05 May 2011 - 11 Jul 2014
Democracy on bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and 9/11
Democracy: A Journal of IdeasOsama bin Laden’s death marks the end of a 10-year-long manhunt. In the years since 9/11, there has been much debate about how the United States should deal with Osama bin Laden and the threat of terrorism. Democracy has been in the thick of those debates since our first issue in 2006. Below is a sampling of our best pieces on bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and 9/11 and its consequences:
America 2021: The Military and the WorldOur largest threat: Pakistan. Our alliances: reshuffled by demographics. Terrorism: on the wane (maybe). New frontier for conflict: the Arctic cirlce. Four experts discuss.The Defense RoundtableIssue #17, Summer 2010 One reason terrorism has gone down in our perception is that we haven’t had a major terrorism incident since 9/11. We have had some minor ones. Objectively speaking, terrorism tends to be just a nuisance, unless it involves a weapon of mass destruction. But the psychological impact of it, particularly of an attack in the lower 48, can still be immense.
Word on the StreetWhat Osama bin Laden and George W. Bush get wrong about Muslims.Fawaz GergesIssue #9, Summer 2008 Since September 11, the vast diversity of Islam and of mainstream moderate Muslims has been obscured by a murderous minority. Sadly, many in the West take bin Laden’s claims for granted. The result is that the over-militaristic American response has alienated the moderate Muslim majority and reinforced a belief that the war against global terrorism is really a war against Islam.
The successful elimination in Anbar province of Al Qaeda forces suggests one approach-persuading, empowering, and bribing tribal leaders to do the work for you. Of course, like a game of whack-a-mole, Al Qaeda fighters have now migrated to other provinces such as Diyala. Applying the Anbar model to fight Al Qaeda in other parts of the country is a promising strategy, particularly since it uses relatively few U.S. troops to leverage larger local forces.
Containing and ultimately defeating the jihadist threat will require a mix of strategies. Notwithstanding the Iraq debacle, Washington will occasionally need to use military force to take out jihadi cells training in the mountains of Afghanistan or the wilds of Somalia. But because the next jihadist plot could come just as easily from a neighborhood in Hamburg or Harrisburg, it will be more important for Washington to improve other counterterrorism efforts.
A Matter of PrideWhy we can’t buy off the next Osama bin Laden.Peter Bergen and Michael LindIssue #3, Winter 2007
The key factor, then, is not whether a group is stateless or controls a state, but whether or not it is promoting a revolutionary ideology that justifies both terrorism and interstate war to promote its goals. If today’s militant Islamism is understood in these terms-as a revolutionary ideology whose adherents seek to gain state power and exercise it to realize their vision-then it can be viewed as the latest in a series of revolutionary political doctrines of the past few centuries, which included radical Jacobin liberalism, anarchism, communism, and fascism and other forms of radical nationalism.
The Seeds of Victory GardensThe years since September 11 have been the ultimate test of a generation’s resolve. How are we doing so far?Andrei ChernyIssue #1, Summer 2006 In 2001, Americans were victims of a vicious attack perpetrated by those committed to stopping the expansion of freedom and democracy around the world. Immediately after, we seemed ready to take part in a massive response. But we have not, at least not in any way analogous to the scale of the efforts of previous generations.
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Democracy on bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and 9/11
Democracy: A Journal of Ideas: A sampling of our best pieces on Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and 9/11 and its consequences.
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NPR:
On Friday, April 15, NPR host Robert Siegel interviewed David Kendall on the idea of a tax receipt on the show All Things Considered. Kendall and co-author Ethan Porter, contributing editor at Democracy, outlined their idea in our Spring 2011 Issue [“Seeing Where The Money Went,” Issue #20].
Events
Democracy: A Journal of Ideas: On March 9, NDN hosted a panel discussion featuring Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer, making their case for a new theory of progressive government, as first published in our Winter 2011 Issue [“The “More What, Less How” Government,” Issue #19].
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Washington Post Op-Ed: Porter and Kendall on Taxpayer Receipt
Washington Post: In the Spring Issue of
Democracy, out in newsstands this week, Ethan Porter, contributing editor at Democracy, and David Kendall of Third Way have an essay promoting the idea of a taxpayer receipt. In the March 13 edition of The Washington Post, Porter and Kendall preview the idea in an op-ed.