How to end the war on terror

I published this piece two and a half years ago. This morning I find myself wondering how my views might be changed by events in Egypt, Libya, etc. What impact has America's two-front was had on events in these other countries? Is there a cause-effect relationship?

Anyway, for what it's still worth, here's what I was thinking in December 2008:


HOW TO END THE WAR ON TERROR
James Ottavio Castagnera
Dec. 05, 2008
During this past year, I’ve been reading and thinking a lot about our so-called War on Terror. On the plus side --- and this is no small thing --- the continental United States has not been attacked since September 11, 2001. On the down side, reports coming out of Afghanistan in the last couple of months indicate that the Taliban is resurgent. According to one Taliban leader, quoted October 30th in “Rolling Stone,” the Russians were fiercer than we Americans, and they turned tail after nearly ten years of trying to subdue that wild land.

Iraq remains deadly, despite the Surge. Hundreds of billions of tax dollars have enriched war profiteers, such as Cheney’s Halliburton, while failing to either rebuild or pacify the country. And, as I write this, terrorists are shooting it out with commandos inside Mumbai, India’s luxury hotels. Pakistan is more than likely implicated in these events, as it is also the Taliban’s refuge along that nation’s northwest border with Afghanistan. So much for Uncle Sam’s efforts to bring peace and democracy to west and south Asia.

So what, if anything, should the U.S. do during the next eight years or so? My research and reading suggest to me four fundamental steps toward a safer America.

First, let’s take Al Qaeda at its word. Its leaders have been saying for decades that their main goal is to get the West out of the Middle East. Bin Laden and company don’t approve of our lifestyle and culture. But that’s not why they attack us. Their aims are limited and clearly stated. The likelihood that the U.S. will establish vibrant democracies in places like Afghanistan and Iraq approaches zero. Our democratic system has evolved over hundreds of years. How can anyone be so naïve as to think it can be transplanted in wildly different political/religious/cultural soil and be expected to bloom in a matter of months or even a few years? I say, leave Islam alone.

Second, we need to do what President Jimmy Carter should have done during the 1970s, instead of spewing energy-saving tips, wrapped in his Mr. Rogers sweater. We need to wean ourselves away from dependence on foreign oil. This means finding and pumping our own petroleum where it’s still available; building dozens of new nuclear power plants; embarking on a crash program of alternative energy research and development. Such a national mission might also do a lot to refuel our sputtering economy, while vastly increasing our national security.

Third, we need to spend less on international military adventures and a whole lot more on homeland security. The fences being constructed along our southern border are a good start. Once that stretch of porous real estate is secure, we ought to look north. We often revel in maintaining the longest unguarded national boundary in the world. Perhaps it’s time to reevaluate that boast. Illegal immigration must be halted and illegal immigrants removed from our midst.

At the same time, the American workforce must better prepared to compete in the global marketplace. When we are through congratulating ourselves on electing our first black president, let’s recall that inner-city high school graduation rates still hover at or below 50% in most major metropolises. Colleges are over-priced and inefficiently labor-intensive. We are cranking out too many lawyers and too few engineers and scientists.

These four steps are neither easy nor quick fixes. But, I believe, they are the only solutions likely to work in the long run. An old French general, late of French Indochina in the 1960s and retired to the south of France, is said to have told his estate manager to plant several species of Southeast Asian trees. Considering the general’s age, the manager replied, “But, sir, such trees will take many years to grow and blossom.” Replied the old warrior without a blink, “Then we should begin immediately.”

We Yanks have been bred on thirty-second sound bites and fourteen-day diets. Our business leaders think in terms of quarterly earnings. Our military is trained for shock-and-awe, short-term conflicts. None of this instant gratification is serving our needs very well. It’s time to tackle the tougher, long-term solutions that can really work.

[Jim Castagnera is a Philadelphia lawyer and journalist. His 17th book, “Al Qaeda Goes to College,” will be published by Praeger in the spring.]