The Foreign Service Journal, September 2004
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REMEMBERING HUME HORAN I PIONEERING AFRICAN-AMERICAN DIPLOMATS $3.50 / SEPTEMBER 2004 OREIGN ERVICE FJ O U R N A L S THE MAGAZINE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS FIGHTING THE WAR ON TERRORISM Three Years After 9/11, Where Are We? CONTENTS September 2004 I Volume 81, No. 9 F OCUSON C OUNTERTERRORISM REMEMBERING 9/11 IN MANHATTAN / 63 An eyewitness account of what Sept. 11, 2001, 23 / THE BRAVE NEW WORLD OF VISA PROCESSING was like in New York City. The events of 9/11 and State’s new partnership By David Casavis with the Department of Homeland Security have F EATURES forever altered consular work. APPRECIATION: HUME ALEXANDER HORAN, By Shawn Zeller 1934–2004 / 68 30 / ARE WE LOSING THE WAR ON TERRORISM? By Susan Maitra Three years after the 9/11 attacks, the threat from AFRICAN-AMERICAN CONSULS ABROAD, 1897-1909 / 72 terrorism is growing, not receding. It is At least 20 black consuls served during the Republican time for a reappraisal of our strategy. administrations of William McKinley and Theodore By Philip C. Wilcox Jr. Roosevelt. Here are their stories. 36 / FIGHTING TERRORISM IN EAST AFRICA By Benjamin R. Justesen AND THE HORN PROMOTING DEMOCRACY / 77 Six years after the bombings of our embassies in Nairobi Can a foreign policy apparatus configured to fight the and Dar es Salaam, U.S. counterterrorism efforts in the Cold War implement the Bush administration’s new region do not yet measure up to the threat. democracy-led U.S. foreign policy? By David Shinn By Aaron M. Chassy 43 / THE ANATOMY OF TERRORISM TELLING OUR STORY: THE NATIONAL MUSEUM Terrorism is an instrument or tactic — a weapon, OF AMERICAN DIPLOMACY / 82 not an enemy. Thus, a “war” on terrorism makes The Foreign Affairs Museum Council is working to no more sense than a “war” on war. establish the Department of State Visitor Center and By Ron Spiers National Museum of American Diplomacy. 51 / KAMIKAZES: PRECURSORS OF 9/11? By Stephen Low Today, 60 years later, the story of the kamikazes echoes C OLUMNS D EPARTMENTS eerily in the phenomenon of suicide bombing in the PRESIDENT’S VIEWS / 5 Middle East and the 9/11 attacks. LETTERS / 7 Get Smart By Jose Armilla CYBERNOTES / 14 By John Limbert BOOKS / 87 58 / HUMANITARIAN MERCENARIES SPEAKING OUT / 17 In the tense days following 9/11, the small U.S. embassies INDEX TO A Cry for Justice ADVERTISERS / 94 in Central Asia suddenly found themselves on the front By Larry W. Roeder Jr. lines of the war on terrorism. AFSA NEWS / By John W. Kropf REFLECTIONS / 96 CENTER INSERT By John D. Boyll THE MAGAZINE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS OREIGN ERVICE Foreign Service Journal (ISSN 0146-3543), 2101 E Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037-2990 is published FJ O U R N A L S monthly with a combined July/August issue by the American Foreign Service Association, a private, non-profit Editor Editorial Board organization. Material appearing herein represents the opinions of the writers and does not necessarily represent STEVEN ALAN HONLEY the views of the Journal, the Editorial Board or AFSA. Writer queries and submissions are invited, preferably by Senior Editor JUDITH BAROODY, SUSAN B. MAITRA CHAIRMAN e-mail. Journal subscription: AFSA Members - $13 included in annual dues; others - $40. For foreign surface mail, Associate Editor add $18 per year; foreign airmail, $36 per year. Periodical postage paid at Washington, D.C., and at additional mail- SHAWN DORMAN MARK W. BOCCHETTI ing offices. 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Toll Free (800) 256-5141 • EMPLOYEE ASSOCIATION INSURANCE (972) 783-4915 Fax (972) 783-0545 Employee association insurance E-mail: [email protected] www.jannetteintl.com Including directors and officers. 4 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/SEPTEMBER 2004 PRESIDENT’S VIEWS Get Smart BY JOHN LIMBERT This month’s exploit the obvious shortcomings of of them — have the training they need Foreign Service existing governments in many Islamic to represent our country’s interests and Journal deals with countries, insisting that, “If your rulers protect its security. To do their job, the terrorism. From are corrupt; if your country is weak and consular officers in Sanaa, for example, the perceptive arti- humiliated by foreigners; if your state will need to talk to more than the cles by our col- cannot provide you education, health minute percentage of Yemenis who leagues, one un- care or employment; and if you see no speak English. So will their political mistakable message future for yourself and your family — and other colleagues. comes through: pseudo-tough and then we have all the answers in a puri- The 9/11 Commission Report (p. phony-macho policies don’t beat terror- tanical, zealous and intolerant version 371) notes that 15 of the 19 airplane ists; smart ones do. Our enemies are of Islam that admits no doubt or ques- hijackers were Saudi Arabians. Yet clever, and assuming otherwise is dan- tioning.” how much did we know about militant gerous folly. Cynical, brutal, murder- The appropriate response to this Islamist groups in Saudi Arabia before ous and callous they may be. Stupid message is not to “dumb down” but to the attacks? How much did we know they are not. In my personal experi- get smart. Smart diplomacy, security, about the political and socio-economic ence, as individuals, terrorists can be military operations, law enforcement, undercurrents within that troubled almost rational. Many are well educat- public affairs, and intelligence-gather- society and elsewhere in the region? ed, from well-off families, and their ing will all work. And being smart starts Besides taking training seriously, we ranks include engineers, doctors, with knowing what we are facing. How also must offer a reasonable career teachers and journalists. much did we know about Afghanistan, path to those who choose to specialize Not only are terrorist leaders not for example, before the events of 9/11? in an area or a language. We in the stupid, they also skillfully exploit what Did we know how freely the al-Qaida Foreign Service respond very well to George Orwell, in 1984, called “collec- apparatus could operate there under rewards and punishments. The person tive stupidity” — the failure to see the Taliban patronage? Did we know that who goes deeply into Africa, China or most obvious contradictions in an argu- the terrorists had essentially bought the Indian subcontinent, for example, ment; the failure to apply cause and themselves a country using money and should be able to expect that 1) the effect; and the willingness to swallow fighters to help the Taliban fight a civil Service will make good use of that and regurgitate the most blatant clap- war? Or did we somehow think that we expertise; and 2) all things being equal, trap. It is this same collective stupidity could separate al-Qaida from the he or she can expect promotions and that makes terrorists impervious to Taliban and, with the weight of evi- assignments that recognize that hard- argument or reason. dence, convince them to hand over bin earned knowledge. Al-Qaida and the most extreme of Laden and his associates to justice? In One wishes that being smart — and the so-called salafi (Sunni Islamist) those days we spoke of “draining the following many of the excellent recom- groups, for example, feed their follow- [Afghanistan] swamp” to catch the alli- mendations in the 9/11 Commission’s ers a mixture of anti-Semitism, xeno- gators.