Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Geyer on Dealing with Problem People

Georgie Anne Geyer has been traveling the world and writing about it for as long as I have been paying attention, which is longer than either of us would like to admit. Sometimes I agree with her, sometimes I don't - the latter usually about domestic politics where she leans left while I lean right.

Here she writes about international affairs and the wisdom of targeted attacks like the bin Laden killing versus wholesale invasions like Iraq or Afghanistan. She talks about Hasan Sabah, the originator of the assassins as an earlier troubled fanatic from the region, notes these men will continue to arise, and says we need good ways to deal with them. See her Uexpress article on Yahoo News.

I'm not sure Geyer realizes she is endorsing the Hasan Sabah approach to deal with problem individuals - send in the murder squad. Mossad has been doing this for 60+ years. In the past we have resisted this approach, even having presidential orders banning the targeting killings of problem individuals. The bin Laden hit suggests a change of policy.