Counter Terrorism


In the HS boys small group, we've taken a break from Blue Like Jazz and to watch and talk about 24. Our discussion has focused on the moral dilemmas faced by individual characters. Although part of the show's appeal is the ongoing real life struggle to counter terrorism, it hasn't really come up in our discussion. I think that's (in part) because this season of 24 deals with Russian separatists rather than "Islamist extremist". At any rate, I think most of the time we think of counter terrorism as it's portrayed on 24. IOW, the prevention and reaction to terrorists (as directly as possible) by law enforcement or the military.
What about the bigger picture? Aren't you forced to deal with the problem continuously by only treating the symptom? IOW, shouldn't we focus on the reasons that people become terrorists in addition to the terrorism. It seems to me that without addressing the former we're going to be fighting the latter for a long time. I guess that's why I like Tony Blair's speech to the Foreign Policy Centre so much. "NOT A CLASH BETWEEN CIVILISATIONS, BUT A CLASH ABOUT CIVILISATION" puts the whole war against terrorism into the context of (a broader concept of) globalization. I'm looking forward to the next two of his speeches on this topic. In the first one, he says,
"Over the next few weeks, I will outline the implication of this agenda in three speeches, including this one. In this, the first, I will describe how I believe we can defeat global terrorism and why I believe victory for democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan is a vital element of doing that. In the second, I shall outline the importance of a broad global alliance to achieve our common goals. In the third, in America, I shall say how the international institutions need radical reform to make them capable of implementing such an agenda, in a strong and effective multilateral way. But throughout all three, I want to stress why this concept of an international community, based on core, shared values, prepared actively to intervene and resolve problems, is an essential pre-condition of our future prosperity and stability."
There was no mention of this speech in our local paper (no surprise there...). Thanks to my father in law for the pointer.

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