Philip H. Gordon
2007-09-12 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -

... While the U.S. homeland has not been attacked successfully since Sept. 11 — no small accomplishment — major terrorist attacks around the world have doubled compared with the six years prior to Sept. 11, Osama bin Laden remains at large, the United States is less popular than ever globally, we are bogged down in Iraq with no solution in sight, Iran has been emboldened, and the rest of the Middle East is dangerously unstable.

Some would argue that the administration’s strategy in the war on terror just needs more time. Others think it needs to be waged with more “energy, resources and intensity,” as Newt Gingrich puts it.

But I think — as I argue in “Winning the Right War” — that the war on terror is failing because the administration is fighting the wrong war. It is fighting against an alleged single enemy, when the enemy is extremely diverse. It is putting its faith in tough talk and military power, when ideology, intelligence, diplomacy and defense are in fact more important.

It is polarizing the public and alienating the world when national unity and international legitimacy are badly needed. It is focusing on a tactic, terrorism, when the real issue is how to address the political, diplomatic, social and economic factors that lead people to use that tactic.

... A new president should express confidence that in the long run, Islamism will fail just like communism did — provided we do not inadvertently bolster it. If we are strong, smart and patient, the right war on terror can be won.

Read the rest at opportunity08.org.