In his landmark book The Shield of Achilles, American international law scholar Philip Bobbitt states in clear language the direction our nation must set in this new age. (To read the W.H. Auden poem the book was named after, a sobering commentary on the brutality of war, click on the title for a link.)
Now that technology has made it possible for non-state actors like terrorist groups to have state-like impacts (as al-Qaeda did on 9/11), Bobbitt states that civilization's only hope is for the nations of the world to do two things: enter into a cooperative Manhattan-project like effort to develop new sensor technology to detect weapons of mass destruction, and for worldwide intelligence services to embark on a degree of unprecedented information sharing and cooperation. The only country that can lead this effort to avoid an almost certain Armageddon is the United States. And we cannot very well unite the world unless we can unite ourselves first. This analysis leads to the conclusion that the minute details of what approach might be best is not as important as America being united. We can continue to engage in partisan bickering about domestic issues. Unless we want al-Qaeda to win, we'd better get it together on a bipartisan approach to terrorism.
Luckily, we have that approach. It's the combination of the 9/11 commission study and the report of the Iraq Study Group. Unfortunately, these important bi-partisan efforts have been largely ignored, especially the Iraq Study Group. And that's a shame. In addition to the ten distinguished members of the main group, there were five expert subcommittees involving over fifty individuals from academia, government and the military, and literally hundreds more were consulted with. The 79 Iraq Study Group recommendations are not claimed to be a magic pill to deal with the tragedy in Iraq, but they represent the best approach from some of the most informed, smartest people in the world. And this approach is the only way forward to heal the terrible divisions in our country over this issue, while presenting the United States with a way to heal the wounds we have inflicted on that country.
It's a shame (but unsurprising) that the Bush Administration has chosen to essentially ignore the report from the Iraq Study Group in favor of more of the same. But it's also disappointing that the Democratic leadership has not made the Study Group's approach the focus of their opposition to the President. If I were Senator Reid or Speaker Pelosi, when I talked about the Iraq War, every other sentence would include reference to the Study Group. It would totally diffuse the "cut and run", "setting a date for defeat" rhetoric. More importantly, it would work toward uniting the nation, rather than further dividing it. It also sure seems the smartest thing to do politically.
Let's pray, for the future of the nation and the world, that our leaders from both sides of the aisle can unite behind this bi-partisan approach, so America can reclaim her leadership in the world in fighting this horrible enemy.
1 comment:
While I think your solution is agreeable, I believe that even more crucial to solving the problem of Islamic terrorism is to try to make amends and restitution for decades of selfish manipulation and outright bullying of the Middle-Eastern nations and people by Western powers, both old (England and France) and new (U.S.A). Over time, as we show through our actions that we have renounced the selfish, repressive policies of the past, and that we embrace foreign policies which are more concerned for the well-being of foreign nations than in U.S. economic imperialism, the resentment and discontent which provide such a fertile recruiting pool to the terrorists will go dwindle, and our nation will be that much more secure
Post a Comment