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does the US need overarching strategy to confront Islamist terrorism?
Posted on 8/14/14 at 1:36 am
Posted on 8/14/14 at 1:36 am
For so long now we have dealt with this problem and yet we seem to have no answers. The issue has lead to interesting discussions on this board. So I read this, that stresses we need to develop a strategy and not piecemeal it. Interested in your thoughts on the below.
" The resilience, and expansion, of Islamist terrorism means that the U.S. must develop an “overarching” strategy to confront it, and ... equated this struggle to the one the U.S. waged against Soviet-led communism...
One of the reasons why I worry about what’s happening in the Middle East right now is because of the breakout capacity of jihadist groups that can affect Europe, can affect the United States.. Jihadist groups are governing territory. They will never stay there, though. They are driven to expand. Their raison d’etre is to be against the West, against the Crusaders, against the fill-in-the-blank—and we all fit into one of these categories. How do we try to contain that? I’m thinking a lot about containment, deterrence, and defeat... we did a good job in containing the Soviet Union but we made a lot of mistakes, we supported really nasty guys, we did some things that we are not particularly proud of, from Latin America to Southeast Asia, but we did have a kind of overarching framework about what we were trying to do that did lead to the defeat of the Soviet Union and the collapse of Communism. That was our objective. We achieved it. "
" The resilience, and expansion, of Islamist terrorism means that the U.S. must develop an “overarching” strategy to confront it, and ... equated this struggle to the one the U.S. waged against Soviet-led communism...
One of the reasons why I worry about what’s happening in the Middle East right now is because of the breakout capacity of jihadist groups that can affect Europe, can affect the United States.. Jihadist groups are governing territory. They will never stay there, though. They are driven to expand. Their raison d’etre is to be against the West, against the Crusaders, against the fill-in-the-blank—and we all fit into one of these categories. How do we try to contain that? I’m thinking a lot about containment, deterrence, and defeat... we did a good job in containing the Soviet Union but we made a lot of mistakes, we supported really nasty guys, we did some things that we are not particularly proud of, from Latin America to Southeast Asia, but we did have a kind of overarching framework about what we were trying to do that did lead to the defeat of the Soviet Union and the collapse of Communism. That was our objective. We achieved it. "
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Posted on 8/14/14 at 1:44 am to wfeliciana
Who is our China in this scenario? Iran?
Posted on 8/14/14 at 1:53 am to Iosh
quote:
Who is our China in this scenario? Iran?
Yes, I think so. I'm not sold that we had any strategy with the USSR and that happenstance of a bad Soviet economy didn't win the Cold War.
Posted on 8/14/14 at 1:57 am to wfeliciana
It's much harder to combat religious/nationalist blowback than a clearly defined nemesis. I wouldn't even know how the American government would even go about it (successfully)
Posted on 8/14/14 at 6:34 am to wfeliciana
That's a good point.
Posted on 8/14/14 at 6:40 am to wfeliciana
We just need to pull out of the region and let the pieces at play fall how ever they do.
To be real serious we need to cut funding and supplying military equipment to all these countries like Saudi Arabia who fuel a lot of this ideology. Make these countries responsible to combat the extremist on their own. If they don't then we cut them off. Also need to stop giving Israel all its toys b/c this also just adds gas to the fire.
But none of this will happen anytime soon b/c we need oil and selling arms is good business for some.
To be real serious we need to cut funding and supplying military equipment to all these countries like Saudi Arabia who fuel a lot of this ideology. Make these countries responsible to combat the extremist on their own. If they don't then we cut them off. Also need to stop giving Israel all its toys b/c this also just adds gas to the fire.
But none of this will happen anytime soon b/c we need oil and selling arms is good business for some.
This post was edited on 8/14/14 at 6:41 am
Posted on 8/14/14 at 12:58 pm to HempHead
quote:
It's much harder to combat religious/nationalist blowback than a clearly defined nemesis. I wouldn't even know how the American government would even go about it (successfully)
Yes it is easier to combat a country, although I guess you could make the analogy that "spreading the gospel of Communism" is like spreading the seeds of terrorism. The containment part of this is interesting, especially if it could address why terrorism happens, i.e. poverty, dictators, belief there is US aggression, etc.
Posted on 8/14/14 at 12:59 pm to wfeliciana
quote:
does the US need overarching strategy to confront Islamist terrorism?
how about starting with "stop them at the border, do not let them into America" for a strategy?
Posted on 8/14/14 at 1:05 pm to StraightCashHomey21
quote:
To be real serious we need to cut funding and supplying military equipment to all these countries like Saudi Arabia who fuel a lot of this ideology. Make these countries responsible to combat the extremist on their own.
Make them buy their arms from France, Russia, China, etc?
quote:
Also need to stop giving Israel all its toys b/c this also just adds gas to the fire.
Dump support for Israel?
quote:
But none of this will happen anytime soon b/c we need oil and selling arms is good business for some.
How does Europe fit into your equation?
Posted on 8/14/14 at 1:21 pm to Gray Tiger
quote:
Make them buy their arms from France, Russia, China, etc?
Yes that would happen. And as much as I dislike the Saudis, cutting all ties to them would hurt us even more. The fact that there are so many moveable parts and that this is such a complex issue makes me understand the call for a strategy, I just wonder if it is too complex for that. But I guess admitting that is akin to just throwing up our hands and waiting to see what happens next.
Posted on 8/14/14 at 1:44 pm to wfeliciana
While the obvious answer to your question is yes. It is a useless answer, and developing a strategy is futile until the U.S. defines the purpose, or objectives, the strategy is intended to achieve. Even Hillary Clinton recognizes that the U.S. under Obama does not have realistic purposes for its foreign policies. Don't do stupid stuff doesn't lead itself to developing effective strategies since it is a more reactive, rather than proactive, approach.
Posted on 8/14/14 at 4:26 pm to Poodlebrain
Poodlebrain: I'm assuming the overall goal is to reduce terrorism. You are right about HRC, this is her statement actually. I agree the obvious answer if yes, and that part of our problem has been no end goal and implementing strategy. What I'm fuzzy on is the containment and other components and how that would work. Thus my question.
Posted on 8/14/14 at 4:40 pm to wfeliciana
quote:First you must figure out this quandry before you can...
part of our problem has been no end goal and implementing strategy
quote:
assuming the overall goal is to reduce terrorism
To answer the OP, terrorism won't end until we demand that our government stop creating, training, and funding it.
Posted on 8/14/14 at 5:42 pm to wfeliciana
This isn't a US issue its a global issue. ISIS has already threatened to hit China's Sunni region and they are also aiming for Turkey, Iran, Lebanon, & Jordan. ISIS is a week away from taking both Homs and Aleppo in Syria. They take those two cities and this is a bigger nightmare than anyone could imagine.
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