August 5th, 2008 by Sarah

Seth G. Jones and Martin C. Libicki at Rand Corporation have released their study of how terrorist groups have been dismantled over the past 40 years.  According to the authors, 43% eventually joined the political process, while 40% fell apart after key members were arrested or killed by local police and intelligence agencies.  In light of this, the authors call for U.S. strategy to move away from using military force as the backbone of the fight against al-Qaeda. Instead, they recommend that U.S. strategy emphasize policing and intelligence, and even suggest that officials “should end the use of the phrase ‘war on terrorism’ since there is no battlefield solution to defeating al Qa’ida.”

For the full report, click here.

Posted in Military, Terrorism, US foreign policy, al-Qaeda |