We Don’t Need a War on Terrorism

RAND deduced that the best way to kill a terrorist group is to capture or kill its leaders. This task is best carried out, according to the study, by law enforcement, intelligence, and, if needed, troops from the local country. Instead of giving terrorists the exalted status of warriors, they should be deemed criminals. In other words, the authors conclude that in most past cases in which terrorist groups have been defeated by getting their leaders, local law enforcement did the job. They say that when troops are needed, local troops have a better understanding of the culture and terrain and thus have more legitimacy than do U.S. forces. In fact, the study says that the presence of U.S. forces on Muslim soil can create more terrorists to fight; thus the authors argue that the U.S. military should confine itself to training the locals.

Invading Afghanistan and Iraq to avenge 9/11 was political theater. Instead of sending in the Army and Marines, a more tactical approach would have been to send in the CIA with undercover agents to locate the villains and then call in military teams to eradicate them. There was no need to invade the countries with mass force.