By Muqtedar Khan
Director of Islamic Studies
University of Delaware
US
It is seven years since that terrible day of September 11, 2001 when
terrorists killed 3000 Americans. It triggered in a massive global
response by the US. As President Bush's term comes to an end, it is
time to assess the prudence of his policies.
1. President 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 table below is a direct response to US invasion of
Iraq.
Year Terrorist Attacks Deaths caused by Terrorism
2001 531 3295
2002 199 725
2003 208 625
2004 651 1907
2005 11,111 74,087
2006 14,000 20,866
2007 14,499 22,666
(Data is from State Department and the National Counterterrorism Center)
2. The two strategies of the Bush administration, preemptive 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 Foreign Policy Magazine found that 70% of them believed
the US was losing the war on terror.
1. The Bush wars have caused 35,000 American casualties, 4700 dead and
30,000 wounded.
1. Deaths by terrorism in Europe, 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 over 3 million.
1. A recent Rand Corporation study of 648 terrorist organizations has
concluded that over 43% of them have ended after they were included
in the political process, only 7% were destroyed by use of military
force and 40% were eliminated through policing and criminal
prosecution. This report shows how the very idea of "war" in the war
on terror was fundamentally wrong.
1. The dominant discourse on terrorism sought to blame terrorism,
especially suicide bombings, on Islam to detract from scrutiny of
political realities. University of Chicago Professor Robert Pape, the
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
terrorism. The overwhelming cause, he found, was occupation by foreign
military forces. Another fundamental fact that Bush strategy
systematically ignores.
Take Iraq, for example. Islam has existed there for 1400 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.
1. A majority of victims of terrorism, according to the National
Counterterrorism Center (50%-70%), are Muslims. This fact alone
undermines a fundamental assumption of the war on terror, that the
current crisis is a clash of civilizations between Islam and the West.
Bush administration's response has also led to some disastrous
consequences for America. Here are some hard truths:
1. America's war in Iraq has made anti-Americanism a dominant feature
of the global culture. Things have improved since 2004, but still in a
2007 global survey by BBC, the US was found to have the third most
negative standing in the world (after Israel and Iran).
1. The war on terror has alienated allies, and undermined US capacity
to deal with international crisis as evidenced from our meek responses
to a resurgent Russia. The US simply is not able to assert its will
overseas anymore.
1. The economy has reached its limit. The excessive cost of the Iraq
war has handicapped our ability to address effectively the
infra-structural, health, housing, educational and energy crises that
confront us.
1. Under the Bush administration America has become a nation that
preaches human rights and practices torture. Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib
and the Patriot Act have become our milestones of shame.
But there is some good news:
1. Courts in the US are fighting back, restoring civil rights and
rejecting the abuse of executive privilege by the current
administration.
1. The US homeland, thank God, remains safe from terrorist attacks.
Terrorists have caused death and destruction but have not achieved any
enduring or transformative success anywhere.
1. The tide is turning against extremism across the Muslim World as
evidenced by Pakistan's return to democracy, the proliferation
offatwas against terrorism and Iraqi Sunni's abandonment of support
for al Qaeda and insurgents.
1. Relentless failure of policy is awakening Americans to the need for
change in policy.
1. Even the Republicans, who stood by President Bush in the past, have
seen the light. They nominated the most unRepublican Republican as
their candidate for President.
This article is a self-critical reflection from an American
perspective. My critique of the catastrophic policies of the Bush
administration should not be misconstrued as support for extremism in
the Muslim world. I have nothing but contempt and loathing for those
who kill innocent people for political gains in the name of God or
Islam.
In spite of all the damage that G.W. Bush's misguided policies have
caused the US, it still remains the best place on earth to live a life
of intellectual, spiritual and material pursuits. But, we cannot
afford many more years like the last seven.
(Muqtedar Khan is Director of Islamic Studies at the University of
Delaware and a Fellow of the Institute for Social Policy and
Understanding)
