Is there a chance that we are concentrating too much on terrorism? If so, how have some of the policy trade-offs manifested themselves? Should the next president de-emphasize terrorism relative to other national security priorities? — Steve Clemons This week long terrorism salon will continue to be hosted by The Washington Note and UN Dispatch.
(Yosri Fouda is the Chief Investigative Correspondent and Former London Bureau Chief for Al-Jazeera).
(Peter Bergen is a Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation). For what its worth none of the AQ leadership are in urban areas. That was a very costly mistake for them. Since 2004 they are all in the FATA.
(Stephanie Kaplan is a Visiting Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center). In regards to Greg’s query — Briefly, I don’t assume that Bin Ladin and al-Zawahiri are hiding in urban areas (but, of course, I have no intelligence upon which to base this assumption).
(Peter Bergen is a Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation). For a detailed snap shot of what Afghans really think take a look at the third yearly survery of Afghan opinion by BBC News and ABC News. If you don’t trust polling data no need to read it. December 2007 poll (ABC News/BBC)….
(Greg Djerejian is a financial services professional and publishes the popular blog The Belgravia Dispatch) With all due respect (and I sincerely mean this, not meant just as the requisite boiler-plate), I find Peter a tad too cock-sure in how he portrays more boots on the ground as a total no-brainer (“well, do the math”)….
(Peter Bergen is a Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation). The question about more boots on the ground is a relatively easy one to answer.
(Greg Djerejian is a financial services professional and publishes the popular blog The Belgravia Dispatch) I agree with almost everything Peter writes below (particularly his “second” mistake, the clever subtlety he flags in his “third mistake”, and then too his last paragraph-to which I’d add the need to effectively engage with Syria too).
(Peter Bergen is a Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation). I wanted to respond to the idea that somehow we are making the same mistake in Afghanistan that the Soviets did. This is a real misreading of history. The Soviets killed at least 1.
(Alistair Millar is the Director of the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation.
