Q5076 MIT-Audit

M A S S A C H U S E T T S I N S T I T U T E O F T E C H N O L O G YOctober 2006M I T C E N T E R F O R I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T U D I E S 06-15of the Conventional WisdomThe Bush Administration is 1Weak on TerrorStephen Van EveraMIT Center for International Studieshe U.S. public widely credits President Bush with tough-Tness on terror. An August 2006 poll found 55 percent of Americans approving his handling of the campaign on terror and 2only 38 percent disapproving. Republican candidates are running successfully on the terror issue in this fall’s election campaign. In fact, the Bush administration is weak on terror. The administration wages a one-front war against al-Qaeda, the main terror threat, when effort on every relevant front is needed. Specifically, it has focused on an offensive military and intelligence campaign abroad while neglecting five other critical fronts: bolstering homeland security, securing weapons and materials of mass destruction from possible theft or purchase by terrorists, winning the war of ideas across the world, end-ing conflicts that fuel support for al-Qaeda, and saving the failed states where al-Qaeda and like groups can find haven. The administration has also bungled parts of the mili-tary offensive by diverting itself into a counterproductive sideshow in Iraq and by alien-ating potential allies. As a result, al-Qaeda and related jihadi groups remain a potent 3threat more than five years after the 9/11 attacks. ...