Sri Lanka provides a solid example of how to most effectively deal with terrorists. After decades of facing some of the most brutal terror tactics, Sri Lanka adopted tactics sufficient to quell the terrorists. Robert Kaplan at The Atlantic gives us the lessons:
Lesson 1:
The insurgents are using human shields? No problem. Just keep killing the innocent bystanders until you get to the fighters themselves.
Lesson 2:
Bad media coverage is hurting morale and giving succor to the enemy? Just kill the journalists.
Lesson 3:
The international community disapproves of your methods and cuts off military aid because of the human rights violations you’ve committed? Again, no problem. Get aid from China.
The international system created largely by western nations has produced these lessons. While democrats and liberty-minded people would rightly feel shame at learning these lessons, most nations have no problem adopting such Machiavellian approaches. Indeed, failing to adopt such amoral policies attracts terror and other vicious methods for obtaining political goals. We need to rethink the system that encourages terrorism and offers only such fascist responses as effective tools to combat it.
Read more: The Atlantic Online | July 2009 Unbound | To Catch a Tiger | Robert D. Kaplan.
Filed under: policy , civil rights, democracy, foreign policy
