American F-15Es struck an Islamic State training camp in rural Libya, killing dozens. Mohame ben Khalifa /Press Association. All rights reserved.The events of 9/11 in 2001 gave a boost to militarized policies to fight terrorism. In spite of fifteen years of mediocre results, the United States with a number of allies has persevered in this task. Three days after the November 13 Paris attacks, President François Holland renewed his commitment to this preference by declaring in Parliament gathered in Congress in Versailles: « France is at war ». Prime Minister Manuel Valls proceeded to pronounce the word « war » 9 times within 10 minutes during an interview broadcast on Saturday, November 14, 2015 on TF1[1]. With the multiplication of spectacular and tragic attacks on such cities as Bamako, Brussels, Istanbul or Paris, it has become urgent to question this belligerent political choice.
At the risk of being overly schematic, the militarized fight against terror has evolved in five phases which, each in their manner, have fed political instability in several parts of the world. We should add that these five phases did not so much follow each other sequentially as tend to overlap.
Classical military action
American and European armed forces began by resorting to rather « classical » military actions, aimed at the destruction of the opponent thanks to their technological and fire-power superiority. During this phase, soldiers relied on the operational lessons learned from the Second World War and the Cold War, while sometimes adapting them significantly. The intervention of 2001 in Afghanistan corresponds broadly to this pattern of action. In particular, the invasion of the country that took place between October and December, 2001 had as its objective the overcoming of Taliban forces through airpower. The 2003 invasion of Iraq, partially motivated by a supposed link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, followed a similar logic.
