated by nongovernmental organizations like Doctors Without Borders. Groups working to solve problems in areas of conflict have tremendous expertise and on-the-ground knowledge. Such knowledge and expertise can help to counter terrorist recruitment.
8. The threat from terrorism is constantly changing and evolving. The U.S. approach to terrorism also must constantly change and evolve. There cannot be a single or permanent strategy.
9. Terrorists believe that Americans lack patience and commitment over a long time.
10. To Americans, terrorism appears to be mindless and irrational violence. However, the terrorists believe that they are operating rationally and that logic guides their attacks. The challenge is to understand that logic and rationale. Terrorism is best fought by knowledge, research and understanding one's enemies.
To win the GWOT, we must all convert to Islam.
Like they care. Most liberals on college campuses only concern with the WOT is how to use it to get a Democrat elected.
Sounds like a long winded didactic way of saying “We Surrender”.
Wow! How many seats were left? Ok, let's all hug and sing Kumbayah.
Dude, we KNOW what the Wahabbists want. World domination, strict application to the Koran and subjugation of the women.
I seriously doubt learning how to speak Arabian and dressing up in a burka is going to change anything...
Know my Enemy!
If you do not understand the language, culture and foibles of your enemy you will not have an easy time in overcoming his generals and their armies.
This is only a continuation of that thought.
Sam
Sounds good in a speech, and looks good on paper...Just one problem, there are terrorists who don’t listen to the speeches and don’t care what is in print!
They have one agenda and thats the destruction of Israel and the U.S.
They can’t be reasoned with, they don’t want to sit down at the table and talk! THEY JUST WANT TO ELIMINATE US.
These people you have to eliminate before they eliminate you. You do that with extreme force!
Ah, don’t bother trying to enlighten the clueless....
Step two: Make the countries who sponsor terrorists know that they will pay a heavy price--up to and including ceasing to exist.
The West should have wiped out the Arab/Pali/Euro-anarchist terrorists that started in the late ‘60s. Anyone remember Munich ‘72, the “Japanese Red Army”, Leon Klinghoffer’s murder on the Achille Lauro, airplane hijackings (including the murder of the US Navy guy)? Instead, Europe gave one mastermind the Nobel Peace Prize!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents
We could start disallowing Islamic conversions in our own jails.
"Without that understanding, we are going to fail," he said.
Leave it to an "expert" to provide a vague, fuzzy answer riddled with wiggle room.
Self Ping.
Just as an idle comment, Rome had no desire to "understand" Carthage.
Cartago delanda est was unilateral, effective and permanent.
More liberal garbage, that stinks. These are the morons that will be hiding behind our brave military when the time comes.
Worth repaeating, if I might:
Know my Enemy!
If you do not understand the language, culture and foibles of your enemy you will not have an easy time in overcoming his generals and their armies.
This is only a continuation of that thought.
Nothingness in words.
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