Kori Schake wants the U.S. to think big when it comes to counter-terrorism:
There should also be no doubt that simply killing bad guys is an inadequate strategy. Without a positive program for governance in Afghanistan, the territory will remain an attractive locale for terrorists to organize and operate. The nature of this threat is that it migrates to ungoverned spaces, and a quarantine strategy won't be good enough -- the crises of governance and adaptation to global modernity that feed this threat will continue to produce networks of killers.
The implication here is breath-taking - we can never be safe from terrorism until the world's ungoverned spaces are governed. And you thought conservatives were all about limited government.
But obviously there is simply not enough money and manpower to make this work in Afghanistan, let alone all the other regions of the world where al-Qaeda-type organizations are springing up. Americans are far more likely to die in their bathtubs than die at the hands of al-Qaeda. Ultimately, U.S. strategy is going to have to take that fact into account and balance its expenditures accordingly.
