From the Counterterrorism Blog:

A new Rand Corporation report on the end of terrorist organizations supports the views that police and law enforcement tools are generally more effective than military force in countering most options.

This useful report focuses on how various terrorist groups have ended their activities. It said that by analyzing the 648 terrorist groups that existed worldwide between 1968 and 2006, the authors found that 268 terrorist groups ended during that period. 40% ended because of operations carried out by local police or intelligence agencies. Meanwhile, 43% reached a peaceful political accommodation with their government. In 10% of cases, terrorist groups ended because they achieved victory, while the application of military force led to the end of terrorist groups in only 7% of cases.

Seth Jones, the lead author of the study was quoted by AP as saying that “terrorists should be perceived and described as criminals, not holy warriors, and our analysis suggests there is no battlefield solution to terrorism.”

Actually the emphasis on describing terrorists as criminals goes back to the Reagan administration. This has been largely overlooked in recent years as the use of the law enforcement tool became a political points scoring issue. Republicans recently criticized Senator Obama emphasis on the use of the criminal justice system as one of the weapons against terrorism. Senator Kerry also was criticized in the last election.There are legitimate arguments either way about the ability of past administrations in tracking down and prosecuting terrorists but ignored and forgotten in the criticism is the fact that it was the Reagan Administration that refined and pushed the concept of strengthening and applying the rule of law against terrorists.