From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sun Dec 27 2009 - 06:47:15 EST
Why not war with Nigeria?
<http://www.examiner.com/x-32016-DC-Progressive-Examiner> DC Progressive
Examinerhttp://image.examiner.com/img/greydot.gifScott Goldstein
December 27, 4:18 PMhttp://image.examiner.com/img/greydot.gif
Or for that matter, why not Yemen? The man who attempted a Christmas
terrorist attack aboard a Northwest flight yesterday, Umar Farouk Abdul
Mutallab, is Nigerian, and the plot was apparently conceived and planned
with Al-Qaeda associates in Yemen. But no neo-conservative, or for that
matter Obama administration official, will be able to provide you a coherent
reason why this misguided mission in Afghanistan, in 2009, is a more direct
way of taking the fight to Al-Qaeda than a mission in Yemen, or even Somalia
would be. By some estimates there are
<http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/president-obamas-secret-100-al-qaeda-now-afgh
anistan/story?id=9227861> no more than 100 Al-Qaeda operatives in
Afghanistan.There are arguably far more Al-Qaeda operatives (and supporters)
in countries such as Somalia and Yemen, even in some southern African
nations. So the question is, why Afghanistan?
The only honest answers are tragic ones for the friends and family of every
troop who loses their life there: cleaning up a mess partially of our own
creation, and saving face. There may be a valid humanitarian case for trying
to save Afghanistan, but the guise of our fight in that nation being aimed
at defeating those who planned and executed the September 11, 2001 attacks
no longer passes muster. It's been clear to even the casual foreign policy
observer for years that this is not a threat that can be solved by fighting
a war with any nation-state. And terrorism can never be defeated by taking
out a single terrorist or even the sanctuary from which they operate.
Instead we must focus on a military strategy that makes sense in the 21st
Century reliant on smaller and more targeted operations that are relevant
only to our vital national security interests and not economic ambition or
political convenience.
Umar Farouk reportedly
<http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/northwest-bomb-plot-planned-al-qaeda-yemen/st
ory?id=9426085> initially linked himself to al-Qaeda through contact over
the internet with a radical Imam in Yemen. That contact, and the resulting
alliance that led up to yesterday's failed attempt to blow up an airliner
over American soil, can not be stopped through the force of arms. Only
intelligence and enforcement could have prevented this near-tragedy.
Apparently Farouk has been on a United States terrorist
<http://www.wtop.com/?nid=116&sid=1849822> watch list for two years, yet was
not only allowed on board the plane but allowed on with nearly 80 grams of a
compound related to nitro-glycerin sewed into his underwear. Apparently the
terror watch list is differentiated from the no-fly list, and while Farouk
was on a watch list, he was not on the no fly list.
For every dollar we invest in misguided military missions we fail to invest
in both the short and long term solutions that can actually make America a
safer nation: in the short term our security and intelligence operations and
in the long run programs around the world that not only improve America's
image but help to prevent a twenty-three year old from setting out on this
disastrous course. Surveys have shown that Americans believe we spend nearly
15 to 20 % of the federal budget on aid to other nations when the
<http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=2773> reality is we
spend closer to 1 %. Put another way, each American citizen spends about $51
toward foreign aid compared to $381 for every Norwegian citizen.
The challenge to President Obama is if he can be the transformational
president he promised us he would be. To do that he must be the first
president in the modern age to tell the American people the truth about our
security- that militarily our security depends more on our restraint than
our engagement, and economically it depends more on our engagement than our
restraint. Our security depends not just on the strength of our arms but on
the consistency of the values we espouse. Never has a president since
Roosevelt had such an opportunity, out of necessity, to remake the American
economy. If it's done right, we can set ourselves on a new course, not
dependent on volatile parts of the world for natural resources, and not
dependent on heroes like
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/26/jasper-schuringa-tackles_n_403892.
html> Jasper Schuringa to be our most reliable last line of defense against
tragedy. We can remake our foreign policy in a way in which our own economic
resources can be better focused on making our lives better here at home and
for those around the world. Not only would such a change make us more
prosperous, but more secure.
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