Obama administration officials point to the benefits of bringing the fight against Al Qaeda and other militants into the shadows. Afghanistan and Iraq, they said, have sobered American politicians and voters about the staggering costs of big wars that topple governments, require years of occupation and can be a catalyst for further radicalization throughout the Muslim world'.Instead of “the hammer,” in the words of John O. Brennan, President Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, America will rely on the “scalpel.” In roughly a dozen countries — from the deserts of North Africa, to the mountains of Pakistan, to former Soviet republics crippled by ethnic and religious strife — the United States has significantly increased military and intelligence operations, pursuing the enemy using robotic drones and commando teams, paying contractors to spy and training local operatives to chase terrorists.The White House has intensified the Central Intelligence Agency’s drone missile campaign in Pakistan, approved raids against Qaeda operatives in Somalia and launched clandestine operations from Kenya. The administration has worked with European allies to dismantle terrorist groups in North Africa, efforts that include a recent French strike in Algeria. And the Pentagon tapped a network of private contractors to gather intelligence about things like militant hide-outs in Pakistan and the location of an American soldier currently in Taliban hands.
SCOTT SHANE, MARK MAZZETTI and ROBERT F. WORTH
Published: August 14, 2010 NYT
Yes, yes, yes. Using the fight against terrorism as an excuse to invade sovereign nations as part of an hegemonic agenda has been 'the war on terror' up until now.It is wrong and self defeating. This is how you fight terrorists.
But the Obabma administration must also begin to address the root causes of terrorism and make attempts to fix them so as to begin to stem the never ending supply of terrorists. Fairness and hope need to replace bad policies and greed and the United States needs to take a major role in inititating and causing such change.
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