07 November 2003
Contagious Terrorism
There is a frightening corollary to the theory that success in the removal of the oppressive Saddam regime invites terrorist backlash against the U.S. occupation forces and against those Iraqis who cooperate with them. No clearer tie-in to Iraqi resentment would be needed to foment terrorist actions within the U.S. It was the charge of American collusion with the Saudi regime that “justified” the 9/11 attacks.
Violent resistance to the U.S. occupation of Iraq may reflect broad-based sentiment. If so, the long hard slog in Iraq will involve convincing its population there is no merit to the belief that even a cruel tyrant is ok if he’s your own tyrant.
On the other hand, international terrorists provoked by Coalition intervention in Iraq can make the U.S. a more dangerous place to live in and a more difficult place in which to thrive. Do measures or devices exist that permit us to reduce the terrorism threat? With the globalization of both government and business activities, such measures and devices need to be effective overseas as well as domestically. Until they are, it is probably foolhardy to engage in preemptive international intervention like the war in Iraq.
There is a frightening corollary to the theory that success in the removal of the oppressive Saddam regime invites terrorist backlash against the U.S. occupation forces and against those Iraqis who cooperate with them. No clearer tie-in to Iraqi resentment would be needed to foment terrorist actions within the U.S. It was the charge of American collusion with the Saudi regime that “justified” the 9/11 attacks.
Violent resistance to the U.S. occupation of Iraq may reflect broad-based sentiment. If so, the long hard slog in Iraq will involve convincing its population there is no merit to the belief that even a cruel tyrant is ok if he’s your own tyrant.
On the other hand, international terrorists provoked by Coalition intervention in Iraq can make the U.S. a more dangerous place to live in and a more difficult place in which to thrive. Do measures or devices exist that permit us to reduce the terrorism threat? With the globalization of both government and business activities, such measures and devices need to be effective overseas as well as domestically. Until they are, it is probably foolhardy to engage in preemptive international intervention like the war in Iraq.
