The new issue of the New Yorker has a good piece on Patrick Skinner, who did just what the headline you just read says he did.
The article states that, “over the years he came to believe that counterterrorism was creating more problems than it solved, fuelling illiberalism and hysteria, destroying communities overseas, and diverting attention and resources from essential problems in the United States.”
Here’s how Skinner summarizes his views: “’We write these strategic white papers, saying things like ‘Get the local Sunni population on our side. Cool. Got it. But, then, if I say, ‘Get the people who live at Thirty-eighth and Bulloch on our side,’ you realize, man, that’s fucking hard—and it’s just a city block. It sounds so stupid when you apply the rhetoric over here.”
An interesting side comment from Skinner: “People thank cops for their service, but they should be thanking McDonald’s workers. They’re way more likely to have a gun in their face than I am.”
