When I watch a television news show and the topic is terrorism, there are always several experts, and I wonder, where is Louise Richardson? She’s Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University and a former professor at Harvard teaching international relations. She has spent her life studying terrorism from every perspective.
“What Terrorists Want: Understanding the Enemy, Containing the Threat.” couldn’t be more timely.
It covers terrorism from state sponsored to religious, in countries like SriLanka, Ireland, Colombia, Libya, Peru, Algeria, France, Britain.The list is long. Written in 2006, Richardson’s book includes a post 9/11 perspective looking at what has changed and what hasn’t. It is a rational, logical discourse on a subject that has very few.
Simplified, What Terrorists Want states that terrorists want three immediate things: the three Rs: revenge, renown and a reaction. The bigger the better.
We’re over-delivering on all fronts. We threaten every type of revenge, make terrorists instantly famous and over-react in every possible way.
As Richardson points out, terrorism will continue as long as it remains effective. The U.S. has reacted better than any terrorist could hope. If the terrorist mission statement is to derail America, well, wow!
We fought an eight year war with the wrong country and killed and maimed thousands demoralizing America beyond belief.
We hastily redid airports based on the past rather than imagining the future.
Wall Street finished the job of ruining America for generations to come.
And now, we’re considering walling ourselves in.
But here’s the thing: The intelligence for 9/11 and Berlin existed! A week prior to 9/11 Bush was presented with a briefing that specifically warned of planes. And Berlin was warned of a holiday gathering event. Simply paying attention to the excellent intelligence available worldwide could have prevented these events. Terrorists don’t want that. They would love walls though! The more fear they can generate, the better.
We are dismantling democracy, not the terrorists.
The Richardson book is still as relevant as when it was written. (The quick version is here.)