CIAO DATE: 9/01

From CIAO's Board: Commentary on the Terrorist Attacks against the United States

Bruce:

Just to spur discussion and also a suggestion for what you might post more formally to the CIAO list, I agree that we should not be allergic to the use of force (although lack of that sentiment does not seem to be a broader political problem at the moment, or rather, seems confined to the campuses). The problem is in identifying what sorts of military actions—as opposed to a variety of preventive, intelligence and particularly police-type actions—are likely to be useful. By “useful,” I mean not only in apprehending and punishing suspects but in avoiding problems which the injudicious use of force might cause. The most important example is the effect that different types of military operations in Afghanistan might or might not yield. A very useful piece that perhaps you or others might write would be to precisely consider what some of the military options might be, weighing both their military utility and their political costs and benefits.

Among the piles of things coming into my in-box, I found the attached piece from the Guardian interesting in assessing possible Aghani targets.

Commentary

Stephen M. Walt
Kirkpatrick Professor of International Affairs
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Bruce Jentleson
Professor of Public Policy, Duke University
Director, Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy

Response by Etel Solingen
Professor of Political Science
University of California, Irvine

Response by Stephan Haggard
Professor, Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies
University of California, San Diego