The US should shift strategy against al-Qaeda from the current heavy reliance on military force to more effective use of police and intelligence work, a study released yesterday concluded.
The study by the RAND Corporation, a think tank that often does work for the US military, also urged the US to drop the “war on terror” label.
“Terrorists should be perceived and described as criminals, not holy warriors, and our analysis suggests that there is no battlefield solution to terrorism,” said Seth Jones, lead author of the study.
The US military has pressed for more troops to combat an intensifying Islamic insurgency in Afghanistan, but the RAND study recommends only “a light military footprint or none at all.”
The study examined how terrorist groups since 1968 have ended, and found that only 7 percent were defeated militarily.
Most were neutralized either through political settlements (43 percent), or through the use of police and intelligence forces (40 percent) to disrupt and capture or kill leaders.
“Military force has rarely been the primary reason for the end of terrorist groups, and few groups within this time frame achieved victory,” the report said. “This has significant implications for dealing with al-Qaeda and suggests fundamentally rethinking post-September 11 counterterrorism strategy.”
It said a US strategy centered on the use of military force has not worked, pointing to al-Qaeda’s resurgence along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border nearly seven years after the 2001 attacks.
Policing and intelligence “should be the backbone” of efforts, it said.
Police and intelligence agencies were better suited for penetrating terrorist groups and tracking down terrorist leaders, it said.
“Second, military force, though not necessarily US soldiers, may be a necessary instrument when al-Qaeda is involved in an insurgency,” it said.
“Local military forces frequently have more legitimacy to operate than the United States has, and they have a better understanding of the operating environment, even if they need to develop the capacity to deal with insurgent groups over the long run,” it said.
While the military can play a critical role in building up the capacity of local forces, it should “generally resist being drawn into combat operations in Muslim societies, since its presence is likely to increase terrorist recruitment,” the study said.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
RSS