Rand study: The United States can defeat al-Qaida if it relies less on force and more on policing and intelligence
July 30, 2008 11:18 am War on Terror as Misguided MetaphorAP/ABC News: Study Questions US Strategy Against Al-Qaida, July 29, 2008
The United States can defeat al-Qaida if it relies less on force and more on policing and intelligence to root out the terror group’s leaders, a new study contends.
“Keep in mind that terrorist groups are not eradicated overnight,” said the study by the federally funded Rand research center, an organization that counsels the Pentagon.
Its report said that the use of military force by the United States or other countries should be reserved for quelling large, well-armed and well-organized insurgencies, and that American officials should stop using the term “war on terror” and replace it with “counterterrorism.”
“Terrorists should be perceived and described as criminals, not holy warriors, and our analysis suggests there is no battlefield solution to terrorism,” said Seth Jones, the lead author of the study and a Rand political scientist.
“The United States has the necessary instruments to defeat al-Qaida, it just needs to shift its strategy,” Jones said.
Nearly every ally, including Britain and Australia, has stopped using “war on terror” to describe strategy against the group headed by Osama bin Laden and considered responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 suicide attacks at the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon.