Terrorism is a law enforcement issue and it should be treated as such.

[Cali_Democrat]

It's not a war. Just because our politicians tell us it's a war, it doesn't make it so. We need to end that way of thinking. Terrorists that target civilians are criminals.

What will stop terrorism is cooperation from other countries, intelligence, evidence and prosecutions. This should be handled through the judicial branch of government or the International Criminal Court. Dropping bombs and launching missiles will not stop terrorism. That's ridiculous. That will only create more terrorists.

In fact, I think the best way to stop terrorism would be to stop interfering in the Middle East. The terrorists hate us for a reason and it ain't because they hate us for our freedom. It's because we have been sticking our nose where it doesn't belong for decades. Blow back is inevitable. It's no surprise that the terrorists didn't target Finland on 9/11. Instead, they targeted the United States.

Also, treating it as a law enforcement issue will prevent situations where the government can kill it's own citizens with the approval of a secret panel of government officials and very little transparency, using war as a justification.

Purusing terrorists through a law enforcement framework will also prevent us from spending hundreds of billions of dollars to fight phony wars that increase the profits for defense and oil companies. And of course the poor and the middle class in the United States foot the bill.

[Ohio Joe]

1. Agreed

Perhaps bushs biggest blunder was to address terrorism with war. An act of stupidity on a monumental scale.

[treestar]

2. I agree basically

But then keep in mind the US has jurisdiction only over the US and doesn't have control over other countries and their legal system.

I don't think our interference there is good, but it does not give them any right to make terrorist attacks here.

Has the International Criminal Court made any attempt to indict or bring to justice any Al Qaeda terrorists, such as bin Laden or Aulauqi? That may not be such an easy answer.

[provis99]

3. the terrorists don't agree they are criminals.

They in fact see themselves as waging war. Many IRA members in prison, including Bobby Sands, starved themselves to death because they were in prison with common criminals, rather than in POW camps.

[Ohio Joe]

4. So?

That does not change the idea that terrorism is far better handled as a police matter. Who cares what the criminals think of themselves as? Bush thought himself president and he is nothing more then a criminal... Which reminds me... WTF? Why have the police not arrested this admitted criminal yet? Damn.

[provis99]

11. frankly, America doesn`t distinguish between opponents and criminals anyways.

should Saddam Hussein have been treated as a POW, rather than a criminal? How about Kaiser Wilhelm II in World War 1? Or Hitler? Or Robert E. Lee, who people wanted to try as a criminal?

America has a frontier justice cowboy attitude where they are always just, and their enemies are always criminals.

[Ohio Joe]

23. That is different from any other country how?

"America has a frontier justice cowboy attitude where they are always just, and their enemies are always criminals."

As far as I am aware, all countries view themselves as good and their enemies as bad.

"should Saddam Hussein have been treated as a POW, rather than a criminal? How about Kaiser Wilhelm II in World War 1? Or Hitler? Or Robert E. Lee, who people wanted to try as a criminal?"

Hussein was handed over legally to Iraq for trial, it was their choice what to do with him and I think I'm ok with that. I do not see WW1, WW2 or the civil war as terrorist actions so... I'm not sure what your point is.

[cherokeeprogressive]

12. "terrorism is far better handled as a police matter." How in the world does the

LAPD defend against a threat that may originate under an Easy Up in a goat pen in Afghanistan or Pakistan or at a sidewalk cafe table in Hamburg, ending with a van pulling over on the side of the 405 North and shooting down 2 passenger planes landing at LAX with shoulder fired missiles and then disappearing into the afternoon traffic??

How does the Long Beach Police Department guard the Port of Long Beach against a small nuke that comes into the harbor on a nondescript cargo ship that left a port in Yemen and came to Long Beach by way of five different ports in the Med, two in the South Atlantic, and the Panama Canal?

I've identified two separate situations where the end/last line of defense was local police/sheriff departments. How much authority and funding do you want to give them? Do you want employees of the Long Beach Police Department roaming places in the Middle East looking for signs that the Port of Long Beach may be the target of a "criminal attack"?

"Criminal Attack"? Are you SERIOUS?

[Ohio Joe]

24. Perhaps I did not word that the best

Terrorism should not be handled as a military matter would be better wording. The CIA should be looking at potential plots in other countries and appropriate law enforcement here. Customs (is that who monitors our ports? Who ever does, I don't know), FBI, state and local police should all be working together. What we should not be doing is sending the military into other countries because a terrorist is from there or a plot was hatched there.

[Cali_Democrat]

5. THEY see themselves as waging war

It does not mean we should descend to their level. We should continue to treat it as a law enforcement issue regardless of their proclamations. They are not a nation state. They are an international band of criminals engaging in criminal behavior and that's how we should treat them.

[Igel]

7. Nice of you to point out the devil in the details.

"They are not a nation state." But in many instances they have aspirations to be one and the bloodshed spills over; in other cases, they have the backing and support of a nation state.

The Contras weren't a nation state. Presumably they should have been dealt with as a police matter. Same for the Shining Path guerrillas, or, presumably, the remnants of Qaddhafi's government after the TNC was recognized widely as the government.

In recent decades wars have been fought between nation states for the most part. This hasn't always been the case, and still isn't. Look at the mess in Uganda, with US advisors going in; the Lord's Army isn't a nation state but acts like a wannabe state. The Congo has been riven by warfare between a non-nation-state and a nation-state, with the UN involved. Even in Palestine we see Hamas, a non-nation state, and Hezbollah, also a non-nation state, busy with many of the trappings of a nation statelet but neither more nor less problematic for their change in status.

[hack89]

18. So arrest them when you can and kill them when you can't

just like we do now - we are killing terrorist in only a few places. Funny enough, those places have no functioning governments and are basically lawless.

[JohnnyBoots]

6. I think that is why Petraus is the CIA head. They realized that

Fighting the ghost of terrorism doesn't require an army and conventional warfare. It requires good intel and highly trained special forces that can hit quick and with extreme predjudice. Sad thing is that Kerry was saying this back in '04. If the original war on terror was actually about fighting terror they would have done this from the begining and saved a lot of US lives and money. Sadly, we invaded the wrong country and took their oil all while making the MIC billions, but that was the Neocon gameplan from the begining anyway...

[Cali_Democrat]

8. Here's more info on the ICC

Of course the United States has not signed the treaty for the ICC. The reason is because the United States obviously wouldn't want to be held accountable for it's own disgusting war crimes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Criminal_Court

[Kaleva]

9. Just because you tell us it's not a war, it doesn't make it so.

[TheKentuckian]

10. Why would this statement be buried in negative recs? Far Reich, police state, imperialist

"liberal" and "pragmatic progressives".

[Tarheel_Dem]

13. If you guys are posting in this forum for "recs", perhaps you should move 'em over to GD?

Just a suggestion. :shrug:

[TheKentuckian]

15. I don't post for recs but am very curious why the OP would be buried in negatives

The two are not the same but you know that.

[Tarheel_Dem]

25. Say hi to those two liberal lions, Mitch & Rand for me. Just keep sendin' 'em back, mmmmkay?

;)

[DCBob]

14. Yes, I agree for the most part, but..

some military type activities may be required to fight it effectively.

[onenote]

16. Are you suggesting that it should be handled by state and local law enforcement

or are you saying that the military should be used for "law enforcement" matters?

[hack89]

17. So what happens when a foreign government is powerless

or is actually supporting the terrorist. Places like the Pakistani tribal areas, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan? Who else but the military or the CIA is going to reach out and touch terrorists in those places? Or is your solution to simply let them be?

[Cali_Democrat]

20. That's what the UN is for....international disputes

Work with the UN and the international community using things like sanctions and UN resolutions. Also, work with the ICC. I think you would be amazed at the kind of support we would get from the international community if we went this route rather than the war route.

Also, the best way to fight terrorism perpetrated against us is to stop bombing and attacking Muslim countries. The terrorists hate us for a reason.

[hack89]

21. The UN? The folks that welcomes police states and dictators with open arms?

in case you haven't figured it out, the UN can't force anyone to do anything - most of the world does not really want a UN with real power to interfere in their sovereignty.

[hack89]

19. Since we extradite terrorists all the time

it would appear to me that for the most part we are doing what you want already.

[DirkGently]

22. We cannot be "at war" with whomever we say, wherever they are, forever.

Not if we want any kind of democracy, any kind prosperity outside of the MIC. It's a lie, plain and simple, and the ONLY reason we are targeted is because we've claimed the right to control oil-rich countries.

[mkultra]

26. terroris is NOT law enforcement

An ascertion made with no supporting evidence is easily dismissed by a further assertion with no supporting evidence.