Distinctiveness (I): Asymmetrical Warfare
Key Terms: Asymmetrical Warfare, Star War/Star War II (National Missile Defence
System), Pearl Harbour Incident, Geneva Convention, Democracy/Civic
Responsibility, Vietnam War, Gulf War, Office of Homeland Security, Sino-
American Spy Plane Crushing Incident
Key Persons: Ronald Reagan, George W Bush, Ronald Rumsfeld, Kim Jong Il,
Osama Bin Laden, the “Shoe Bomber”
Key Places: Columbus (New Mexico), Capitol Hill, Guantanamo Bay, Roman
Empire, North Korea, Vietnam
I. 911: Why was it so extraordinary?
Actor: Non-governmental Organization (more on Week 10)
Victim: American Exceptionalism – 3,044 lives + $US 36billion
Venue: 4th attack on the American “Homeland”
Tool: Two Definitions of Asymmetry
Timing: Accidentalism Vs Incrementalism, and the Subsequent Media Coverage
II. Asymmetry Type A – Military Vs Civility
Different Identities of the 911 Attackers and Victims
“The Editing Strategy of Political Incorrectness”
War Codes and Charters: commoners, children and women, war prisoners
III. Asymmetry Type B – Low-tech Primitivism Vs High-tech Modernism
Low-tech Primitive Strategy:
Hijacking, Everyday Life Weapons, Shoe Bomber, Psychological Attack
High-tech Modern Strategy:
“Star War,” Ronald Reagan
“Star War II” – National Missile Defence System (NMDS),George W Bush
The 911 Balance Sheet: DR/CR of the 911 attack – $US 1million Vs 36billion
Two-front war of Bush: NMDS + Office of Homeland Security
IV. Challenge: Asymmetry in the view of Osama Bin Laden
Concept of Democracy and Civic Responsibility
Laden’s Viewpoint on the American Democracy
Gross Imbalance of World Power: Analogy of the Roman Empire
Guantanamo Bay Scandal: American Mistreatment of Afghan Detainees
Past Asymmetry of American Attack
Vietnam War: Chemical weapons Vs Biological opposition
Gulf War: Sanction Vs the Poor and the Dead
V. Conclusion – Rethinking about Symmetry
Concept of Political Correctness and Asymmetry
Asymmetry as a way to redress the previous asymmetry:
Taoist Philosophy and North Korea’s “Mad Diplomacy”
Question: (1) Do you consider the 911 attack an asymmetrical one? Why or why not?
How would George W Bush and Osama Bin Laden answer the question respectively?
Main Text: Lawrence Freedman: “A New Type of War” (B&D P.37-47)
Supplementary Text: Christopher Harmon. Terrorism Today. Chapter 2: Strategies
(P.44-75).
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