Posted on 07/08/2009 8:00:10 PM PDT by Ooh-Ah
In his invaluable new book, Winning the Long War, Ilan Berman -- a vice-president at the American Foreign Policy Council and editor of the Journal of International Security Affairs (and frequent contributor to this site)-- argues the War on Terror has veered far astray since 2001, failing to "keep pace with al-Qaeda's metamorphosis from a terrorist group into a global ideological movement, or to take advantage of its latent operational, economic, and political vulnerabilities." Yet the tome is hardly a paean to pessimism or defeatism. Equal parts historical primer, cogent analysis, and canny, outside-the-box rumination, Winning the Long War
elucidates the past while offering a gaggle of shrewd policy suggestions for the future leaving in its wake a nuanced, smart call-to-arms for the post-post-9/11 era. "My hope," Berman tells TAS, "is that, in some small way, this book helps readers to get the 'big picture' of the War on Terror, and what we have to do in order to win it."
TAS: What has been the biggest misconception/misstep in the War on Terror?
Ilan Berman: The single biggest flaw so far, in my opinion, is that we have been waging what is essentially a derivative conflict. We were attacked by al Qaeda, so we automatically assume that it is the only group we are fighting. In fact, the list of adversaries now arrayed against the United States is much broader: a transnational network of Sunni jihadists, an Iranian-sponsored terrorist conglomerate, and, above all, a mass of "undecided" Muslim voters whom we need to convince to sit out this fight. Our track record so far is not all negative, certainly. The United States is far better prepared on the home front today than on September 10, 2001. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Just a little tiff over a few random “manmade disasters”.
“keep pace with al-Qaeda’s metamorphosis from a terrorist group into a global ideological movement”...
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This statement, with its wording, should ring loud through out the world...the only problem is that not enough people are listening!
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