17 December 2001

Dear editor,

              As of this writing, the first phase of the war on terrorism winds down while the peace offensive in Israel was interrupted with the departure from the region of the President Bush's personal envoy. With the short-term objectives of destroying the terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and overthrowing the Taliban rule of that country, the process of winning the peace has only begun.

              In order to begin bringing stability and prosperity to the Muslim rim of south Asia, Afghanistan faces three primary challenges: disarmament of the militias and tribes, establishing a efficient civil service and justice system, and economic and infrastructure development (basically starting from scratch). As a minor note, the Israeli/Palestinian issue must get solved. And for that, the Palestinian Authority needs to replace Arafat with younger leadership who recognize Israel's right to exist.

              The United States can not take upon itself to become the protector of Hamid Karzai's interim government, but the U.S. needs to fully support a United Nations led effort to feed and rebuild Afghanistan until it can provide for her own people. The U.N. is uniquely suited to this role for international cooperation and hopefully has mastered previous mistakes from nation-building. Ultimately, it depends on the Afghanis.

              In pursuit of the second phase of the war against terrorism, the U.S. and the American citizen face tougher choices requiring a more complex policy than that pursued in Afghanistan. Ideally, the U.S. can achieve its objective of eradicating terrorist threats to American soil and American citizens without engaging in a major land war in the Middle East. Such a war would require massive deployment of U.S troops. Iraq presents a particular problem, not the least because of an inconsistent and ineffective policy since the cease-fire in 1991. A major war would bring with it major headaches and not insignificant casualties for America. Yet Saddam Hussein must go as he always threatens the peace.

              The United States and the anti-terror coalition need to focus on a medium term destabilization of Iraq--at last, support the Kurds, the political opposition, and dissident younger military officers with material, political, and propaganda support. Also, to an even greater extent, the U.S. must further isolate Iraq diplomatically and economically, even though this will bring more suffering to the Iraqi people. The last cannot be avoided. Finally, the U.S. must engage in limited and mostly covert military operations (air strikes, special and intelligence operations) to weaken Hussein's authority and control.

              This action, as opposed to previous action the past ten years, must have better planning and execution, with no intermissions. Regarding other nations supporting terrorism--Syria, Iran, North Korea--Afghanistan and Iraq can serve as an example to their leaders as to the consequences of supporting terrorist. The U.S. can avoid a major war and ahcieve the objectives. But the U.S. must do all it can to avoid a major war and this involves political skill and diplomacy worthy of Richelieu, Bismarck, and Churchill.

Sincerely,

Timothy J. Krenz