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Counter-Terror Strategy

SOA was conceived with the noble intent of bringing peace to the Western Hemisphere. It hasn't worked out quite that way. Some progress has been made. But why is there still so much violence out there? Drug markets in the US and elsewhere are for sure at the root. But why are the drug cartels so powerful and the governments involved so weak in dealing with them. And why are certain governments themselves subject to coups and coup attempts? The answers to those questions remain elsewhere.

  • Where are terrorists trained anyway??
  • Madrasas in Pakistan?
  • Al Qa’ida camps?
  • Hostile states out to dominate the world by terror?
  • All the above?
  • YES.
  • What about Fort Benning, Georgia?

Few of us among the American public would reply: YES. And they too would be right, unfortunately.
Hard to believe? For sure--Until we think about it.

George Lakoff and Mark Johnson have done just that in their Metaphors We Live By. They give us the following examples from everyday American metaphors, rearranged opposite non-metaphoric language:

Metaphoric Non-Metaphoric
You disagree, shoot! May we hear your idea?
If you use that strategy, he'll wipe you out. That strategy will not work.
I demolished his argument. My logic negated his argument.
He shot down all my ideas. The logic behind my idea was not sufficient.
Your claims are indefensible. Your claims are incorrect.
I have never won an argument with him. His arguments have always been right.
He attacked every weak point in my argument. He found all the weak points in my argument.
Progress Report on Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense.

Why are we still in Iraq?
A too-abrupt hand-over without a government able to provide security for its people would lead to chaos--adding to the damage and displacement problems.

Why are we still in Afghanistan?
The mission of this justified war remains un-accomplished. The danger appears to have escalated.

Why is that?
The US was not prepared for this new type of war. Military dogma dimmed the mind, the Pentagon bureaucracy was a metaphor for molasses.

How long will it be necessary to fight such wars?
Until the root causes of terrorism, inequality, corruption, racism, demonization, and exploitation of others--especially women and children--have been eliminated.

What follows is an update on the performance of the only Bush holdover appointee who was/is up to the job in this new military age. Obama was wise to retain him.
We encourage capable people to conceive and submit proposals consistent with the ethos of this site to the US Government.
Information

See also: Terrorism

Terror has existed throughout recorded history and doubtless before that.
A Mall Goes Up in Mecca
By Hugh Pope -- The Wall Street Journal
Wednesday, August 18, 2004

Iconic Clash: Saudi Fights to End Demolition Driven By Islamic Dictate.
The Most Important Issue of Our Times

Countering terror

Our time on Earth is one of pitting the old against the new, believers against nonbelievers, haves against have-nots, moderns against the ancients, evicted peoples against new settlers, race against race, society against society, and terror against people of all nations.
Population Characteristics and the Sigma Tool For Change
Harry Rosenberg
Aug, Oct 2004

Discussion of definitive features with an eye on the war on terrorism
Updated 21 Mar 2007

Since terror is all about psychology; so also its countering must be. We are up to it. And it will take a long time, a generation--or three or four--all the more reason to get started.
The War Option

It is not our instinct on this site to kill people. Neither is it our instinct to fight terror by starting a wholesale war against another nation without public evidence that it is necessary.
Rev 25 Mar 2007

Nature's way is survival of the fittest. And that is how future historians will likely describe the conflicts now in progress: Islam -vs- the "Infidels" (proclaimed jihad between religions) and Fundamentalism (extremism within religion).
Gavin De Becker
Book Review

Gavin De Becker has written two books we highly recommend. His first, Gift of Fear, provides a commonsense blend of explanation, empathy, and reassurance regarding the individual criminal (read terrorist) threat.
Hindus and Muslims in India.
Ashutosh Varshney
Book Review

Varshney's book is more than commentary; it is research that meets or exceeds scientific standards for social science. It is positive, even marvelous, in its guidance for achieving peaceful co-existence.
The need for counterterror actions is as old as war itself. The Chinese Wall is history's most famous monument.

Counterterror activity became necessary to counter tribal raiders in search of food resources or women in response to the most basic of human urges.