"The Global War on Terror" -- 10 years in and counting

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

In exactly two months, the United States will observe the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In the decade since those attacks, the U.S.A. has invaded and toppled the governments of two foreign states, captured and/or killed large numbers of suspected terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, changed domestic and military laws about surveillance and detention of suspected and/or captured terrorist suspects, engaged in controversial methods of interrogation that meet many definitions of the concept of torture, largely disrupted or broken up the central organization of Al Qaeda while seeing numerous independent or affiliated organizations spring up, operated a series of "black site" prisons and detention centers around the world, created an entire federal department dedicated to domestic security..and has not seen a successful attack on United States soil since the attacks of 2001 while terrorist attacks worldwide have continued with annual fluctuations.

The number of U.S. military dead in Iraq currently stands at almost 4500 and in Afghanistan it is over 1600. 10s of thousands more have been wounded. Estimates of Iraqi and Afghan dead since 2001 start at over 100,000 and climb rapidly depending upon who is doing the counting.

Meanwhile, the United States is as dependent as ever on oil imports from the Persian Gulf, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, a main talking point of Islamic radicals and terrorist affiliates, is nowhere near a resolution, and the Arab Spring revolts have drawn into an uncertain summer with no good means of predicting the future.

For discussion: What have the U.S. and its allies to show for almost a decade of policy and action in the "Global War on Terror"?

Comments

[malakh-abaddon.livejournal.com]

What have the U.S. and its allies to show for almost a decade of policy and action in the "Global War on Terror"?

2 wars.
Over 5000 US soldiers dead (total).
Far too many young men and women harmed physically and emotionally.
A declining view of the US. With "enhanced interrogation techniques", aka torture.
A bunch of unneeded debt.
Laws that violate the constitution.
I am sure that there are other things we have to show for this, but I leave it to others to add to this list.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Not just that, but the failure of US hard power to end either conflict decisively. The more that happens and the more the USA wastes its money and hard power in this kind of geopolitical trap, the less the Tarkin factor in military psychology applies to the US Army, and that means the USA faces a multi-polar world in the literal sense sooner as opposed to later.

[mrsilence.livejournal.com]

Yep.

Half of the deterrent ability of hard-power is the illusion of invincibility.

Start getting down and dirty in a real way and that illusion disappears, meaning you only have the hard-power itself to rely on if you get challenged: which is often more difficult than it may appear, especially in a world where the use of hard-power is increasingly unacceptable, even amongst your own citizenry.