Can We Win the War

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Can We Win the War on Terror?Eric
Davishttp//fas-polisci.rutgers.edu

• Delsea Regional High School District
• April 25, 2008

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What does it to win the war on terror?

• Is terrorism a type of disease?
• If so, do we not need to attack the root
  causes?
• What role do economic factors play in
  terrorism?
• What role does education play in terrorism,
  particularly the humanities and social sciences?
• What role do psychological variables play in
  terrorism, especially the issue of empowerment?
• Are there parallels between terrorism among
  youth in Middle East and the United States, e.g.,
  Columbine, Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois
  University?

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When will know the war on terror has ended?

• Will we know by a decline in attacks on the US
  military and US allies?
• Can we use public opinion polling to measure
  the manner in which the world views the United
  States?
• Will we know when those who have been
  traditionally hostile begin to say favorable
  things about the US and American culture?
• Will we know when the negative stereotypes of
  the US decline in areas traditionally hostile to
  the US?

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Can democracy cure terrorism?
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Is why do the hate us the question to ask?

• Polls since 2004 show that popular sympathy for
  terrorism and terrorism against Americans has
  declined sharply in Arab world
• Muslims do not resent Americans because of the
  freedoms they have but want the same
• Islam and democracy are compatible as seen in
  Indonesia, Malaysia, India, and Egypt
• Sources J. Esposito and D. Mogahed, Who
  Speaks for Islam? (Gallup poll study) David
  Pollock, Slippery Polls Uses and Abuses of
  Opinion Surveys from Arab States, Washington
  Institute for Near East Policy S. Telhami, 2008
  Annual Poll of Public Opinion in the Arab World,
  Brookings Institution

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Who joins terrorist organizations?

• Why do some disaffected people join oppositional
  parties, why do others join radical
  organizations, and why do still others resort to
  violence?
• Who are the prime candidates for engaging in
  violence?
• Is there a common or standard profile of those
  who join terrorist organizations?
• What social classes support terrorist
  organizations, and what are the educational
  background of terrorists?

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What are the drivers of terrorism?

• Colin Powell the most pressing problem of the
  Middle East is unemployment
• In Europe and Japan to stop communism and
  radicalism, US developed the Marshall Plan
• With demographics of 60 populations of Middle
  East under 25, and unemployment as high as
  60-70, would jobs undercut terrorism?
• How does lack of jobs intersect with feelings
  of lack of empowerment?
• How does lack of hope in the future affect
  support for terrorism?

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How do we explain middle class terrorism?

• 9/11 bombers were all educated, to greater or
  lesser degree
• Does poverty or social change best explain
  participation in terrorist acts?
• The need to distinguish between education in
  science and math (absolute knowledge) and
  education in humanities, history and social
  sciences
• Authoritarian regimes in Middle East exclude
  education that encourages critical thinking?

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How does US foreign policy affect terrorism in
Middle East?

• Arab-Israeli dispute continues to dominate
  public opinion polls in Middle East and frames
  attitudes towards US
• US not seen as fair broker between Israelis and
  Palestinians US does nothing to stop expansion of
  settlements in West Bank
• US continues to support authoritarian regimes
  in Middle East despite its calls for democracy
• US has come to be seen as primary reason
  authoritarian regimes remain in power

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Is Iraq a terrorist state?
Fire in al-Shorja Market, Baghdad, after car
bombing, Feb. 2007
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What do these images tell us about Iraq?
A car bomber near the north central city of
Takrit (Tikrit)
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Iraqs contribution to global culture

• Iraqs many firsts
• first system of language (cuneiform)
• first code of law (Hammurabi)
• first use of the term freedom
• first parliament
• first known example of parliament constraining
  executive authority
• Sidney Noah Kramer, History Begins at Sumer 34
  firsts (University of Chicago archaeologist)

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The Iraq Museum (c. 1930)
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Iraqi artistic production
Abu Ghrayb Iraqart.com
Blast wall art
Jawad Salim Peasants (1961)
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Terrorism in Iraq and the role of neighborhood
effects
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Terrorism in Iraq

• Why has Iraq witnessed so much violence since
  2003?
• How do we explain that there were no suicide
  bombings in Iraq prior to 2003?
• Why have very few suicide bombings occurred in
  Iraqs Kurdish region?
• Why have suicide bombings and violence
  generally declined precipitously in al-Anbar
  province?

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What role did US policy play in promoting
terrorism in Iraq?

• Why did Bush administration allow looting to go
  on in Baghdad for 5 days in April 2003?
• What message did permitting looting send to the
  Iraqi people?
• Why did US disband 385,000 man Iraqi army in
  May 2003?
• Why did US fire 500,000 workers in state public
  sector firms?
• Why did US Coalition Provisional Authority
  (CPA) rescind agricultural subsidies for farmers
  in August 2003?

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The Terrorist in the Art GalleryNew York
Times, 10 Dec.2005
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The importance of historical memory as a weapon
against terrorism

• All countries depend on a set of foundational
  myths to form the basis of political community
• Without a history, a country cannot provide the
  cultural foundations for social and political
  unity
• Allowing the destruction of Iraqs cultural
  heritage undermines an Iraqi sense of the past
• This in turn undermines the idea of a national
  political community and hence the ability to
  develop the democracy that the Bush
  administration was supposedly bringing to Iraq

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Tools for US to fight terrorism

• US does not make proper use of public diplomacy
• US does not make adequate use of social and
  economic reconstruction to increase social
  capital/local capacity of Middle Easterners
• US does not make adequate use of education
  policy, particularly bringing Middle Easterners
  to American colleges and universities
• US does make use of American Muslim community
  to give true picture of our society
• Americans need to listen and support bottom
  up and reform based foreign policy in the Middle
  East and non-Western world