From Juan Cole at Informed Comment:
The Moroccan government broke up a terror cell in Fez that was allegedly planning an attack in Belgium. If this story is as advertised, it underlines that radical Muslim extremism is best fought by establishing warm relations with Muslim allies such as Morocco, the security forces of which are far more able to break up such cells than is the US Pentagon. That is, diplomacy is more important to counter-terrorism than sheer military might.
I say that Cole makes a lot of sense. I hope that our next president gives this idea a try.
One will, one won't. Sort of puts it on our shoulders.
ReplyDeleteJim, it's up to us.
ReplyDeleteOne of the legion of horrors the Dubya cabal has been lost, the catastrophic failure to address terrorism by making it a problem for the military.
ReplyDeleteArmed forces fight wars; they are ill-suited for "counterinsurgency", as we have failed to discover time and again since the Fifties. This is even more true of terrorism, which is a issue for police, intelligence services, and the like.
It will not surprise me in the least if I find in heaven that Bush and Cheney were Iranian agents bent on the destruction of U S power. Of course, Iran may only be doing the Chinese a favor.