To deal with last Tuesday’s terrorist attacks, the United States needs to use military force wisely and to gain the strong support of the American public, according to several Georgetown experts on international relations.
Anthony Arend, professor of government and leading expert on international law, said that the situation would need to be dealt with with special military operations and special forces.
“It’s being called a war, but it’s not as though we’re gearing up to fight an identifiable entity like in World War II or the Gulf War,” Arend said. “I don’t think we’re going to have a draft. We don’t need a huge number of troops?this conflict needs special operations.”
Andrew Bennett, associate professor of government, said that he believed the U.S. government should use discretion when it came time to use military force. “The key to success in the next phase is to not use force precipitously or indiscriminately, even though we will likely have to use force soon and over a long period of time,” he said.
“We want to divide our adversaries … not unite them. We should work closely with those who share our goals … and get them to help us force in Laden and his associates around the world into the open where they are vulnerable to capture or destruction,” Bennett said. “We need to be in this for the long haul, not for the instant gratification of a few quick strikes.”
Robert Lieber, professor of government and a leading expert on U.S. foreign policy, said that the United States should direct its military measures towards the groups and individuals who were responsible for and in support of the terrorist attacks.
“Action should now be in the form not of pinprick attacks by a handful of cruise missiles, but should be much more extensive and sustained,” Lieber said. “The objective must be to destroy those responsible and to take long term actions including targeting regimes that support these acts of mass murder,” he said.
Arend said that he believed that the attacks were in response to certain U.S. policies. “We do not know enough to say which policy they are responding to, but I do believe they are in response to an actual policy of the U.S., presumably a Middle East policy,” he said.
Lieber disagreed, saying that he believed that the terrorists did not target the United States for its policies. “The suicide bombers and those who recruited them have chosen the United States as their target not for our policies but for what our country represents. America stands in the unique position of international leadership and as the most visible symbol of freedom of the individual and of Western civilization,” he said. “They hate our country not for what it does, but for what it is.”
This past Friday, Congress approved President George W. Bush’s proposal to use military force in an almost unanimous decision. Arend said that this was the broadest authorization of force that he knew of in the history of the United States.
“It’s a political message. Congress felt compelled to go on record in a strong way. It is a strong message to the American people and to anybody else that [Congress] is strongly in support of the President,” Arend said.
Bennett agreed with Arend, saying that Congress was expressing “the unified will of the country that the President should have the legal authority to use force.” Bennett added that Congress’ decision was not a formal declaration of war, but rather was a general authorization to use force.
Lieber supported Congress’ decision. “It shows American resolve in the face of this act of war, and it provides legitimacy through our political system for the actions the adminstration will need to take,” Lieber said.
Lieber said that he felt the Bush administration has handled the situation well up to this point. “President Bush has shown a more sure sense of leadership in the recent days. He also deserves credit for speaking frankly and communicating a sense of resolve about American will and the need to act against this … assault on the United States,” he said.
Arend said that Georgetown has also dealt with the situation in the best way that it can. “As a university community and as a Catholic Jesuit community, we’re called upon to discuss all the issues … I hope there will be a free exchange and [the University] can serve as public forum for discussion,” he said.
