Can the War on Terror Be Won?

This article can be found here.

November 26, 2009

Theorist Philip Gordon finds the goal of this so called “War on Terror” to be quite unclear. What is a victory with so broad an issue, and for that matter, what is terrorism? Traditionally, victory is when one nation finally forces another to accept given political ideology; so this war implies that all terrorists across nations must be defeated and accept the ideology given by the American government. This will not happen. Gordon believes the strategy needs to be more specific to call for the elimination of terrorist threats to the degree where they no longer affect the daily lives of citizens, a much more feasible outline. It is a key characteristic of war that it must eventually end, but this new War on Terror has the capability to last forever, as there will always be an infinite supply of terrorists. Rather, it is like the Cold War; which ended only when a certain ideology lost its appeal. Trying to end terrorism is counterproductive since costs would eventually outweigh benefits, and also lends the war a Utopian visage. Gordon cites patience and resolve and the only way to win this war, while simultaneously promoting alternative hopes to enemies. To him, victory will be when al Qaeda, the international terrorist group, no longer exists; not all terrorism in general. As the atrocities incited by these terrorist groups continue to build up, the support for these jihadists will eventually erode, especially as their violent efforts continue to kill fellow Muslims. Citing Fundamentalist Islam’s failure as a political regime in all the regions its been tried in, there’s reason to believe that with economic promotion and procurement of a middle class, Islam nations will break away from terrorist ideology. The author’s fatal flaw is his belief that the War on Terror is a clone of the Cold War, and all we need to do is copy the actions taken during that period to overcome our current crisis. Not only is that highly risky, as we are dealing with a new kind of enemy willing to die for their cause, but it is also ignorant, as the situation could never possibly be replicated.