“September 11th signaled the most serious threat to this country’s security since the Second World War,” said Brig. Gen. John Johns, on Sept. 3 in Bryan Jr. Auditorium. “It was very important that we judged the exact nature of that threat. Now we’re in Iraq and we are fighting the wrong war.”
In a lecture and discussion organized by the College Democrats, Johns and his colleague, Lt. Gen. Robert G. Gard, both of whom served in Vietnam, voiced concerns about the Iraq war and nuclear terrorism at home.
“My study of the French in Indochina and in Algeria convinced me that foreign combat forces cannot kill radicals and avoid alienating the population,” said Johns. “You defeat radicals by marginalizing them. If you dry up the swamp, you can kill the alligators.”
According to Johns, in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, America was in a strong position to marginalize Islamic radicals.