Winning the "War on Terror"

[Brandon]

Well, I tried playing Devil's Advocate for Bush's war for a short while and got met with some violent resistance. Before I completely become persona non grata around here, though (and say something that borders on Vince-ism), I'll explain my actual views on post-9/11 foreign policy and the fight against terrorism.

Iraq was a boneheaded mistake. I can't deny it. Reconstruction plans, which were shoddy to nonexistent, were executed poorly, and we excluded some potentially helpful people from the process (Chalabi, for example). The idea of "democratizing" the Middle East by force is not going to work, and even the "neocons" are backing off from it now.

That being said, I definitely feel that we need to resist the urge to retreat into isolationism. It's not going to keep us safe anymore.

Now as I said in the Condi thread, terrorists need, above all things, money and places to set up camp. States in the Middle East such as Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia have been providing both for some time now, and we've done next to nothing to address it. It stands to reason that if these states (and prominent indiviudals inside them) stopped harboring and funding terrorist organizations, it would cripple operations. Clearly the solution is to push for that.

The strategy has to start at the United Nations, however. Under current international law (Article 51 of the U.N. charter), military action is justifiable if done in self-defense; in response to an aggressor. The United States, its allies, and other like-minded nations need to push have the meaning of "aggressive"action redefined, so that it includes the harboring and funding of terrorists that seek to do other nations harm. It's a more than reasonable request, and I see no rational reason why it shouldn't pass.

If the U.N. refuses to change, though, it will demonstrate that they are not acting in the best interest of not only American but international security, and we may need to be prepared to turn away from them.

We then need to aggressively confront the aforementioned "rogue states," pressuring them to stop the flow of money into terrorist organizations (INCLUDING Hamas and Hezbollah), to stop harboring terrorists, to surrender any and all terrorists living with their borders, and to condemn extremist elements within their cultures. Similarly, Saudi Arabia must be taken to task for the spreading of violent, extremist, Wahhabist Islam.

Syria will easily crack under threat of military action and/or the cutting off of oil from Iraq. Saudi Arabia will be a little bit more challenging, but a possible strategy is to threaten to support an uprising in the oil-rich, Shiite dominated, eastern provinces. Iran is the trickiest of all, but we could easily support the existing movements to overthrow the mullahs.

These actions will have a side benefit. By cutting off terrorist funding in these countries, the Palestinian terrorist groups will be severely weakened, taking us one step closer to actual peace talks in the Israeli situation.

So, there you have it. Input is appreciated. Share your own ideas on winning the "War on Terror."