Pubdate: Fri, 26 Dec 2003
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2003 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism)

FATAL FLAWS IN THE WAR ON TERROR

Daniel Sneider (Opinion, Dec. 18) accurately points out the strategic error 
in shifting the thrust of our ill-conceived "war on terror" to Iraq long 
before consolidating whatever gains might have been enabled by military 
action in Afghanistan.

Even before launching an attack on the Taliban and Al-Qaida in late 2001, 
the Bush administration had blundered conceptually in announcing a "war on 
terror" in simplistic (and polarizing) rhetoric.

Our problems with the Muslim world have more to do with its resentment of 
decades of exploitation at the hands of the West. While it is true that 
exploitation was facilitated by the feudal nature of Islam itself, we will 
not solve the basic problem by capturing or killing a few men -- any more 
than we "solved" our (self-created) problem with the Colombian cocaine 
trade by killing the heads of the cartels.

That our troubles in both Colombia and Afghanistan are linked to illegal 
drug markets dependent on our stubborn persistence in a failing domestic 
policy seems to have escaped any notice by pundits -- but perhaps I'm 
expecting too much.

Tom O'Connell, Redwood Shores
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager