11 September 2008 marks the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania Neverending 'war on terror' Terror has increased and America is much weaker since this policy was declared, worries Muqtedar Khan* It is seven years since 11 September 2001 when terrorists killed 3,000 Americans. It triggered a massive global response by the US. As President George W Bush's term comes to an end, it is time to assess the prudence of his policies. Bush's "global war on terrorism" neither eliminated nor reduced global terrorism. It actually caused an exponential rise in the number of incidences and number of victims. The surge in terrorism as seen in the accompanying table is a direct response to the US invasion of Iraq. The two strategies of the Bush administration, pre-emptive wars and treatment of terrorism as war and not as a crime, have both been discredited. A survey of a bipartisan panel of terrorism experts conducted by the Carnegie Peace Foundation's Foreign Policy Magazine found that 70 per cent believe the US is losing the so-called war on terror. So far, the Bush wars have caused 35,000 American casualties, including 4,700 dead and 30,000 wounded. Deaths by terrorism in Europe, the Middle East and Asia have risen dramatically since 9/11. Civilian deaths in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan at the hands of terrorists, insurgents, US and NATO forces are approaching nearly a million by some estimates and the refugees generated by these conflicts exceed three million. A recent Rand Corporation study of 648 terrorist organisations concluded that 43 per cent disbanded after they were included in the political process, only seven per cent were destroyed by use of military force and 40 per cent were eliminated through policing and criminal prosecution. This report shows how the very idea of "war" in fighting terror is fundamentally wrong. The dominant discourse seeks to blame terrorism, especially suicide bombings, on Islam to deflect attention from underlying political realities. University of Chicago Professor Robert Pape, author of Dying to Kill: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, studied over 462 cases of suicide terrorism between 1980 and 2003 and concluded that there was no connection between Islam and suicide attacks. The overwhelming cause, he found, was occupation by foreign military forces -- a fundamental fact that the Bush strategy systematically ignores. Take Iraq, for example. Islam has existed there for 1,400 years and in spite of Saddam Hussein's oppressive regime it spawned no suicide terrorism. It all started only after the US occupation and it is receding now as occupation is replaced by self governance. Seventy per cent of victims of terrorism, according to the National Counterterrorism Centre, are Muslims. This fact alone undermines a fundamental assumption of the war on terror, that the current crisis is a clash of civilisations between Islam and the West. The Bush administration's response has also led to some disastrous consequences for America. America's war in Iraq has made anti-Americanism a dominant feature of global culture. Things have improved since 2004, but in a 2007 global survey by the BBC the US was found to have the third most negative standing in the world (after Israel and Iran). The war on terror has alienated allies, nearly broken the US military, and undermined US capacity to deal with international crises as evidenced from our meek responses to a resurgent Russia. The US simply is not able to assert its will overseas anymore. The US economy has reached its limit. The excessive cost of the Iraq war has handicapped our ability to address effectively the infrastructural, health, housing, educational and energy crises that confront us. Under the Bush administration America has become a nation that preaches human rights and practises torture. Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and the patriot act have become our milestones of shame. But there is some good news. Courts in the US are fighting back, restoring civil rights and rejecting the abuse of executive privilege by the current administration. The US homeland has remained safe from terrorist attacks. Terrorists have caused death and destruction but have not achieved any enduring or transformative success anywhere. The tide is turning against extremism across the Muslim world as evidenced by Pakistan's return to democracy, the proliferation of fatwas against terrorism and Iraqi Sunni's abandonment of support for Al-Qaeda and insurgents. The relentless failure of the Bush policy is awakening Americans to the need for change. Even the Republicans, who stood by President Bush in the past, have seen the light. They nominated the most un-Republican Republican as their candidate for president. Though I am strongly critical of the Bush policy, at the same time, it is necessary to stress my condemnation for terrorism in the Muslim world and contempt for those who kill innocent people for political gains in the name of God or Islam. In spite of all the damage that Bush's misguided policies have caused the US, in my opinion it still remains the best place on earth to live a life devoted to intellectual, spiritual and material pursuits. But if we wish to keep this advantage, we cannot afford more years like the last seven. * The writer is director of Islamic Studies at the University of Delaware and a fellow of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding.
