Combatting Terrorism Becomes a War
Abstract
Military operations in response to terrorism are likely to involve a handful of hostile countries in the Third World where the United States has incontrovertible evidence that agents in the employ of a government have carried out a terrorist attack, that a government has instigated a terrorist attack or permitted one to occur through willful negligence, or that a government is able to bring the perpetrators to justice but refuses to do so. If we apply these criteria to the hundreds of terrorist attacks directed against the United States in the last decade, a military response might have been contemplated in only a handful of episodes--less than one percent: the holding of American hostages in Teheran, but none of the other takeovers of American embassies; if it had come about, the assassination of American officials by hit teams from Libya; the bombings of the American embassy and the American Marine Headquarters in Beirut. Finally, the critics point out, the conflict does not end if and when we strike back. Retaliatory operations may only generate further terrorist attack, requiring further military action. Would this not divert us from whatever original foreign policy goal being pursued?
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1984
- Accession Number
- ADA152772
Entities
People
- B. M. Jenkins
Organizations
- RAND Corporation