Philip Bobbitt, author of The Shield of Achilles, has just written a new book, Terror and Consent: The Wars for the Twenty-First Century. In it, he talks of the need to rethink our approach to the war on terror, our concept of conventional warfare, and our understanding of victory (i.e., the Geneva Conventions need to be rewritten). Not that I’ve read the book yet–Bobbitt was the featured speaker at a luncheon sponsored by the Hoover Institution and elaborated on his latest work. He points out the problem of the way we view terrorism as opposed to the way Europeans see it: They think in terms of the IRA, ETA, and the RAF, as opposed to viewing the problem as they once did the barbarians who sacked cities throughout Europe over the centuries or even the pirates of the Caribbean who captured Panama in 1602. (Ah yes, the Curse of the Black Pearl!) Bobbitt refutes many commonly accepted notions, such as one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. “We have a right to put our children on a bus without fear of interdiction or violence. Those who commit such violence are terrorists.” Why, asked a journalist, has there not been an attack on American soil since September 11? According to Bobbitt, the strategy has changed. Because of how “spectacular” the attacks were on 9/11, other acts have terror such as subway bombings are no longer seen by the terrorists as good enough. In addition, we tend to underestimate the value in capturing a member of a terrorist cell. If one is held captive, says Bobbitt, the other members assume the prisoner is talking and thus, the cell breaks up. Luck plays an important role as well and we’ve been fortunate to foil certain plots ahead of time. On the other hand, he is quick to remind us that seven years may seem a long time but it isn’t. Terrorists waited patiently for eight years to relaunch an attack on the World Trade Center. With regard to torture, the author refused to rule it out McCain-style. There are, he said, too many instances where controversial extraction techniques have resulted in the prevention of terrorism. Now in case you are wondering, Bobbitt is a Democrat who worked for the Clinton administration, though he seemed optimistic that both Obama and McCain would be more than able to handle the challenges of securing the nation. Not that this was a focal point, but Bobbitt states that the number of Americans killed because of terrorism from the 1960s to today is comparable to victims of lightning strikes and death by allergic reactions to peanuts. I’ve said this before and I will say it again: We need to have a War on Peanuts.
