War on Terrorism

The "War on Terrorism" or "War on Terror" (in US foreign policy circles, the global war on terrorism or GWOT{{fn|1}} ) is a campaign by the United States and some of its allies to rid the world of terrorist groups and to end state sponsorship of terrorism. There is a de facto focus on stopping Islamist terrorism.

Objective and Strategies

In a January 3, 2005, editorial in the Toronto Star, Jonathan Stevenson, a senior fellow for counterterrorism at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (US) writes "the strategic objective of the global war on terror is to completely isolate Al Qaeda's maximialist leadership and disempower local jihadist affiliates." http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1104521199347

Related Topics:
January 3 - 2005 - Toronto Star - Counterterrorism - International Institute for Strategic Studies

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The United States has based its counter-terrorist strategy on several steps:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Denial of safe havens in which terrorists can train and equip members.
• Restriction of funding of terrorist organizations.
• Degradation of terrorist networks by capturing or killing intermediate leaders.
• Detention of suspected and known terrorists. See the section below for further details
• Getting information, through various techniques, such as interrogation, from captured terrorists of other members of their organization, training sites, methods, and funding.
• Expanding and improving efficiency of intelligence capabilities and foreign and domestic policing.

In doing so, the strategy is not very different from successful counter-guerrilla operations, such as in Malaysia in the 1950s. There is a fine distinction between guerrilla operations and terrorist operations.

Related Topics:
Guerrilla - Malaysia - 1950s

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many guerrilla organizations, such as the Zionist armed group known as the Irgun in British-Mandated Palestine, and the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) during the Algerian War of Independence, and Vietnam's National Liberation Front (NLF), included urban terrorism as part of their overall strategy.

Related Topics:
Zionist - Irgun - Algerian War of Independence - National Liberation Front

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Denial of safe havens involves a fairly large military force; however, as in Afghanistan in 2002, once the major safe haven areas are overrun, the large-scale forces can be withdrawn and special forces, such as U.S. Special Operations Forces or the British Special Air Service (SAS), operate more effectively.

Related Topics:
Special forces - U.S. Special Operations Forces - Special Air Service

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In addition, the U.S. Army is involved in increasingly large civil affairs programs in Afghanistan to provide employment for Afghans and to reduce sympathy in the civilian population for parties the United States has designated as terrorist.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The U.S. strategy faces several obstacles:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Terrorist groups can continue to operate, albeit at a less-sophisticated scale.
• The strengths of U.S. intelligence gathering are signal intelligence and photo intelligence gathering. Organizations that avoid use of cellular phones and radios and rely on couriers have a lower profile. On the other hand, such organizations also have a slower planning and reaction time.
• Saudi-Arabia, one of the countries supporting terrorism both financially and by giving shelter to terrorists, is also a close ally of the U.S. and their greatest foreign source of oil, preventing the U.S. from taking actions against terrorism in Saudi-Arabia.
• The major reason for the Islamic population to support terrorism is the feeling of helplessness of protecting the Islamic way of life against western influence and the (felt) oppression of the Islamic world by the Christians. While the War On Terror tries to decrease the influence of Islamic extremist, it further interferes with the Islamic culture (by the means of U.S. military presence in those countries or even invasion) and thereby increases support for Islamic terror.
• Political opposition to U.S. policies inside countries in which terrorists operate, as in Pakistan, where Al-Qaida and the Taliban have supporters who share religious or ethnic affiliations.
• Legal opposition to U.S. methods of detaining suspected terrorists.
• The lack of a clear statement from the U.S. administration renouncing to use or support terrorism to shape policy.
• A policy perceived by some as superficial, based in developing a simple military approach against terrorism, but not a political solution to the causes of terrorism.

On September 2 2004, in response to the question of whether the "War on Terror" could be won, President Bush declared: "I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5866571/

Related Topics:
September 2 - 2004

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Interrogation methods

A Washington Post investigation published on December 26, 2002, quotes anonymous CIA and other government officials who claim that U.S. military and CIA personnel employ physical coercion during their interrogation of suspects and that U.S. officials believe these practices are necessary and unavoidable in light of the September 11 terrorist attacks. They state that CIA is using "stress and duress" techniques at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, a base leased from Britain at Diego Garcia Island in the Indian Ocean, and numerous other secret facilities worldwide. In May 2005, an official investigation report stated that U.S. soldiers tortured and murdered two Afghan civilians. The report concluded that there was probable cause to charge 27 officers and enlisted personnel with criminal offenses (see: Bagram torture and prisoner abuse).

Related Topics:
Washington Post - December 26 - 2002 - September 11 - Bagram Air Base - Afghanistan - Guantanamo Bay - Cuba - Britain - Diego Garcia - Indian Ocean - May 2005 - Bagram torture and prisoner abuse

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The CIA reportedly transfers suspects, along with a list of questions, to foreign intelligence services of countries routinely criticized by the U.S. Department of State for torturing suspects, where they are alleged to be severely tortured with the assent and encouragement of the United States. These countries include Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Syria. One official stated, "We don't kick the shit out of them. We send them to other countries so they can kick the shit out of them." (See also "extraordinary rendition" and the articles on Maher Arar and N379P.)

Related Topics:
CIA - Egypt - Jordan - Morocco - Syria - Extraordinary rendition - Maher Arar - N379P

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Anonymous sources quoted in the Washington Post article have stated that those held in the CIA detention center "are sometimes kept standing or kneeling for hours, in black hoods or spray-painted goggles," and are duct-taped to stretchers for transport. The Post continues that, according to Americans with direct knowledge and others who have witnessed the treatment, that suspects are often beaten up and confined in tiny rooms and are also blindfolded and handcuffed following arrest. Later, suspects are sometimes "held in awkward, painful positions and deprived of sleep with a 24-hour bombardment of lights and loud noises". The Post article goes on to say that national security officials suggested that pain killers, on at least one occasion, were "used selectively" to treat a detainee that was shot in the groin during apprehension.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The United States State Department has previously described such interrogation tactics as "abusive tactics". The 1999 State Department Human Rights Country Report on Israel and the Occupied Territories http://www.usis.usemb.se/human/human1999/israel.html stated:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"However, a landmark decision by the High Court of Justice in September prohibited the use of a variety of abusive practices, including violent shaking, painful shackling in contorted positions, sleep deprivation for extended periods of time, and prolonged exposure to extreme temperatures."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

National security officials interviewed for the investigation defended the use of such techniques as necessary to prevent further terrorist attacks. As one official put it, "If you don't violate someone's human rights some of the time, you probably aren't doing your job."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The human rights organization Human Rights Watch called on the United States to respond to these reports by publicly denouncing the use of torture. In response to reports that some of the evidence that Colin Powell intended to present against Iraq to the United Nations was derived from torture, Human Rights Watch sent a letter to Powell, asking him to use that speech as an opportunity to condemn any use of torture to gather intelligence. http://hrw.org/press/2003/02/powell20303.htm

Related Topics:
Human Rights Watch - Colin Powell - Iraq - United Nations

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The techniques reported to be used are similar to techniques that have been used by the Soviet Union on captured CIA operatives, according to accounts by retired CIA agents. In addition, similar techniques were used by French security services in the Algerian War of Independence and in the suppression of the Secret Army Organization in the 1960s. Ethically, such techniques are seen by human rights advocates as deplorable, but some interrogators see them as necessary when information must be gained from a reluctant subject.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Further, most interrogation experts http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2302-2005Jan11.html and the U.S. Army's own interrogation manual http://www.globalexchange.org/countries/mideast/iraq/1840.html.pf maintain that torture can generate false responses because suspects give interrogators false information in order to stop the pain. Likewise there are concerns that torture on a suspect implies a permanent separation from the legal process, making the pursuit of justice through law unlikely. http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?050214fa_fact6

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~