not that bombing or invading Afghanistan will not wipe out every terrorist; we know that. What it may do, Steven, is put them and their shelterers on notice that if they do strike against us they had best be prepared to pay a high price.
No, if they do strike against us they will have to watch somebody else pay the high price.
The people who actually made these attacks happen are not in Afghanistan. They are very likely in well-furnished flats in Amsterdam, or London, or New York, or anywhere else where civil liberties are respected and concealment is easy. They are probably watching CNN and plotting their next moves. If their cover is blown, as bin Laden's has been, they will have to retire to Afghanistan or some other shelter, but then they won't be working terrorists anymore.
If you remove one master, the working terrorists will go to work for another. I am suggesting that we place the priority on removing the working terrorists and those who make it possible for them to do their work. These guys are not hiding out in some remote camp up in the hills of central Asia. They could not do their work from there. They are moving freely among us.
But hey, if America wants to blow up a bunch of Afghans, let 'em. It will make people feel good, and make our politicians look manly. Invade, too; that way we can have some martyrs of our own. Just bear in mind that even in the best case scenario, meaning that the Taleban falls and we get bin Laden, dead or alive, we will not have struck a mortal blow, or even a terribly serious blow, to the global terrorist apparatus. We may very well help them as much as we hurt them.
After all the chest-beating and posturing are over, we will have spent money and lives, and we will still have to use the tactics I suggest, or something similar.
If you are fighting an army, a navy, or an air force, bombs and missiles are very effective. If you are fighting terrorists whose weapon is concealment, who walk the same streets that you walk, and who move their money through the same banks where you keep yours, different weapons and different tactics are required. |
