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Trapped in the War on Terror

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With the "war" generating more harsh rhetoric and more flying spittle by the day, here's the first book that dares to tell the truth: the metaphor doesn't fit. The prosecution of the war on terror makes about as much sense as trying to fight the war on poverty by sending tanks into West Virginia.

Lustick gets past the distortions of the day and gets to the heart of the matter.

Having heard Ian Lustick speak today at Princeton Univrsity I immediately ordered his book (on which the talk was based).
HIs revelations on the subject of the War on Terror are frightening because since 2001 we are led to believe only war and destruction will deliver us from evil.
I hope a lot of smart people will buy this book and spread the word.

I was especially struck by the author's parallels between today's "terrorist" cells and those of 1950's Communists (equally far-fetched). Also appreciated his coverage of the Administration's mixed messages of "there are plotters everywhere" and "don't panic". My only disappointment was that he never touches on the overblown airport security situation (Kabuki as its often called); one could infer that he agrees with that policy, although logically he wouldn't.

The thesis of this book is that the so-called `War on Terror' is an exercise in futility that is driven by opportunism and demagoguery. Strong words, but they are backed by very persuasive arguments. This book is a good follow up to "Overblown" by John Mueller (Amazon.com) that effectively puts the much hyped terrorist threat into perspective. This book provides the approaches that would best mitigate an over-hyped, but still real threat from minority elements of the Islamic extremist movement.

Social scientist that he is, Lustick devotes the first two chapters of the book to statistical analysis concerning the average U.S. citizen's understanding of terrorism and real or imagined terrorist threats. He then attempts to demonstrate, successfully I think, that the tragedy of the 9/11 attacks has been transformed into a massive fraud dubbed the `War on Terror'. In Lustick's opinion, the reality of the terrorist threat has been turned into a political hobby horse by politicians of both parties, a ratings game by the print and electronic media, and a money cow by almost everyone else. These of course are matters of opinion, but they have a ring of truth to them. The War on Terror itself is a really silly concept rather like declaring a war on skirmishing. You can't fight a war against a tactic. In point of fact, the strategy for the War on Terror is fundamentally and irretrievably flawed.

The book makes clear that a "serious understanding of motivations and predicaments of al Qaeda and other Jihadist groups" is absolutely essential to developing a defensive strategy that can mitigate the threat from Islamic brands of terrorism. One might add that such a strategy ought to also be based on an understanding of the organizational structures of al Qaeda and other such entities. Lustick cites the work of George Kennan, whose grand strategy guided the successful U.S. prosecution of the Cold War. According to Lustick, Kennan's strategy was founded on an enormous accumulation of knowledge on the Soviet Union and the Russian people developed over almost thirty years of careful study and analysis. Lustick makes the point that this store of target knowledge was the principal reason Kennan was able to devise such a successful strategy. Needless to say no such store of knowledge has informed the strategies lumped under the rubric "War on Terror" or unfortunately one of its key strategic concepts, the creation of democratic Iraq to serve as an example of the fruits of democracy and moderation. By the end of this book, one has to marvel at ignorance and venality that appears to lay at the heart of our counter-terrorist strategy.

Professor Lustick's book is a devestating critique of the so-called "war on terror", which has been a disaster for the nation and must end. He quite correctly argues that the cure (the WOT) has been much worse than the disease (terrorism).

The WOT has created an awful culture of fear that now permeates our society. Prof. Lustick talks about how we can face the terrorist threat in a rational way and not give in to fear.

This is a great book and the only disappointment is that there are not more books like it. Wake up America! The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. One day people like Prof. Lustick will be viewed as being ahead of their time.

Finally some sanity about the so-called "war on terror": Ian Lustick's "Trapped in the War on Terror" persuasively argues that the real peril is not terrorists but the "war" itself.

Lustick shows how a cabal of neoconservative leaders hijacked the country's response to 9/11, hatching long-held plans to attack Iraq while vastly enlarging executive power. Most originally, he details the ways in which the "war" has grown. Stoked by continual fear-mongering by pandering politicians, newly-minted terror "experts," and an unquestioning media, the "war" has spiraled into a whirlwind none can control. The result has been monumental waste of money and lives. Beyond the Iraq war and the Homeland Security behemoth, countless billions of federal dollars are now being squandered on terror-related programs. Smelling an opportunity, all manner of businesses, interest groups, bureaucrats, and others have been only too happy to feed at the anti-terror trough. Meanwhile, political leaders on both left and right are too cowardly to tell Americans some simple truths. The bad news: terrorism has always been and will always be a tool in some political conflicts. Therefore, the "war" on terror can never be won. The good news: terrorism poses remarkably little danger to Americans compared to any number of risks we blithely run every day. The most dangerous forms, such as a nuclear bomb exploding in a city, are extremely unlikely.

Few have had the courage or ability to tell this story. Read "Trapped in the War on Terror" as a necessary first step for bringing America back to its senses.