Terrorists don’t need territory for planning

Dave Weiner wrote a letter of response to my letter on the war in Afghanistan. It’s a thoughtful letter and deserves a response. My letter reviewed the recent surfacing of internal Pentagon reports documenting that we have made no meaningful gains in Afghanistan and are NOT “making progress” there. His letter appears to essentially agree with that but he argues we must keep our troops there nonetheless —- perhaps forever? — to deny terrorists a “safe haven.” This is not an irrational idea. It has been the mantra of politicians and pundits of both parties to justify endless war there.

But I believe this thesis breaks down on closer examination.

First, the enemy we are fighting there, and other places around the world, is, by its very nature, decentralized. To have an actual government, they do need to control territory. But they can plan and carry out terrorist attacks very well without controlling territory. Most of the 9/11 hijackers were citizens of Saudi Arabia. Much of the key planning was done in Germany. They got crucial flight training from commercial schools in the United States.

Numerous terrorist attacks of different origins have been thwarted since 2001. Probably more than we will ever really know. Not thwarted by soldiers overseas, but by good police work here and elsewhere.

Finally, the overwhelming majority of actual terrorist attacks in this country since 2001 have been carried out by ultraconservative Americans — NeoNazis, racists and others. Perhaps WE are a safe haven for terrorism?

— David Welch, Chico