Study finds wars are only 7% effective in stopping terrorism

BoingBoing has a link to an research study just released by the RAND corp. looking at how terrorist groups have been defeated in the past (http://www.boingboing.net/2008/07/29/to-destroy-al-qaeda.html).

According to the study only 7% of terrorist group that have been defeated since 1968 were stopped through military efforts. Effective policing and politics accounted for about 40% each in being effective at stopping terrorist groups.

This graph is amazing.

It is so crazy to me that people believe that the only option we have to make America safer is to spend a few trillion dollars invading other countries and killing everyone there that disagrees with us.

Whether or not you support these wars on principle is immaterial; fighting wars to stop terrorist groups is a waste of money because it is ineffective.

This fact is should make sane people appose war for purely practical reasons, totally independent of your political or moral views on the matter.

For some fascinating insights into why the US behaves in such irrational ways (and why we spend at least half our annual budget making war) check out the movie “Why We Fight“.

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Taliban in drag…

In 2002, a journalist was walking through Kandahar and came across a photos shop that was selling a collection of photos of the Taliban. The whole thing is pretty far out – 50’s era looking washed out color photos of effeminate men holding hands and showing off their guns. When not posing for glamor shots, these guys torture people for fun. Given that taking a photo of anyone that shows their face (or having a statue or even a shop mannequin with a head) was illegal and could get you killed, this is pretty weird stuff.

Here’s the Photo Essay.

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