"Terrorism is just a Tactic"

Unrestricted submarine warfare was just a tactic. Americans had no interest in whether the Kaiser set up a puppet state in Poland, annexed Belgium, or whether the flavor the Reich was not to their liking. American support for war increased as German submarines attacked American shipping. What ultimate goal they purused was not the critical issue. British impressment was sufficient a cause for many Americans to support the War of 1812. Why the British needed these sailors was not the issue, the procedure itself was.

One of the key arguments that the administration put forward for the war on terror, including the attack on Iraq, was that in a era when terrorists were only a plane ride away, it was unaccepable for terrorist supporting states to obtain weapons of mass destruction. This argument states that regardless of their aims, this tactic is unacceptable. We have no problem with this reasoning in law enforcement. If I pursue a lauable goal (feeding my sister's children) through criminal activity (stealing) I am still subject to the law. The ends, as they say, do not justify the means.

The advocates of salafi jihad have three tactics: preaching, political action, and terrorism. Suppose the Salafiyyah pursued only preaching as a tactic. Would we still pursue a war against Islamic extreamism? What about preaching and political action? Indeed, its only the use of the terror tactic that makes them our enemies. We might otherwise regard them as ideological rivals. We might be wary of their thinking. Would we attack them?

However, just as we have begun wars over unacceptable tactics, American frequently fight wars to end war, and so put the ideology central into our war aims. Americans frequently believe or are easily persuaded that bad ideologies are much more liable to using bad tactics. Therefore, Americans pursue root causes to end problems once and for all. If a tactic is so unacceptable that we will go to war to end its use, let's end its use! Set up a democracy and shift that plot of land from the danger column to the friendly column for ever.