"Interdiction," or aggression?(Insider Report)

In his 2002 book Bush at War--which was compiled with ample help from the White House, Pentagon, and CIA--Bob Woodward describes a ceremony conducted by U.S. Special Forces and intelligence personnel near Gardez, Afghanistan, on February 5, 2002. About 25 men gathered around a tombstone marking a buried piece of the World Trade Center. During the ceremony, one of those present declared: "We will export death and violence to the four corners of the earth in defense of our great nation."

Obviously, there are occasions when defending our nation will require the focused delivery of lethal violence against our enemies. Just as obviously, 9/11 was one of those times. But death that is "exported" to distant regions sometimes returns in the form of "blowback"--lethal terrorist attacks capitalizing on growing resentment over America's interventionist foreign policy, often carried out by onetime allies or assets of the U.S. government. One such asset was Osama bin Laden, who was supported by the CIA, but who later became a key component of the international terror network.

Lt. Commander Brad Kieserman, operations legal chief at U.S. Coast Guard headquarters, offered a variation on the idea of defending our nation by exporting death. Speaking to the December 19 Denver Post, Kieserman defended the ...