1 of 17

Write now Article Tools

Page 2 of 3

the Confederacy was crushed.

A war of attrition is a war in which a large force loses people and money while engaged in hostilities. A direct body count method like the one the U.S. used in Vietnam is of little help in these situations. Despite killing two million Vietnamese versus 58,000 Americans, the Vietnamese won. Just living counts as a victory in a war of attrition. Since it's easier to simply stay alive than it is to carry out a war on a foreign land, a war of attrition favors those engaging in terroristic tactics.

Even individuals like Timothy McVeigh and groups like the KKK fall under this umbrella, as they are tiny groups that resort to asymmetrical warfare to change politics in their favor.

In Robert E. Lee's day, a war of attrition meant digging trenches on mountains and waiting for the enemy to scale them while mowing down the enemy. Advances in trench warfare, particularly the tank and airplane, made this tactic no longer feasible. The next tactic was to use gunmen to ambush civilians. The first time this tactic was done, it was in Israel. Unfortunately, this was a poor choice of targets. Palestinian gunmen drove a truck through a bank and jumped out to open fire. The problem is Israeli's are mandatory military members, both male and female. They returned fire and killed the gunmen. The gunmen inflicted no casualties on the Israelis.

The new tactic adopted in the face of this daunting threat became the suicide bomber. Though other terrorist tactics like lynching, germ warfare, and harassment still exist, the suicide bomber has become symbolic of terrorism at large.

The reason this is important is because we need to realize that militarily, you cannot defeat terrorism. It simply doesn't work if all a terrorist group needs to do is survive. But terrorism can be defeated.

-

The keys to destroying terrorism lie in a combination of political and economic maneuvers, which used jointly to erode faith in terrorism as a viable way of achieving reform.

In the U.S., this was accomplished by a writer named Stetson Kennedy, who infiltrated the KKK. He recorded their secret handshakes, greetings, and code words, then put them on the air with a radio show featuring Superman. The resulting series was called "Clan of the Fiery Cross". With their secrets out, the KKK soon found its membership declining and the group became all but defunct. (The book "Freakonomics" has a section on this).

In Peru, this was accomplished by an economist named Hernando de Soto who published

• << previous page
• 1
• 2
• 3
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about How the US can be made safer from terrorist attacks?
We want to hear your view. Write now!