Counter Terrorism (merged thread)

[davidbfpo]

A stinging overview of where the USA principally finds itself from Politico magazine's editor, Michael Hirsh and a "taster":

We can’t, of course, unmake these historic mistakes. So, do we give up, or figure a new way out? Here we are, engaged in a war without end, with a new principal enemy, ISIS, and a slew of Al Qaeda affiliates playing whack-a-mole with our drone forces on a global battlefield.

Link:http://www.politico.com/magazine/sto...f-shame-214239

[davidbfpo]

A really useful review from 'The Atlantic' magazine. The abstract says:

Prior to September 11, 2001, few Americans registered serious concern about terrorism in the United States. The attacks of 15 years ago were, and remain, the deadliest terrorist attacks in history. And yet terrorism was a deadly phenomenon around the world for decades before those attacks, and was the subject of study among a small community of researchers as early as the 1960s. What’s truly different about the terrorism of the post-9/11 era, and what’s been consistent over time? And why does the problem still seem so difficult to manage? Below, three of the scholars who helped define the modern field of terrorism research reflect on what’s been learned, what’s been forgotten, and what still isn’t known about why terrorists attack.

The trio are: Bruce Hoffman, Martha Crenshaw and Brain Jenkins.
Link:http://www.theatlantic.com/internati...-qaeda/499334/