How Is the War on Terror Like the War on Drugs?
The U.S. fight against global terrorism is costly, distracting, self-perpetuating, unceasing, and unresolvable. Is there any way to fix it?
This week on The E.R., David Rothkopf, Rosa Brooks, Kori Schake, and Tom Ricks talk about the people they would least like to have dinner with and then drill down into the social and political consequences of the war on terror. Did Osama bin Laden achieve one of the greatest tactical victories in modern warfare by setting the United States and its allies on an endless, uphill path toward unobtainable objectives? Has the U.S. reaction, or overreaction, to the threat of global terrorism changed the world’s political and security goals and its burden-sharing dynamic? And finally, the panel considers where and how the fight against the problem of terrorism (and against the secondary problems created by fighting terrorism) went catastrophically wrong.
This week on The E.R., David Rothkopf, Rosa Brooks, Kori Schake, and Tom Ricks talk about the people they would least like to have dinner with and then drill down into the social and political consequences of the war on terror. Did Osama bin Laden achieve one of the greatest tactical victories in modern warfare by setting the United States and its allies on an endless, uphill path toward unobtainable objectives? Has the U.S. reaction, or overreaction, to the threat of global terrorism changed the world’s political and security goals and its burden-sharing dynamic? And finally, the panel considers where and how the fight against the problem of terrorism (and against the secondary problems created by fighting terrorism) went catastrophically wrong.
Rosa Brooks is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation and teaches international law, national security, and constitutional law at Georgetown University. Follow her on Twitter: @brooks_rosa.
Kori Schake is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where she focuses on military history, and a former foreign-policy advisor to Sen. John McCain. Follow her on Twitter: @KoriSchake.
David Rothkopf is CEO and editor of the FP Group. Follow him on Twitter: @djrothkopf.
Tom Ricks is a senior advisor at the New America Foundation. Follow him on Twitter: @tomricks1.
Subscribe to The E.R. podcast and other FP podcasts on iTunes here.
More from Foreign Policy

Saudi-Iranian Détente Is a Wake-Up Call for America
The peace plan is a big deal—and it’s no accident that China brokered it.

The U.S.-Israel Relationship No Longer Makes Sense
If Israel and its supporters want the country to continue receiving U.S. largesse, they will need to come up with a new narrative.

Putin Is Trapped in the Sunk-Cost Fallacy of War
Moscow is grasping for meaning in a meaningless invasion.

How China’s Saudi-Iran Deal Can Serve U.S. Interests
And why there’s less to Beijing’s diplomatic breakthrough than meets the eye.