Naval College Review Volume 58 Article 10 Number 2 Spring

2005 Attacking : Elements of a Grand Andrew L. Stigler

Audrey Kurth Cronin

James M. Ludes

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Recommended Citation Stigler, Andrew L.; Cronin, Audrey Kurth; and Ludes, James M. (2005) "Attacking Terrorism: Elements of a Grand Strategy," Naval War College Review: Vol. 58 : No. 2 , Article 10. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol58/iss2/10

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Stigler et al.: Attacking Terrorism: Elements of a Grand Strategy BOOK REVIEWS 143

after 9/11,” he argues, “the Bush ad- requirements.” As the competition for ministration fashioned a comprehen- oil intensifies, what is deemed necessary sive strategy for American domination could well be increasingly a of the Persian Gulf and the procure- response. ment of ever-increasing quantities of JOHN DUFFIELD petroleum.” This “strategy of maxi- Department of Political Science mum extraction” involved three Georgia State University goals—the stabilization of Saudi Ara- bia, the removal of Saddam Hussein and his replacement with a stable gov- ernment capable of substantially boost- ing oil output, and the escalation of Cronin, Audrey Kurth, and James M. Ludes, eds. pressure on Iran in the hopes of pro- Attacking Terrorism: Elements of a Grand Strategy. ducing a favorable leadership change Washington, D.C.: Georgetown Univ. Press, 2004. 320pp. $26.95 there as well. As important and overlooked as oil has This volume is a much-needed tonic. been as a determinant of U.S. strategy Attacking Terrorism—a somewhat belli- toward the region, this characterization cose title, since most of the articles in- of the Bush administration’s policies cluded recognize the need for a carefully may appear simplistic given the various calibrated response to terrorism—is a other motives offered, such as non- diverse collection of focused and even- proliferation, antiterrorism, and Israel’s handed assessments of the military, security. In particular, given the title of diplomatic, economic, and legal tools the book, the connection between en- available to confront the problem. ergy concerns and the of Iraq Cronin, a terrorism specialist with the would have benefited from more thor- Congressional Research Service and an ough analysis. As it is, Klare devotes adjunct professor at Georgetown Uni- just one page to an explicit discussion versity, and Ludes, a former editor in of the administration’s oil-related mo- chief of National Security Studies Quar- tives for ousting Saddam. As indirect terly, selected their contributors well. evidence, he points to U.S. efforts to The diversity of expertise this volume seize Iraq’s oil facilities at the outset of offers affords it a broad perspective on the war, but this overlooks the equally counterterrorism . plausible goal of ensuring that postwar Lindsay Clutterbuck offers an explora- Iraq could finance its own reconstruction. tion of a legal approach to combating Ultimately, Klare’s argument is largely terrorism (including illuminating dis- structural in nature, but it is also a cussions of British and European Union powerful one that cannot be easily dis- practices); she concludes that it is best missed. As he notes in the preface, to combine the legal and military ele- “Since cheap oil is essential to the na- ments of the struggle rather than ap- tion’s economic vigor, American lead- proach counterterrorism solely as a ers, of whatever party affiliation, have war. Striking a similar note, Timothy felt compelled to do whatever was nec- Hoyt argues that the “use of military essary to ensure that enough was avail- force may prove spectacularly unsuc- able to satisfy our ever-expanding cessful if it is not carefully correlated

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144 NAVAL WARNaval COLLEGE War REVIEW College Review, Vol. 58 [2005], No. 2, Art. 10

with political objectives.” Yet he argues institutions, and influential community that it is “indisputable” that we have and national leaders” in order to com- entered into a war with al-Qa‘ida. Hoyt bat terrorism over the long term. makes the point that the terrorists’ Martha Crenshaw reviews both counter- campaign meets Clausewitz’s definition terrorism strategy and the interaction of a “continuation of policy by other between terrorism and security scholars means,” and that the American response over the past two decades. She observes will likely involve the use of military that “al-Qaeda evolved under specific force over “many years.” He also ob- and perhaps unique historical circum- serves, however, that the elusive nature stances; the assumption that al-Qaeda of terrorist organizations raises serious will be a model for future terrorism obstacles to employing military force to may be incorrect.” Daniel Gouré re- counteract them. marks that the American homeland se- In a well-timed essay, Paul Pillar offers curity strategy is “a pell-mell rush” that an excellent overview of the intelligence lacks an obvious attempt to “provide a challenges peculiar to terrorist organi- risk assessment that would rank order zations. He notes there is grave dan- threats.” ger in a rush to reform following an Audrey Kurth Cronin herself supplies event such as 9/11. “A couple of well- two excellent pieces. The volume opens publicized mistakes...become the with her survey of the four “levels of basis for a widely expressed belief— analysis” of terrorism—the individual, repeated unquestioningly by scores of the group or organization, the state, commentators—that ‘the FBI and the and the international system. Her struc- CIA don’t communicate with each tured exploration of the problem is other.’ ” (Ironically, Cronin echoes ex- much needed. She rounds out the vol- actly this criticism of interagency com- ume with a chapter on what might be munication in her conclusion.) called “grand counterterrorism strat- Carnes Lord offers a penetrating chap- egy.” Cronin calls for an assessment of ter on the opportunities and, more tell- each potential target’s relative involve- ingly, the difficulties involved in what ment in terrorism, and not a strategy he terms “psychological-political in- that reflexively attacks “states that do struments.” While Lord is certainly cor- not control the current wave of terror- rect that we must not “write off the ism.” Our integration of counter- West’s assets in this contest,” one finds terrorism tools is in “an extremely oneself grimly concurring with Fouad primitive state.” She concludes with the Ajami’s assessment of public diplo- observation that “positive power” (aid, macy’s prospects: “It’s hopeless. We reconstruction efforts, and image en- will not get a hearing.” Lord claims the hancement) is an essential element of a key task is not to sell democracy but to balanced counterterrorism strategy. undermine radical Islam. Patrick “This position is not naiveté or liberal- Cronin also argues that “foreign aid ism but pragmatism.” triage” will certainly be of use in this re- ANDREW L. STIGLER gard. This aid will be urgently needed Naval War College to “strengthen general order, moderate

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