We humans are a quarrelsome lot. Nearly everything we contemplate, dream of or drool at the mere thought of, we do so from a spirit of conflict that often is simplified to a single either or proposition: either we win or the other guy wins. This phenomena we have ingloriously named "terrorism" is if nothing else, a uniquely human invention.
The point is, here in the 21st century, in light of Post Iraq Afghanistan and now quite possibly Yemen and the failed state of Somalia, I argue that terrorism as many of us believe it to be, is, contrary to popular opinion, not a nationality. Terrorism is a tactic, a plan exercised by a relatively small group who are as far from being a state as Somalia is from being the choice for the next Disneyland or McDonalds.
What is a tactic? In my humble opinion, a tactic is any plan of direct or indirect inverse involvement where a smaller system competes with a larger one by initiating a series of actions designed to maximize the entropy of that larger system by minimizing that system's potential. A fly pestering a driver of a car will buzz around the face of the driver, driving him or her to finally attempt swatting the fly. The economic potential of the driver has been minimized while the increased cost has maximized the driver's economic entropy.
By the same token, terrorism's chief aim is to be that fly that buzzes the driver of our Western society. But instead of crashing a car, we and our leaders, out of fear and reaction, crash our values, our freedoms and most importantly, our own Constitution which we hold so very dear. This is not the act of a single state, it is the tactic of an intelligent adversary who has read many of the same books I and many of you have read.
The hardest thing to accept is the fact that those same adversaries not only have read the same books they read at Annapolis and West Point, by all accounts, they implicitly understand those texts: unfortunately for us, better, to a larger extent, than many of us.
So, what is the best way to proceed?
Undoubtedly Central Asia is a mess as is most of the Middle East, and yet the failed state of Somalia and the failing state of Yemen present more of a pressing issue than the Nuclear Ambitions of that ego driven always smiling Iranian Head of State whose name I'm constantly trying to forget.
The question remains: how do you fight a tactic?
The answer is, you don't. You figure out the number of empty bellies and broken people that relatively small group of individuals requires to make its organization appear to be a savior of the unfortunate, and take those numbers away from them. Be more of a hero to the marginalized and impoverished in those regions than Hammas, Al Quaeda or the Taliban: be a Saladin to the people and the people will respond in kind by taking control of their lives and truly become a peaceful nation of their own choosing.
Yes, it is theory, but I maintain that theory n this instance is as good as fact especially if the saying : All Error is known from many Unknowns, is indeed true. In any given situation or conflict, you never really know what the solution is absolutely until you try it.
Terrorism is not a nation, it is a tactic and every tactic ever devised by man can be and has been UNDONE.
A Few Thoughts from
Tom