Memorandum on U.S. Policy on The War on
Terror
To: President Trump
CC: Professor
Shirk
From: Chandler
Skolnick
9 March 2017
On September 11th, 2001,
the United States was attacked by a terror organization known as Al-Qaeda. In
retaliation for the attack, President Bush sent thousands of American troops
into Afghanistan and eventually Iraq (though the reasoning for this move may
not have been based around fighting terror), sparking the ongoing war that is
now known as the War on Terror. During the beginning of the Bush Administration’s
era in the war, the goals were direct: defeat terrorist leaders such as Osama
Bin Laden, identify and destroy terror organizations, deny states and groups
who support terrorism, strengthen weaker states that are prone to the
establishment of terrorism, and most importantly, defend American citizens and
the U.S. homeland from the threat of terrorism (AmericanProgress.org). The way
in which the Bush Administration attempted to accomplish these goals was primarily
through the deployment of ground forces into Afghanistan, a full on old-fashioned
war. Despite the simplicity of Bush’s approach, it did have dire flaws. Eight
years later, the newly elected Obama Administration took a different route.
This Administration wanted to refrain from the overreliance on ground troops in
order to reduce the need for traditional all-out war. Instead, the
Administration has since hanged its focus to targeted killing through drone
strikes, supporting the local state’s militaries rather than using U.S. troops,
and relying heavily on electronic surveillance (ForeignAffairs.com). Although
it has taken a different tactic, the Obama Administration’s approach has also proven
to be seriously flawed. As a result of the failures of both Administrations, a
solution became clear: to use drones in a less aggressive and reckless way by
strictly using them for intelligence on a target, thus minimizing collateral
damage.
Problems With These Approaches
President George W. Bush and his
Administration’s approach to the War on Terror was simple: send ground forces
to Afghanistan (and eventually Iraq), in the typical style of a traditional
war. It was quickly learned that this strategy was extremely problematic. This
was primarily due to the fact that the enemy was not a traditional type of
enemy, meaning that they were not a specific nation that the U.S. was fighting
against. What this means is that there was difficulty in identifying who was an
enemy combatant. It was difficult to do so because, unlike the enemies in wars
that the U.S. previously fought, the targeted terrorists were not one specific
group, and more importantly, they had no uniform. In Afghanistan, the Bush
Administration was quick to identify Al-Qaeda as their primary target, however,
there were several other terror groups that also attacked troops during their
deployments; specifically, the Taliban, who gave protection from the Americans
to Al-Qaeda (State.gov). Additionally, even identifying who was a hostile
threat in this war was difficult, since these terror groups were dressed as
regular civilians rather than in uniform, making it not only impossible to
fight a traditional war, but nearly impossible to differentiate civilians from
enemies.
In the case of President Barack Obama
and his Administration, they attempted to fix the mistakes of their
predecessor’s tactics through their plan of minimizing troops on the ground and
increasing targeted killings with drones. Although this is one of the numerous
ways in which the Administration handled the War on Terror, it was the most
problematic. First, by initiating the use of drones as a priority, President
Obama began to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and Iraq. This was a clear
problem specifically in Iraq, as the withdrawal left the toppled country in
shambles and extremely vulnerable to the reemergence of a terror organization
in power, which is exactly what ISIS was able to take advantage of.
Essentially, by withdrawing troops in Iraq, the Obama Administration failed to
accomplish the goals of the War on Terror, which were to protect vulnerable
states from the emergence of terrorism. The use of drones also gave way for the
creation of even more terrorist organizations. While the targeted killings
through drones typically accomplished the mission of eliminating terrorists, it
often led to substantial civilian casualties, which ultimately caused family
members to radicalize and hate the United States. During the Bush
Administration, President George W. Bush ordered
about 50 drone strikes that killed 296 terrorists and 195 civilians. President
Obama on the other hand, has approved 506 strikes that have killed 3,040
terrorists and 391 civilians (nytimes.com). By increasing the amount of drone
strikes, the Obama Administration has subsequently created more potential
terrorists through unintended civilian deaths.
The Solution
The way to remedy the ever-growing
complications in the War on Terror is quite simple: creating a balance between
the use of drones and soldiers is necessary. Warfare is constantly evolving.
The War on Terror today is not the same war as it was in 2001. Drones are a
necessary technology that must be used to fight this modern war, however, the
reckless use of missile strikes from these drones is unacceptable. In order to
eliminate the creation of more terrorists, the next Administration must focus
on using drones solely for intelligence gathering. These drones must be used to
scout and identify potential terror targets, but will not strike. Once the
terrorists have been identified and the non-combatants labeled, only then will
the use of troops be efficient. The United States does not need to initiate a
ground war on these targets. Instead, with their specialized forces such as
Navy SEALS and intelligence from the drones, the Administration will
effectively minimalize the risk to civilian and American lives. The War on
Terror is not over, nor is it easy, but there is a more efficient way to go
about fighting the enemy that will minimalize danger to innocent civilians, as
well as prevent the formation of future terror organizations.
Works Cited
Moeller, Susan. "Bush’s War on
Terror." Center for American Progress. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar.
2017.
"The New York Times Company." The
New York Times. The New York Times, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.
Stern, Jessica. "Obama and
Terrorism." Foreign Affairs. N.p., 01 Oct. 2015. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.
U.S.
Department of State. U.S. Department of State, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.
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