For quite some time, conventional wisdom held that Iraq was the central front in the war on terror. But as studies like the National Intelligence Estimate of April 2006 reveal our efforts in Iraq to have actually caused a rise in threats to our security, prevailing thinking on the issue of terrorism warrants further scrutiny.

In the provocative report, Terrorism: A Brief for Americans, Juniper Financial Corp. CEO Richard W. Vague spells out in clear terms a new path towards reducing the threat of terrorism worldwide. Through lucid, accessible prose, the report adopts a businessman’s lens of tough-minded, economic conservative rationale to analyze what is wrong with our foreign policy and our fight against terrorism.

Vague describes how serious problems with terrorism often originate in countries or regions where the population is enduring occupation or oppression, as this can be mobilized by extremists to gain the support of a broad population. The most effective way to eliminate popular support, to isolate -- and thus neutralize -- terrorists, is to overcome the occupation or oppression by replacing it with a truly decentralized and representative government. But in order for this to occur, economic opportunity and wealth must be decentralized at the same time.

The report can be read in full online or downloaded as a PDF file.