Mike Hurley
From:
Warren Bass
Sent:
Sunday, January
25,
2004 8:27
PM
To:
Team
3
Subject:
The Economist:
"10,000
new
fanatics"
Remember the Economist piece that Berger and a few other Clinton folks said rebuked them
for
the8/20/98 strikes, arguing they'd breed 10,000 moreUBLs?Well, it's stillasnotty
piece,
but
it's
a bit more nuanced than advertised.Copyright 1998 The Economist Newspaper Ltd.
All
rights reservedThe Economist
August 29,
1998, U.S.
Edition
SECTION: Leaders;
Pg. 16
LENGTH: 958 wordsHEADLINE: Punish and be damnedBODY:The perils of over-hasty military reactionHOWEVER frequentlyitoccurs, terrorism doesnotloseitsabilitytoshock.
Nor
should
it. It
remains
one of the
most despicable
of
crimes, both because
the
killing and wounding of innocents are central to its purpose, and because itsperpetrators can so easily do their work without having to confront theirenemies,
or
their victims, before slinking
off to
safety.
The
sense
of
outrage
that
attends terrorist attacks should not, however, be assumed to be equivalent
to
a
sense
of
powerlessness:
public outrage
is one of the
most potent weapons
inthe
limited
armoury
ofcounter-terrorism.Ittips thosewhosympathise withthepoliticalaimsof theterrorist againstthe manhimself.Itdenies sanctuary.
It
buys co-operation. Nothing should be done to undermine its potency. Which iswhy at least some of America's counter-terrorist air strikes on August 20th mayturn out to have been
unwise.
That is not to saythat America should neverhitbackatterrorists. America
is
a special target for people like the bombers who blew up its embassies inKenya and
Tanzania
on August 7th because it does things other countries are not
called
upon
to do. It
does these things
in its own
interests,
but
also
in the
interests
of its
allies
and
indeed
of
free countries
everywhere.
It is the
nearest thing that exists to a world policeman, but it must operate without aworld police force, a world judiciary or a proper world system of law.
Sometimes, if any
action
is to be
taken against terrorists,
it
will have
to be
American military action.Butevenonthese occasions America will havetotakecare to keep public opinion on its side and not to dissipate the world's sense
of
outrage. That means explaining its actions in
full,
and showing convincingevidence
for all the
claims
it
makes
to
justify them.
Few
fair-minded people
can
doubt that
the
targets
of the
attacks
in
Afghanistan were indeed training camps and bases for Islamist fanatics. Manypeople will also be ready to believe that Osama bin Laden, the hitherto obscureSaudi dissidentnowelevatedto thestatusof theworld's most dangerous man,isconnected with the camps, and that he played a part in the two embassybombings.That will be enough perhaps to make
many
people, at least in the West, think theattacks were right, and deserved. Whether they were judicious is another matter.
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