Terrorism Campaign Report Is Seriously Flawed

[thedrifter]

01-26-2004

Terrorism Campaign Report Is Seriously Flawed



By Raymond Perry



When an educated and experienced author such as Dr. Jeffrey Record, writing under the auspices of a prestigious organization such as the Strategic Studies Institute at the U.S. Army War College, charges that the Global War on Terrorism is strategically unfocused and morally flawed, it makes headline news.



And when that same author further charges that our campaign against terrorism sets us on an unnecessary path of open-ended conflict with many entities around the world, it is fitting to give his assertion a very close look.



After carefully reading Record?s report, ?Bounding the Global War on Terrorism,? I conclude that Dr. Record has selectively forgotten history. For example the era of Piracy following the Hundred Years War required a sustained effort by the Royal Navy with the varied support of other nations to stamp out the Piracy unemployed warriors from that time who saw Piracy as a way make a living. More recently he could have considered the efforts of this nation to stop the predations of the Barbary Pirates.



In both of these cases state forces were fielded against non-state or, in the case of the Barbary Pirates, non-state but state sanctioned forces.



The paradigm that terrorism is a criminal act instead of a calculated, and declared, act of force against a nation should be examined. The central theme of those that assert that the war against Iraq was wrongfully initiated appears to be that the acts of 9/11 were criminal acts. Therefore other nations should not be responsible.



This ignores the utility of a central theme of those who wish us ill:

?The enemy of my enemy is my friend.? This theme allows many amorphous and changing alliances among terrorists of many forms and motivations. But all of these groups will do our citizens harm in a planned act as part of a series of planned acts and with any allies they can bring together.



Dr. Record further asserts that the key to the defeat of terrorists and terrorism lies in intelligence and police work with the military only subordinated to this. The point that should be explored here is that these assemblages of warriors, with a veneer of religion, will exact any kind of vengeance upon our nation that they can pull off. It is irrelevant what forces of this nation prevent, shortstop, or strike them first.



Record asserts that there is a difference between terrorism and specific terrorist groups. The fundamental issue is that international law ? that of sovereign-to- sovereign relations as currently practiced ? does not offer a solution to the fact of terrorism and terrorists. When terrorists are able to remain in a country, operating at will despite efforts of a government to stop them, they inhabit the seams of international law where one government ineffectively controls them and another will not enter that nation to prevent their actions or to safeguard its nationals.



Islamic terrorists have chosen to kill innocent people under the guise of a ?holy war? as a tool of changing the world. Gracia Burnham, an American missionary in the Philippines held captive for a year by the Abu Sayyaf, explored this very issue with her captors. Her book, In the Presence of My Enemies, chronicled these discussions.



In the end, Burnham?s book recounts, her captors unintentionally revealed the thin cover of religion they had donned. They actually were petty bandits using brutal murder to live a lifestyle that enabled them to obtain things that they would get no other way.



Since international law actually does cover warriors, bandits, and pirates without sovereign control, Dr. Record?s failure to provide an intellectual underpinning for employment of these laws seriously undercuts the credibility of his article. Specifically, it is clear from her book that United States forces were aware of Gracia Burnham?s location and could have extracted her and her husband throughout the year of their captivity were it not for the niceties of the current practice of sovereign- to-sovereign relations.



As I see it, President Bush has set about bringing out these elements of international law on the world stage, and since it is a change in the paradigm, no other nation yet understands and accepts them. Thus the United States, to be the leader, must set about its task to loud and vociferous opprobrium.



Record asserts that the Cold War may be the right analogy, but few understand that the paradigm has shifted. The workable lie of the Cold War was that ?Freedom Fighters? and other insurgents were not supported by the Soviet Union but did exist with the tacit support of the Soviet Union. The key elements of international law in this regard were effectively suspended during this bygone era blurring the ?line between peace and war? where the beginning and end are ephemeral. I noted exactly that in a DefenseWatch article last Oct.17 (?Hard Work Will Forestall a Morass in Iraq?).



When the terrorists understand that this nation will go after them, that they cannot hide forever, and that we will bring justice to them, they will pass from the scene. This will take time and commitment. Intellectuals have a responsibility to explore the future, not to complain why we are breaking the rules of a bygone era.



Dr. Record?s exposition seems more designed to ingratiate him with the Bush administration?s political opponents than to serve as an objective analysis of the conduct of the war on terrorism. His paper aligns clearly with those voices of the opposition that have asserted they were lied to by the president.



Dr. Record?s paper was of value to the students of the Army War College, although not in the way the professor intended. It is vastly important that professional military officers learn to recognize intellectual sophistry. Recognition and understanding of this kind of thinking will enable them to fend off its seductive pull of on their civilian masters. Dr. Record?s article provides such training in spades.



Lt. Raymond Perry USN (Ret.) is a DefenseWatch Contributing Editor. He can be reached at cos1stlt@yahoo.com.

http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/...3.3969814467388


Sempers,

Roger

[BLUEHAWK]

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