The George W. Bush administration opened the #military theater of this war by “liberating” #Afghanistan and #Iraq and seeking to #destroy the #terrorists nested there.
But this is a war that must also be fought in #diplomatic, #cultural, #religious, and, above all, #political #battlefields. In all those theaters the #US needed, and could have found, #allies, including among a majority of the #Muslims who have been the first #victims of terror. The #commission made no suggestions about how to engage in those battlefields, who to choose as allies and whom to identify as #neutrals or foes.
Now, this enemy does not grow on trees. He is a #citizen of a state, has bases and safe havens not in space, but in real countries, and uses all the facilities of the #modern #global system. It was astonishing that the 9/11 Commission chose to fly over all that. It discovered extensive contacts between al-Qaeda and 24 governments in #Europe, #Africa, the #MiddleEast and #Asia.