[thechat] Concrete actions (was: Justice, was Chomsky, was Michael Moore's message)

[Erika Meyer]

>1) The U.S. has not been good at guerilla warfare in the last 
>hundred odd years.  The U.S. (both military and civilian) has an 
>unusual preoccupation with the deaths of innocent civilians.  IMHO, 
>that is a good thing and it's something I'd like to see continue. 
>There have certainly been incidences to the contrary (such as Mai 
>Lai), but the notoriety of those incidents speaks to my point.   I 
>don't *want* the U.S. to get good at guerilla warfare.  I think it 
>would damage us politically and psychologically.  For these reasons, 
>we should avoid guerilla warfare at all costs.

"Guerilla warfare,"  is "unconventional warfare."  It is the only 
kind that works  well for a group of poor (or poorly armed) people 
who are familiar with the local landscape and people.

Guerilla warfare does not necessarily equate to the mowing down of 
innocent civilians.  The mowing down of innocents can happen in any 
war, all wars.  I cannot think of a war where it has not happened.

>2) To deal with the current attack, I believe that we should apply a 
>concerted intelligence effort to locate the people behind the 
>attacks.  Then we should utilize the special forces of the U.S. and 
>our allies (such as Isreal's Mossad) to capture, if possible, and 
>kill, if necessary, the people responsible.  I would prefer them 
>brought in front of the International Court of Justice, but that is 
>not possible in all circumstances.  We must involve the 
>international community and make it very apparent that we will not 
>ignore the attacks, but neither will we unilaterally take on the 
>world.

I basically agree.  They should be sought out, arrested, and brought 
to trial for crimes against humanity.

Shall we send Kissinger, as well?
http://www.examiner.com/opinion/default.jsp?story=OPhallinan0706w

>3) After we deal with immediate terrorism threats, we need to start 
>focusing on preventing future incidents.  Long-term security is best 
>gained by reducing the number of your enemies, not by securing your 
>borders.

amen to that.

>4)  The United States must stop sponsoring and training terrorists.

amen again.

>5)  The U.S. needs to improve on the ground human intelligence.

The U.S. needs to improve intelligence all around.

>6)  There is a lot to like about the U.S.

yeah, rock n' roll music for one...

when it's allowed to develop without record industry manipulation.

>We need to work with Voice of America-type systems to showcase the 
>good things about our country.

yeah, but without that annoying propaganda the VOA used to have.

How about finding a way to make media more free, so we can get a more 
balanced (or at least a more varied) view on things?

>If we can recognize the economic and cultural imperialism that 
>American presents to much of the rest of the world, we will go a 
>long way toward reducing the causes of terrorism.  I sincerely 
>believe that terrorists form only a very small percentage of any 
>nation on this planet.  If we can work to gain the trust and respect 
>of the rest of the inhabitants of those countries, we will have a 
>very strong intelligence to use to stop the proliferation of 
>terrorism at its source, rather than trying to thwart it at our 
>borders.  Only then will we have an effective means of combating the 
>spector of terrorism.
>
>Enough ranting for now,
>
>Judah :-)

We aren't ranting, we are discussing.

;-)

Erika
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