The State Department has announced a new policy to reward mid-level diplomats for their willingness to serve in war-torn Iraq. This is a spectacular idea and it's about time State made this policy change. From the Post Chronicle : A new U.S. State Department policy will reward diplomats who serve a year in Iraq with jobs later in popular spots such as London and Paris. The Washington Times Friday printed a cable from Foreign Service Director-General George Staples, saying: "The id...
What are the most significant effects, both internally and externally, as a result of widespread governmental human rights abuses in dealing with terrorism or insurgency? When a government uses human rights abuses to enforce counterterrorism policy, the government's moral superiority is eroded both at home and abroad. For many outside observers, the United States' continued detainment of unlawful combatants at Guantanamo Bay is a miscarriage of human rights. This undermines American eff...
Brute military force is an ineffective measure against terrorism. If anything, military force can only serve to kill the perpetrators of terrorism in retaliation or preemption. There is, according to Pillar, “an inherent difficulty [in] using force in a situation in which the terrorists have the advantage of being able—and willing—to use it immediately against their captives” (99). Whether the strike is retaliatory or preemptive in nature, there are certain risks in starting the bullets to...
Hawala is the most important money-movement mechanism you've never heard of. Through it, hundreds of millions of dollars move worldwide annually on just a verbal say-so or a handshake. It allows expatriate workers to send money back to their families and terrorists to launder money throughout both the civilized and the uncivilized world. The components of hawala that distinguish it from other remittance systems are trust and the extensive use of connections such as family relationships or ...
‘Strategic influence’ is frequently viewed as a key component of foreign policy efforts against terrorist groups. Strategic influence is the ability to engage dissenters in a meaningful way in order to change thinking. In a counterterrorism context, many enemies are in need of some meaningful engagement. Strategic influencers are those who effectively use persuasion to bring about conformity, compliance, or conversion. According to Cragin and Gehwehr, an influence campaign uses plann...
I think there's a very compelling reason to dub this a "Global War on Terror". There is no one country with which we are at war. 9/11 caused us to go to war with Afghanistan, which at the time was harboring the perpetrators of that horrible crime. Yet al-Qaeda exists in so many other nations that we did not want to restrict our emphasis onto one easily conquerable nation. it wasn't just semantics that made the Bush Administration to dub this a "Global War on Terror". We did not want ...
The four elements of counterterrorism policy -- attacking the roots, capabilities, intentions, and defenses of terrorist groups -- the most important in my mind is capabilities. While not as easy to enact as others, there is something to be said for effectively staving off a terrorist's capability to destroy and kill. Capabilities are the terrorist's abilities to carry out attacks or to conduct them effectively. This is an incredibly difficult facet of terrorism to address but incredibly...
The Palestinian Authority has purged itself, at least temporarily, of the influence of Hamas. Hamas, for those of you JUsers out there who don't know, is a terrorist organization funded largely by Syrian, Lebanese, and Iranian interests against Israel. From Australia's The Age : Whatever one's perception of Hamas and its activities, it has risen as a credible alternative to the secular Palestine Liberation Organisation, which led the Palestinian nationalist movement from the middle o...
The existing law enforcement is there: along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), many government agencies work long hours to keep Americans safe. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), US Customs, and the Coast Guard have been rolled into the nascent Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Though not intended to be a domestic intelligence service as such, the inclusion of the organizations mentioned have made intelligence part of DHS' daily operations. Ironically, t...
In what ways, if any, do you think that US policymakers can do a better job apprising the American public of the long-term nature of the Global War on Terrorism and he sacrifices that struggle will continue to entail? Certain members of Congress and the White House articulate the importance of staying in the fight quite well. It is just a matter of whether or not the claims fall on deaf ears or are taken seriously. Supporters of the War on Terror are seen as Bush's shills or cronies, as ...
Why hasn't Al Qaeda attempted an large CBRN attack, given the group's M.O of "spectacular" mass casualty attacks against symbolic targets? I have my ideas, but they are speculative. Could be any one of a number of factors: 1) They can't get one into a strategic location. Since 9/11, security around high-value American targets has increased many-fold. Metal detectors are almost ubiquitous in Washington DC these days. I've never felt safer riding the Metro. Even airliners transiting...
What are the most significant technical constraints, political constraints, and psychological inhibitory constraints against CBRN use by terrorist networks? How might these be enhanced? So, what's stopping the terrorists? Holding them back from doing the unthinkable, the devastating, the inevitable? The biggest factor is the damage caused. CBRN weapons inflict mass casualties upon a large area, and the psychological damage is even more widespread. CBRN give a huge payoff with minim...
What role did ideology play in Iran's support for terrorism in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution? What, if anything, has changed since then with respect to ideology? The success of the Islamic Revolution caused a kind of manifest destiny for the new Iranian clerical elite. Their ultimate desire was to export Islam until the entire world was one mighty caliphate. Iran, unfortunately, was a weakling at the playground; in addition to the other more secular Arab nations, there was a...
Should Hezbollah be considered a terrorist organization in that it provides services to the public and participates in electoral politics? The words: "Absolutely!" spring quickly to mind. And here's why... With apologies to Forrest Gump, Terrorist is as terrorist does. The bombings of the Marine barracks in Beirut was attributed to them, along with a decades-long campaign against the West and Israel (Bynam 84-5). So despite the fluffy niceties of political correctness and t...
I do believe that the longer people just accept that this is the way the 'east' thinks...and this is the way the 'west' thinks...then we are in for even more milennia of stuck in the mud progress. But it's so much easier to pigeonhole one culture (especially the opposing culture in a war) as being beyond (or beneath) reason. If we truly believe that the Muslim people of the world are bitter and irreconcilable, then we better just kill them all off and poof! No more threat. But to enga...