{"id":38,"date":"2009-06-24T08:06:50","date_gmt":"2009-06-24T01:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/juwonosudarsono.net\/wordpress\/?p=38"},"modified":"2009-06-24T08:06:50","modified_gmt":"2009-06-24T01:06:50","slug":"gwot-save-our-oco-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juwonosudarsono.net\/wordpress\/?p=38","title":{"rendered":"GWOT SAVE our OCO contest"},"content":{"rendered":"

First it was GWOT (Global War On Terror). Then for a time it became SAVE (Strategy Against Violent Extremism). Later on, it became CONTEST (Counter Terrorism Strategy) with the 4 P\u2019s of \u201cPrevent, Pursue, Protect and Prepare.\u201d <\/p>\n

Now, albeit unofficially, it\u2019s OCO (Overseas Contingency Operations). When it comes to counter-terrorism, there has been no shortage of acronyms popping up in the bureaucracies of the security and intelligence communities in the United States and the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

GWOT first sprang up immediately after September 11, 2001, when President George W. Bush pronounced his famous \u201cyou\u2019re either with us or with the terrorists\u201d rallying call, understandable under the circumstances following the devastating attacks in New York and Washington at the time. To the credit of Jacques Chirac, who was the first foreign head of government to visit President Bush less than two weeks after 9\/11, the French president expressed reservation over the choice of the word \u201cwar\u201d. <\/p>\n

Chirac understood the dangers of using the expression \u201cwar on terror\u201d, and that it would elicit the notion of the war of the Christian \u201ccrusaders\u201d against Islamic \u201cjihadists\u201d among France\u2019s Muslim community, the largest in Western Europe. It would play into Al Qaida\u2019s strategy of provoking tension between the \u201cChristian West\u201d and the \u201cMuslim East\u201d.<\/p>\n

But GWOT became a popular rallying cry among right-wing and hard-line \u201csecurity first\u201d politicians in North America and Western Europe. It captured the imagination of bureaucrats who pushed for tighter domestic security policies against \u201cpotential\u201d Muslim \u201csleepers\u201d or \u201cTrojan horse\u201d subversives.<\/p>\n

SAVE came into fashion around 2005-2006, when the \u201cglobal war\u201d pursued in Iraq, Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan persuaded politicians in the US and UK that a successful long-term strategy against Muslim terrorism had to go right to \u201ccultural roots of the problem\u201d in a particular country in the Middle East or South Asia. Kinetic-based counter-terrorist actions, including the use of special forces and UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) operated from Nevada often inadvertently targeted innocent civilians suspected of being involved in terrorist acts in the Middle East and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Over the past decade, intelligence chiefs throughout South East Asia have exchanged notes in facing radical groups who often manipulated Islamic notions of \u201cjihad\u201d by home grown, region-based as well as international-linked terrorist groups. Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia undertook \u201cre-integration programs\u201d in which suspected terrorists or those convicted of violent acts are provided with \u201cremedial programs\u201d incorporating welfare related schemes as well as provide rehabilitation sessions guiding them to the true path of Muslim toleration.<\/p>\n

The Indonesian Defense Force, particularly the Army, has discretely but effectively recalibrated its role to launch effective Territorial Capacity Buiding (TCB) programs. Its twin track schemes provide governance capacity building for village, local and township management as well as supporting economic development delivery systems. Reinforcing governance capacity and providing economic support (repair of irrigation canals, bridges, rehabilitating houses of worship in previously sectarian-strife areas, teaching arithmetic and Bahasa Indonesia in isolated areas) create a positive environment of \u201cnation-building\u201d and \u201cnation replenishing\u201d at the grass roots level.<\/p>\n

This is the other side of GWOT, SAVE and OCO. The real issue is that of matching satellite-based and air launched technology of war should be calibrated with the ground-level anthropology challenge of graduated winning hearts and minds. GWOT, SAVE and OCO can only succeed if these ground level social, economic and cultural issues are resolved at the scope and speed willingly undertaken by local leaders.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First it was GWOT (Global War On Terror). Then for a time it became SAVE (Strategy Against Violent Extremism). Later on, it became CONTEST (Counter Terrorism Strategy) with the 4 P\u2019s of \u201cPrevent, Pursue, Protect and Prepare.\u201d Now, albeit unofficially, it\u2019s OCO (Overseas Contingency Operations). When it comes to counter-terrorism, there has been no shortage of acronyms popping up in the bureaucracies of the security and intelligence communities in the United States and the United Kingdom. GWOT first sprang up immediately after September 11, 2001, when President George W. Bush pronounced his famous \u201cyou\u2019re either with us or with the terrorists\u201d rallying call, understandable under the circumstances following the devastating attacks in New York and Washington at the time. To the credit of Jacques…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-defense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juwonosudarsono.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juwonosudarsono.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juwonosudarsono.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juwonosudarsono.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juwonosudarsono.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/juwonosudarsono.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juwonosudarsono.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juwonosudarsono.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juwonosudarsono.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}