Indian Defence Review

The rest of the world cannot afford to see the US lose the war in Iraq, however ill-conceived it might have been. If the US cuts and runs then the jehadis will proclaim victory over the sole superpower. If the US stays or extends its theatre of activity, this will only produce more jehadis. That is the dilemma for all of us. Unfortunately, the manner in which the US seeks to pursue its objectives, one is fairly certain that the US cannot win. What one is still not certain is whether or not there is a realisation of this in Washington or whether there is still a mood of self-denial and self-delusion.

It has to be accepted that there can be no final victory in any battle against terrorism. Resentments, real or imagined, and exploding expectations, will remain. Since the state no longer has monopoly on instruments of violence, recourse to violence is increasingly a weapon of first resort. Terrorism can be contained and its effects minimised but cannot be eradicated any more than the world can eradicate crime.  An over-militaristic response or repeated use of the Armed Forces is fraught with long-term risks for a nation and for the Armed forces.  Military action to deter or overcome an immediate threat is often necessary but it cannot ultimately eradicate terrorism. This is as much a political and economic battle and also a battle to be fought long-term by the intelligence and security agencies, and increasingly in cooperation with agencies of other countries.

Ultimately the battle is between democracy and terrorism. The fear is that in order to defeat the latter, we may be losing some of our democratic values.

References

1. Jessica Stern,  “Terror in the Name of God,” Harper Collins 2003. Walter Laqueur, “No End to War – Terrorism in the Twenty First Century” Continuum New York 2003.
2. Walter Laqueur’s essay “The Terrorism to Come”.
3. B Raman’s various essays on international terrorism can be accessed at www.saag.org. The more relevant ones are ”International Jihadi Terrorism – An Indian Perspective” May 20, 2005.
4. “International Jihadi Terrorism and Europe – An Indian Perspective”. This was a talk delivered at the Fifth International Conference on “Asia and Global Security” organised by the Orient Institute of Lisbon from November 15 to 17, 2005.
5. “Al Qaeda, The IIF and Indian Muslims” March 20, 2006
6. “Iraq and the Jehadi Scorpions” March 21, 2006.
7. Loretta Napoleoni, “Modern Jihad: Tracing the Dollars behind the Terror Networks” Pluto Press 2003.
8. Essay by Napoleoni, “Handicapping Hamas” February 25, 2006.
9. Robert S. Leiken, “Europe’s Angry Muslims”, Foreign Affairs July/August 2005.
10. Paul Rogers’  essay “Endless War” which appeared in Open Democracy www.openDemocracy.net
11. Benjamin R. Barber, “Jihad vs McWorld – Terrorism’s Challenge to Democracy” Random House 1995.
12. Gilles Kepel, “Jihad – The Trail of Political Islam” Harvard University Press 2002.