Terrorism - the steps that need to be taken

Published on March 16, 2004 By valleyboyabroad In International

The recent Spanish atrocity had bought home the truth that the war against terrorism is not going well, as some would have us believe.

But rather than whine about it, what can be done to avert these attacks?

1. Hit them in the pocket.

From the top down, the terrorists can be most effectively combatted by killing their finances.

Money laundering is now the worlds third biggest industry, and in that rotten pile are funds that are made available to support the terrorist networks.

Remember when the US was funding Irish terrorists through NORAID for example?

Britain for years asked the US government to stop this organisation but the US refused.

Better, shared intelligence, and more power and flexibility in freezing cashflow can seriously curtail their operations.

2. Curb Fundamentalist Islam.

A second one is to attack the more virulent Islamic strains, such as Wahhabism, which is taking hold in Saudi Arabia.

And here we the top down and the bottom up approaches to combatting the current waves of terrorism meet in a seamless join.

Most of the terrorism is funded from Saudi.

Yet little is done to concentrate on this nexus of terrorism.

Poverty is appalling in Sausdi, social security none existent. But the Wahhabi madrassas provide things that the state does not; good education, a health service, financial assistance to the poor.

In return for their allegiance and acceptance of the Wahhabi interpretation and subsequent indoctrination.

Saudi Arabia must be encouraged to reform and return the vast amounts of money it earns to helping its poorest people.

This is the source of fundamental Islam, the one that provides the legions of potential terrorist that will do the bidding of bin Laden and the scores of others like him.

3. The future of Iraq.

Iraq must be stabilised as soon as possible. At this moment in time it is in a state of anarchy because of poor military tactics, especially the current 'garrison strategy' designed to minimalise US troop casualties in the run up to the US elections. This cynical ploy must be reversed and more troops should be sent to secure the country. The US must provide a bare minimum of security that it currently does not, before relief agencies and organisations like the UN can operate to ensure that free and fair elections can be held.

4. The future of Afghanistan.

With Kabul and only one or two other places secure, Afghanistan remains much as it always has done, dominated by warlords vying for power. Afghanistan will remain the Mecca for terrorist organisations to flourish within while it remains in its current anarchic state. The capture of Osama bin Laden will achieve little other than a pyhrric victory unless this country is secured.

5. The future of Palestine/Israel.

The big one. It all starts and ends in Jerusalem, and it is clear that Israel and Paletine are incapable of solving this problem out for themselves.

But with terrorists mudering innocent Israelis every other day, and the Israeli army murdering innocent Palestinians every other day, the situation cannot be allowed to continue.

The US must start to cut the purse strings that tie it to Israel and use its influence to bring both to the table.

The objective should be clear, a viable economic and secure state for both Israel and Palestine.

The US is the only power with any leverage in this region, and it should now use this power to impose a solutions.

yechydda,

Comments

bakerstreet

on Mar 16, 2004

"This cynical ploy must be reversed and more troops should be sent to secure the country"

Which makes the Liberal European attitude of "We don't agree, let's pull our our troops" all the more petty and counter-productive. We can either continue our effort or leave Iraq in chaos for al Queda and others to convert into another Afghanistan.

BriRyJor

on Mar 16, 2004

If the U.S. goes and fights fundamental Islam (e.g. Wahhabism) in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere in the middle east, we will lose. In fact, it will be counter productive. It would be like another country coming into the U.S. and trying to shut down conservative christian ideals. It would be horrendours here and especially there. More young men would be willing to devote their lives to the jihad against the West. Wahhabism has been around for 300 years and it has been a mainstay in Saudi Arabia for nearly as long. It isn't sweeping the nation as you make it out to be doing, it's been around and Saudi's grow up aware of it's beliefs.

How about you change your subheading to Curb Terrorists? What I mean is that the U.S. and other Western countries make a considerable effort to cut potential terrorists. Because, without terrorists, you aren't going to have terrorism. Of course to totally cut terrorists is unrealistic but hear me out. The problem is that the economy in the Middle East has been circling the drain for a decade now, especially Saudi Arabia. Unemployment is staggering and young Saudis cannot find jobs. So they hear about Western wealth, power, and prestige and what do you think happens? They end up blaming us for their nation's poor economy and failed society. Long story short, these radical groups come along and offer them something to do and the young men take them up on their offer.

So what are we to do about it? I would be against going into these countries and jump starting their markets with out companies. That would just be rubbing it in. What should happen is we say to Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, get your economy together. Create jobs for your youth. Give them something to do instead of sitting around and hearing radical mullahs breathe fire. Because these guys aren't stupid. They are going to take the traditional life of hard work and an honest job before dying. Sure that is just part of the problem.

The other part is the Madrases, the Islamic fundamentalist schools. I'll rant about that one later.

I do agree though that the War on Terror is not going well. Just because something hasn't happened doesn't mean we are winning.

Sherye Hanson

on Mar 16, 2004

BiRyJor,
You sound like you know what is actually going on. What is your background?

Wahkonta Anathema

on Mar 16, 2004

BriRyJor: Your comment is insightful. I think we've gotten out of context, and especially the Republicans, who have always been stalwarts against our invasion of foreign land for purposes of meddling. You don't win hearts and minds with a club.

We have no business with Iraq anymore. I could care less if they beat each other to death with baseball bats and call it an election. We went for a purpose, the mission is over and we need our troops home. They are not converting Moslems to American way of life and it is not our goal. If we want to see an end to our difficulties with Moslems we need to re-examine our funding of Israel and its use of our American tax dollars to carry out the same genocidal tactics and strategy they condemn in Europeans. What goes on behind our 'controlled-media' scenery is facile support for the regimes of the Midle-East as it gets American Corporations their oil and by-products for our consumption at $1.70 a gallon, no wait $1.71, $1.72... The truth be told, it was this which was cited as reason for the events of 9/11.

All the nonsense being fed to us by this Administration about 'Moslems are evil' is propoganda, inciting lesser minds to brutish behavior and a tactic used on such mortals since before the crusades. If our objective is to refute a theology we need to send Judeo-Christian missionaries and scholars not soldiers. We are immersed in a created paradigm of intrusion and we need to get out of it, the sooner the better. Were we to work on our foreign policy we'd be back in the position we were in with relation to these Nations since our Nations founding.

"Perpetual war" is not a foreign policy, and to allow our Sons and Daughters to go die on foreign soil for it is to become a part of the same negative, un-civilized, and destructive behavior and culture of the Jews and Moslems. Let them shoot each other to death and stay out of it. The survivors of it will be civil enough to sit down and discuss policies to benefit all of us not tear us apart. $1.73...$1.74...

Wahkonta Anathema

on Mar 16, 2004

I feel called upon to add this observation of our present foreign policy and its effect on terrorism. Her are some excerpts from an article concerning three people released as innocent victims of our military tribunal justice sysytem in Guantanamo Bay:

"Three British prisoners released last week from Guantanamo Bay have revealed the full extent of British government involvement in the American detention camp condemned by law lords and the Court of Appeal as a 'legal black hole'.

Shafiq Rasul, Ruhal Ahmed and Asif Iqbal, the so-called 'Tipton Three', speaking for the first time since their release at a secret location in southern England, have disclosed to The Observer the fullest picture yet of life inside the camp on Cuba where America continues to hold 650 detainees. "

Among other disclosures, the three men revealed:

* How early in their ordeal they survived a massacre perpetrated by Afghanistan's Northern Alliance troops who herded hundreds of prisoners into lorry containers and locked them in, so that people started to suffocate. Iqbal described how only 20 of 300 prisoners in each container lived, and then only because someone made holes in its side with a machine gun - an action which killed yet more prisoners;

* The existence of a secret super-maximum security facility outside the main part of Guantanamo's Camp Delta known as Camp Echo, where prisoners are held in tiny cells in solitary confinement 24-hours a day, with a military police officer permanently stationed outside each cell door. The handful of inmates of Camp Echo include two of the four remaining British detainees, Moazzem Begg and Feroz Abbasi, and the Australian, David Hicks;

* That they endured three months of solitary confinement in Camp Delta's isolation block last summer after they were wrongly identified by the Americans as having been pictured in a video tape of a meeting in Afghanistan between Osama bin Laden and the leader of the 11 September hijackers Mohamed Atta. Ignoring their protests that they were in Britain at the time, the Americans interrogated them so relentlessly that eventually all three falsely confessed. They were finally saved - at least on this occasion - by MI5, which came up with documentary evidence to show they had not left the UK;

* That their first interrogations by British investigators - from both MI5 and the SAS - took place in December 2001 and January 2002 when they were still being held at a detention camp in Afghanistan. Guns were held to their heads during their questioning in Afghanistan by American soldiers, and physical abuse and beatings were rife. At this point, after weeks of near starvation as prisoners of the Northern Alliance, all three men were close to death.

The Court of Appeal criticised the absence of any legal due process at Guantanamo as a 'legal black hole' in a case brought on behalf of Abbasi last year, while the laws lord, Lord Steyn, has described the camp in a speech as a 'monstrous failure of justice'.
Link

This type of abuse is not winning us allies and may well be the creation of a new group of 'humans' who see America as an evil empire if such is condoned. It has to stop. If not we can expect more 'terrorism' in the future by our silence.

valleyboyabroad

on Mar 16, 2004

Bakerstreet,

Don't assume that all of Europe has the attitude of pulling out of Iraq.

I know of nobody on either side of the house that is advocating this in Britain. We've made the bed and now we have to lie in it.

What is worrying though is that the Spanish protest vote has been translated into a pull out policy.

90% of people in Spain were against war in Iraq, but were prepared to give Aznar the nod, but his parties cynical manipulation of the atrocity last Thursday essentially handed the reigns of power to the Socialist party.

I do not think that this is indicative of either a Spanish or a European shif t of public thinking, just a protest vote with unfortunate consequences for the 'alliance',

yechydda,

valleyboyabroad

on Mar 16, 2004

Bri,

I agree with most of what you have written.

While Wahhabism has been around for the period you indicate, it has been growing since the 1970s and has now spread to Oman, Kuwait, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Qatar and a number of other places. I am not sure that you can claim it is not growing.

With regard to the economic situation, this is the causus belli in a nutshell. People with a future do not blow themselves up and align themselves to fanatical organisations.

A caveat, and a worrying one, to all this is that most of the 9/11 bombers were well educated and had an economic future. What this portends for the future is unclear to me.

Rant away, I'll be interested to hear what you have to say.

yechydda,

valleyboyabroad

on Mar 16, 2004

Wakhonta,

Perception is everything, sadly.

The US has effectively put two fingers up to the rest of the world and has said

'We're doing it our way, like it or not'.

This of course now means that everyone from Mugabwi, to Aristide, to Putin to anyone that wants to suppress a minority or invade the sovereign territory of a troublesome neighbour can cite the pre-emptive action of the US as a model. The principle of universality has been effectively ignored, and the bandwagon is wide open.

I am currently travelling through NZ, and the scorn for the US is worringly palpable.

By this as an example, I mean that there is an advert by a major brewery called Tui, which says simply,

'American Intelligence. What about it?'

How would you suggest, if you accept the premise that the reputation of the US has been damaged by this affair, that this problem be addsressed?

yechydda,

BriRyJor

on Mar 16, 2004

First of all to valleyboy: Very true. Wahhabism has been spreading geographically since about the 1970's as you stated. I was speaking to the fact that in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Oman (AKA the Arabian Pen.) it is nothing new. The fact that it is spreading to Indonesia and jumped over to Qatar is now something that we should be concerned about. Especially considering the mullahs of Wahhabism run the madrases which in no doubt in my mind create terrorists or at the very least youngsters who are hostile to our ideals. I have decided to write an article about this subject sometime soon. One other point to add on to your's valleyboy, the 9/11 terrorists were educated, whether or not they had a economic future or not remains unclear. But, they were madrass graduates.

As far as your comments on the Isreal-Palestine drama, I mostly agree. Always remember the younger generations. In this case, if they are not part of the fight against the other side (e.g. an 11-year old Palestinian boy was caught yesterday with a bomb strapped to his chest at an Isreali checkpoint) what are they being taught or told by there parents, educators, and environment? Only new generations can alter the course of long running hatred. But yes, we can get started right now with some provisional plans.

To Sherye Hanson: I am a foreign policy scholar of sorts.

To Wahkonta Anathema: Have we gotten out of context? Probably. I don't like turning it into a partisan issue simply because action needed to be taken from the typical American's standpoint. From someone who has been around terrorism and the middle east for a while I know that there are other streets to take. But you can't see that sort of action on Fox News or CNN. So the average American is thinking we are standing idle. Democrat of Republican, things needed to be done militarily or else our leaders would have been impeached and removed.

Wahkonta Anathema

on Mar 17, 2004

Reply to valleyboyabroad: I think America needs a President not beholden to the NWO crowd. This has clearly taken a anti-American turn recently, and is no longer being veiled, save by hiding it right in front of us. The control of the atmosphere under oil cartel and medical-pharmaceutical lobbies is far too great to create change in. We also are stuck in a perpetual self-sustaining system of giving some 25 billion a year to Israel which is then partially kicked back to the corrupt politicians for sustenance of the pro-zionist lobby.

The type of Candidate to do this is not present in this round of elections. I view enigma, in my witnessing of the severity of the 'dumbing-down' that has and is occuring in our populace. The solution becomes so, SO clear of the need for the PEOPLE to turn away from the Republicrat system and control. I see hope, but no seachange coming in time for a lever- pulling rebellion to work though. What's next I won't address.

To say Bush or Kerry need to re-examine or attach financial penalties to our aid for Israel is like hoping they thank us for our votes by doing what they promise for Americans. This would be a step toward levelling the playing field. Accountability is the keyword to solving any problem with Governmental mis-conduct, bad foreign policy and allies.

Another would be to seriously put the science of Wilhelm Reich front and center in our search for alternative energy systems. His 'Orgone' is still - over 50 years after it's discovery - the only cost-effective and ready-to-go alternative energy source available. Presently, the President - who spoke of it in his State of the Union address - has allotted some millions to research alternative energies, that is nothing but a payout to the same oil cartels that got us here to start with. Clearly he has no intention of doing anything against his own co-horts and business partners in this regard.

Freeing ourselves of dependance on the resources of the Middle-East would incidentally begin to change our foreign policy and facile support and endorsement of the regimes who exploit their populace to the advantage of the oil cartel and arms industrialists.

In the mean time, we should demand accountability of the lack of due process and other basic human rights in our military prisons. The torture of prisoners is not helping anyone in this and perpetuates more than ends the terrorism industry. Get 'Judge Judy', or 'the People's Court' doing it on tv and we'd see eyes open with the quickness.

Secondly, demand accountability of the 9/11 events by forcing production of the hard-drives and financial dealings taken on or about that date in the 'puts and calls' transactions. We also need direct and televised testimony of Bush, and Condoleeza Rice in this event. I believe it will show Bush was negligent and may have shown 'deliberate indifference' to a National Emergency, in refusing to authorize actions necessary to avert the events. Americans should have him explain why he insisted on having his photo op with kids while he KNEW, before he even entered the school that we were under attack and he was needed to authorize pilots to go supersonic and stop the second jet. It will also show that Ms. Rice had made a telephone call to her friend and the mayor of SanFransisco, Willie Brown, in an effort to save his life. She told him to cancel his flight to New York on 9/11 for his own safety, and this was done BEFORE the events occured. With these two revelations of the events of 9/11, Bush and his facilitators, would be forestalled from undertaking any actions to create new fronts in his aims for the Middle-East.

Thirdly, we should insist on stringent accountability of the profiteers in this debacle we once called a war. Haliburton and friends of this Administration are making a mockery of our troops and patriotism, in a time of war. They should be made to publicly publish records daily of the use of all moneys in this operation. Take away the easy money angle that is allowing such profiteers, and we will substantially affect the interest of the players that make this engine run.

Finally, let Americans see the 'cost of freedom' in this war. Make Bush let us see the casualties and caskets in Dover and other bases stacked for burial. Let the media tell the truth and it will impact the zealots who call for more violence and money to be used to solve our problems, base-mortals they be. Freedom of the press will do more than anything to end this. Sadly, they too are being used by the NWO leaders for evil ends.

Ther is much more but for now, I hope this gives some thoughts on this matter, and you'll share it with others in NZ, and other locations you travel to.

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