TERRORISM SALON: Prompt #2 on Law Enforcement vs. Military Roles
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It seems that counter-terrorism responsibility has fallen mainly under the purview of the military.
By Steve Clemons
Berlin Was Wrong Place for Obama’s Wall Speech
I think it’s terrific that Barack Obama went abroad to connect with leaders and some people in Europe and the Middle East. I think he should have gone to Brussels — but I can certainly embrace that he emphasized ‘engagement’ with this trip.
Are There Some Terrorists that are OK by Lieberman? A Call for Senator Lieberman to Recant
Perhaps Senator Joe Lieberman wasn’t totally clued in to the crowd he was hanging with, but on July 20th, he agreed to carry to President Bush a “pardon request” for a convicted terrorist that the FBI prosecuted and sent to prison for terror activities aimed against Cuba.
Streaming Live Tomorrow: Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy James Glassman
Ben Katcher published an interesting post just below that links my meeting tomorrow with Karen Hughes successor as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy James Glassman and our “Terrorism Salon” taking place on the blog now.
TERRORISM SALON: Stephanie Kaplan on the Misplaced Hope of the “Root Causes” Debate
(Stephanie Kaplan is a Visiting Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center). We seem to have reached the consensus that poverty–along with other grievances such as political oppression and cultural alienation–are not reliable indicators of future terrorist activity.
TERRORISM SALON: Paul Cruickshank on Political Grievances
(Paul Cruickshank is a Fellow at the NYU Center on Law and Security). I agree with the other panellists that no link can be demonstrated between poverty and terrorism. This is not to say that socio-economic conditions have no relevance whatsoever.
TERRORISM SALON: Peter Bergen on the “Education Effect”
(Peter Bergen is a Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation).
TERRORISM SALON: Eric Rosand on the Complex Motivations of Terrorists
(Eric Rosand is a senior fellow at the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation in New York and a nonresident fellow at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation).
TERRORISM SALON: Matthew Levitt on the Social Influences of Terrorism
(Matthew Levitt is a Senior fellow and Director of the Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy). Here’s my first two cents: Poverty, in and of itself, does not lead to terrorism.
TERRORISM SALON: Greg Djerejian on Poverty, Ideology, US Foreign Policy and Occupation
(Greg Djerejian is a financial services professional and publishes the popular blog The Belgravia Dispatch). I certainly believe there are links between poverty and terrorism, but particularly in terms of the West’s so-called Global War on Terror, I believe more important are other variables such as the ones mentioned in the prompt, e.g.