USA Today has an interview today with Anonymous, the CIA terrorism expert whose written a book, Imperial Hubris, taking to task the Clinton and Bush administrations for the way the United States has fought Al Qaeda. So what does Anonymous think we should do? Surrender.
Q: So how should we attack it [Al Qaeda]?
A: It’s not a choice between war and peace, its’ a choice between war and endless war. The goal shoudl be to undercut the potential of bin Ladenism to grow, and the only way to do that is to address those policies have have been idnetified in the Muslim world as anti-Muslim or anti-Islamic. Looking out 10, 20, 30 years, it’s only going to get worse if these policies stay in place.
That’s just plain stupid. Look, if a policy is bad or needs to be re-examined, then fine re-examine it or change it. But you can’t go around changing policies simply because they are likely to incite terrorism.
I was reading a report the other day about how violence against abortion clinics has been rising somewhat. Should we alter our abortion laws because anti-abortion extremists 10, 20, 30 years out are going to continue to target abortion clinics and doctors? Hell no.
Al Qaeda representatives have written of their hatred of the United States because it is a secular democracy where everything from homosexuality to pornographic magazines are tolerated. Should we go about further restricting American liberties to appease a bunch of religious nutcases? I don’t think so.
Source:
Q&A with ‘Anonymous.’ USA Today, July 19, 2004.