You Can't Defeat Terrorists

Losing the War on Terror: Why Militants Are Beating Technology Five Years After Sept. 11, by Ahmed Rashid, Washington Post, Monday, September 11, 2006.

All that money, all those lives. All that rhetoric, all that false hope. Why oh why won't world leaders come out and admit that you can't beat terrorists, then move on?!!

Well there are some obvious reasons why world leaders won't admit that you can't beat terrorists. A lot of 'leaders' are are more politican than leader and for them terrorism is a crutch, a raison d'être. Where would the ratings for George W. Bush be if were not for terrorists? They would be a lot lower than they are now. Heck, if it were not for 9/11 he probably wouldn't even be president. Or he would be facing impeachment for his utter failure in the face of hurricane Katrina.

Just watch the brilliant Brazil and you will see how it is done. The under-pinnings of that movie are the symbiotic relationship between Maggie Thatcher and the IRA. That's right my fellow citizens, the British did not defeat the IRA, they talked to the IRA, legitimized through the political wing, Sinn Féin. Ironically, it was the bombing of New York on 9/11 that put the final mail in the coffin of the IRA's bombing campaign. American support for such action evaporated in the firestorm that consumed the Twin Towers.

I can only hope enough people will take Mr. Rashid's article to heart and be brave enough, courageous enough, to realize that you can't defeat terrorists, but you can win the war on terror IF you are prepared to:

a. Negotiate with the political arm of terrorist groups (e.g. Hamas, which has shown willingness to form part of a legitimate government).
b. Negate the motivation of the terrorist base (e.g. enable Palestinians to transition from refugees to citizens of a viable country with a sustainable economy).
c. Take religion out of the equation (e.g. accept that nobody has a god given right to any piece of land--the alternative is eternal warfare).

And please, please, may we have some leadership on this planet instead of politicians!

Stephen