Chapter 12 "What To Do? A Global Strategy" Summary and Analysis

Countering terrorism is now the most important security objective of the United States. Unlike warfare between nation-states, terrorism represents a transnational threat. Terrorism is not contained or defined by national boundaries. Nation-states must always consider the potential for retaliation in response to any aggressive action. Terrorists, particularly suicide terrorists, are not deterred by the threat of retaliation. They have little to lose.

Islamist terrorists have repeatedly and openly stated their objectives: America must be converted to Islam or be destroyed. This is not a position that can be reasoned with or negotiated with. Destruction of terrorism and the Islamist ideology that spawns it is the only effective response. To the extent that a moderate form of Islam seeks to discredit radical Islamism, the United States must place...