It is getting too rigid
Reader comment on item: [Lee Harris on Why the U.S. is] Discarding War's Rules

Submitted by Alain Jean-Mairet (Switzerland), Jul 23, 2003 at 03:26

Lee Harris' thinking work is excellent. Talking about it is a good thing too, although it most often neglects the reflection part and then goes so fast to the conclusion that it already sounds a bit like (electoral) propaganda.

Just after 9/11, I was appalled at the reaction of America. It was proven as neglecting its intelligence of foreign affairs, bad organized against terrorism, bad informed about what was revealed to be its worst enemy. And its first (and only broad scaled) reaction was to bomb Afghanistan. It was stupid. Or, to tell it more politely, it was lacking intelligence, it was but a quick-fix. And it missed its clamed goal (capturing Ben Laden).

In Iraq, it sounded like things had settled down enough and that the plan was good. But the "rehabilitation" was actually not planned at all. Again, lack of intelligence: a fast and total success in Iraq would have confirmed the correct position of the US better than Lee Harris ever will.

My country, today so peaceful (yawn), has once been a champion of the strong way, never making any prisoner nor leaving any survivor on the battlefield. And it gained great profit from that politic. It was the right (only viable) way back then. But there were real battlefields then.
At the planet level, terrorism is a social or, to make it more attractive, a humanistic problem, rather than a war. You then need more police than army forces, more clear policies than rigid strength. And, first and foremost, you need intelligence. In the 70s, Central Park was a hell; now, it is a nice place. What went good?

The West did act with too much restraint until now, it is true. But the problem is not those few power-crazy and aggressive people. It is about making the world a better place to live for all of its inhabitants. And, yes, insuring, by force whenever needed, that those who pursue this goal will indeed be able to attain it. But first things first... !

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