Brown University Researcher: ‘Instead of fighting a war on terror, U.S. should be mobilizing to combat climate change’

“In general, the greater the understanding, the greater the delusion; the more intelligent, the less sane.” ― George Orwell, 1984


Heidi Peltier is a “senior researcher at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University and director of programs for the Costs of War Project.” For all her skills as a researcher, however, she doesn’t appear to be aware that the Obama administration ended the war on terror in 2012. What’s more, the waste she decries in the war on terror is largely derived from the fact that it was wrongly conceived from the beginning, and wrongly executed all the way through.

In any case, she wants an end to Wilsonian messianic interventionism, and that would indeed be a good thing. But she wants the resources of the U.S. government to be devoted instead to fighting “climate change,” apparently unaware of the fact that such a fight will be just as empty and fruitless as the “war on terror,” if not even more so. It is, to say the least, unproven that human activity has caused climate change, and even more unproven that human activity can fix the climate. What’s more, the activities proposed are all being undertaken by the U.S. and Western Europe, while China ignores the problem and benefits economically from the West’s self-abnegation.

She says: “Climate-related disasters have killed more Americans from flooding and wildfires than the 2,996 people who died in the 9/11 attacks.” That may be, but again, there is no proof that this was the result of something human beings did. There have been floods and wildfires throughout history. Nor is it certain that ending the use of the internal combustion engine etc. will solve the problem.

It’s time to shift from the ‘war on terror’ to a war on climate change

by Heidi Peltier, Guardian, November 7, 2021:

Large government bureaucracies are often slow to adapt to changing realities, such as the catastrophic threats we face in a warming world. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is no exception. New research from Brown University’s Costs of War Project shows that the DHS has been overly focused on foreign and foreign-inspired terrorism, while violent attacks in the US have more often come from domestic sources. A combination of willful ignorance and institutional inertia caused the agency to miss the rise in white supremacy and domestic terrorism that led to the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol.

The new data from Dr Erik Dahl, Associate Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, show that just one of the 46 failed terror plots in the US from 2018 through 2020 was directed by a foreign organization. In contrast, 29 plots were planned or carried out by domestic groups. In 2019, DHS finally acknowledged the growing threat of targeted violence and domestic terrorism borne mainly of far-right ideology and white supremacy and issued its first strategy document identifying these threats.

While we know now that the threat of violent attacks from domestic sources outnumber those from foreign sources, a bigger source of insecurity still is that of climate change. On October 21, the DHS released its first-ever “Strategic Framework for Addressing Climate Change,” acknowledging the importance of climate as a source of disruption and threat to security. As the COP26 UN climate meetings start this week, it’s time for a recognition that climate change is in fact a more expensive, more deadly, and more real threat to lives and to the US economy than the threat of what we call terrorism.

The “War on Terror” – a phrase born in the George W Bush administration – needs to be retired both as an action and a concept. The word “terrorism” instills a sense of fear and gives carte blanche for the US government to intervene around the globe….

Instead of wasting trillions of dollars and millions of lives fighting a war on terror, the US should be mobilizing to combat climate change….

Climate-related disasters have killed more Americans from flooding and wildfires than the 2,996 people who died in the 9/11 attacks….

To read more columns about Climate Change click here.

EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

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