Global Counterinsurgency: Strategic Clarity for the Long War

Abstract

The article discusses United States policy initiatives that emerged in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, arguing that they need to be revised in order to become more effective. The idea of a War on Terrorism is likened to treating the symptom of a disease without trying to eliminate the cause. The identification of Islamic terrorists as jihadists is said to inadvertently concede some legitimacy to their behavior. The word hirabist, from hirabah, is recommended instead, as having a more accurate and clearly negative connotation in Arabic. It is said that counterinsurgency tactics will prove more effective than classical counterterrorist measures.