Letter sent to the San Francisco Chronicle
Regarding "The war on terror is now terror's war on the world" (Insight, Sept. 4)
All our failures in creating and continuing the war on terror can be remedied.
John Arquilla has the answer: what we need is "a new kind of military action" and
an end to military interventions. Brilliant! "Say yes to networking and no to nation
building." What could be simpler? Unfortunately, "a new kind of military action" is
the only solution the U.S. defense establishment can conceive and it hasn't worked
yet except to create more death and destruction, deplete our treasury and create more
terrorists. Arquilla is willfully blind to the self-perpetuating nature of the war on
terror; he is just another advocate of endless war and can't even imagine what it
would be like to pursue a policy of peace. In the world of the U.S. defense
establishment, no one is ever held accountable. Referring to the consequences of the
"global war on terror" launched by President George W. Bush, Arquilla baldly asks
"How did this catastrophe come to pass?" Has anyone in government been held
accountable for this "catastrophe?" The invasion of Iraq was an act of
state-sponsored terrorism. What is being done to bring those terrorists to justice,
Mr Arquilla? Shall we be fair and dispense the same justice to the perpetrators of
"Shock and Awe" that we use in our own quest to bring foreign terrorists to justice:
drone strikes and assassinations with no due process and no trial?
By the way, do you think the CIA will be receptive when they hear they're not to
participate in the overthrow of foreign governments? Or is it all right to do that
as long as we don't actually send in the military? How can we possibly trust a
defense establishment that has repeatedly lied to and misled us? We'll need more
than just a change in strategy if we want to end the global war on terror.
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