1. The War on Terror: Forgotten Lessons from World War II
- Author:
- Stephen W. Van Evera
- Publication Date:
- 10-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- President Bush recently likened the war oon terror to the struggles American faced in World War II, expkaning that our enemies are “successors to Fascists, to Nazis ... and other totalitar- ians of the 20th century.”1 The analogy to World War II is useful and illuminating. Important lessons from World War II apply to the war on terror. Yet the Bush administration has itself left the lessons of World War II largely unheed- ed. Its conduct of the war on terror departs from the policies that brought the United States victory in World War II and success in the postwar years.2 The administration will have more success against our terrorist enemies if it learns and applies the methods that won the Second World War.
- Topic:
- Terrorism, War on Terror, World War II, and Propaganda
- Political Geography:
- United States, Middle East, and North America