Apr 12 2007
The US surge - how do you win a war on terror?
The US has announced longer tours of duty for its troops in Iraq, as the surge becomes a long slog by more soldiers from an overstretched military. Meanwhile, the bombings continue in Baghdad.
Fighting a war against terrorists in some ways glorifies them. Terrorists in a democracy are criminals. The fact that they use violence to pursue political ends rather than to take your property doesn’t alter the point that they are murderers, committing crimes of violence. They may also be breaking other laws, frequently coming by the money to pay for their violent crimes by illegal means, and often dealing in illegal weapons at the same time. In a democracy everyone has legal means to influence or change the government.
The way to tackle terrorism has to be intelligence led. Because they blend in with a local community of non terrorists, bombing from the air cannot be used, and military intervention on the ground is dangerous, threatening residents who are not part of the terrorist activity, unless the intelligence is very good and the military action surgical. Terrorists want to be treated differently from other violent criminals, so they can be treated differently by the local community. They seek to put them under an obligation to shelter them or to condone their activities.
Terrorism can best be tackled where the civilian power trying to control the wave of violence has the support of most people to find and prosecute the offenders. The civilian power may well need to call on military support when it has tracked down malefactors, as they may well try to fight their way out of arrest or trouble. If the military power it calls on comes from a foreign country it will be easier for the terrorist groups to persuade the civilian community not to assist the police operation. If the terrorist groups are strong and numerous then they may well also intimidate the local community into harbouring them. It will be a long task seeking to build up a group of people who will provide evidence, and important to give them proper protection when they do help the authorities.
The terrorists’ task will also be made more difficult if the civilian authority can show its democratic mandate will offer a way
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John Redwood has been the Member of Parliament for Wokingham since 1987. First attending Kent College, Canterbury, he graduated from Magdalen College...
I suspect the “Iranian authorities” are quite aware of “sources of the cash, the origin of the weapons, and information on training and planning” used by terrorist in Iraq. I hope this was a typo!
But how can this ever work when a place like Guantanamo Bay is in existence. The US is not portraying these people as criminals or as enemy combatants. They are in a state of limbo … just like the state of Iraq.
I would have thought that Guantanamo Bay was the ideal place for these criminals and certainly treats them as such. Does anybody really believe that the ‘Tipton Taliban’ just happened to be in the area.