Winning hearts vital in war on terror

Speaking at the Asia-Europe Editor Forum, organised by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung - a Germany-based foundation that promotes democracy - Ramakrishna said the US still had to focus on cracking down on individuals deemed as terrorists, but that alone could never stamp out terrorism.

Instead, it would be wise for the US to comprehend the psychology of those who have been "inspired" by the global "jihad" movements. Ramakrishna made his remarks on the topic of "Globalisation in Terrorism: al-Qaeda's Links to Southeast Asia" to 25 European and Asian journalists visiting Thailand for three days.

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He pointed out that young Muslims could be made to feel that they were part of the transnational Islamic community. They could be urged to fight what they believed as aggression and injustice against Islam without joining al-Qaeda or Southeast Asia's Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist networks, he said.

The US has to be more "propaganda-minded" and seriously consider the implications of its policies on counter-terrorism, he said.

He cited the US-led war in Iraq as a "catastrophic failure of leadership of the so-called liberation force", saying that the US has thus far been unable to verify that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Force should be used at a minimum and a campaign for their hearts and minds needs to be emphasised, he said.

But, Mahfuz Anam, editor of Bangladesh's The Daily Star, said that addressing terrorism by waging a propaganda war would only trivialise the issue. Instead it should focus on how the majority treats the minority.

Willi Germung, Germany's Berliner Zeitung correspondent, said it should not be forgotten that propaganda tactics did not enable the US to win the Vietnam War.