This is what I have been telling people on this forum for years. Not the details of our furtive actions in our threat-centric, intel-driven, CT-focused approach to the attacks of 9-11; as I have no real interest or much knowledge of such actions. But rather in the nature of who these men are that we lump under broad labels, such as "AQ" or "Terrorist" and why it is they challenge governance at home, and why it is they travel to engage Western powers in ways that they hope will ultimately facilitate the changes they seek at home.
The Intel community and the ideological fear mongers, as well as the COINdinistas and Nation builders, do not grasp the fundamental, nature of this diverse, though common in many ways, problem across the Middle East. This problem is neither complex nor wicked. it is a fundamental quest for good governance and the very universal and unalienable rights we proclaim so boldly in our own Declaration of Independence.
This is a transition to be guided and mentored, but not one to resist and suppress. To take a leadership role on the former validates our professed principles and makes us stronger and more influential. To take a leadership role in the latter places a stain on our heritage, burns our influence faster than Wall Street burns our investments, and leaves us weaker.
We must evolve our own understanding and decide what kind of nation we want to be. Then we must act to be that nation. I understand our approaches to date and the rationale behind them, but I do not agree with them.
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