How do you fight a concept?

Question

In this country we are at "war" with terrorism. Can you win this battle? Every time you kill, you plant the seed for a potential terrorist. If I kill a man, and leave his son, surely his son will seek revenge. So where does it stop?

Answer 1

You can't.
What exactly is 'terrorism' anyway?

If it's any attempt to control people though fear--well, legally that disrupts our entire justice system. Anyone guilty of assault would be guilty of terrorism. Should all who are accused of assault be tried as terrorists?

A war on a concept does not work because a concept is usually pretty loosely defined in people's minds. It's not the basis for a real war.

Also, I think that for a war to be justified it needs clearly defined objectives and clear criteria for victory. The 'war on terror' does not have these. If you want to dispute me, tell me what the objectives and criteria victory are.

Answer 2

I really don't think that one can call what we are doing a "war on terror."

You are right, you can't just fight a concept with manpower and weapons.

For the rest of this I'll just focus on Islamic terrorists, seems to be the main concern for Americans.

Some organizations like Hezbollah do what they do for purely religious reasons. The only way to stop something like that is to kill them all. They aren't rational people and no amount of reasoning can bring them to their senses. One side must simply destroy the other in cases like that or forever be in conflict. That isn't always the case though.

Most people who become terrorists do so because their lives are in despair, and they see some oppressive power keeping them down so that IT can stay on top. They can't fight that power with conventional means so they resort to terrorism.

We see a lot of terrorists as religious extremists, and that isn't an unfair assessment. Many got that way though because they didn't have anything else to hold on to in their lives because westerners took it all away. So they clung to what they still had left, religion.

My life may really suck now, but if I kill a bunch of polytheists (as Christians can be easily viewed by people outside the faith because they put emphasis on the holy trinity) I'll go to heaven. Allah says so!

(Not saying this is true for all Muslims and I know MANY Muslims who are really decent people. They weren't raised in war ravaged countries though).

These people become terrorists because they have nothing to loose and think they have something to gain. If we instead focused on just stabilizing the region (which we are NOT, despite what the media tells you) and improving their educational system, we would give them something to loose. This isn't a time efficient or economically beneficial route for the U.S. so we don't pursue it.

So long as the states keeps struggling to stay the dominant power this will continue. This isn't something we can keep up forever though. We got to where we are because WWII left us the only developed country not completely ravished by the war. Every one of these little conflicts we get into though saps whatever remains of the advantage we once had, and eventually we will loose our economic edge (if we haven't actually done so already) and we will fall from the position of prevailing superpower.

If the middle east hasn't stabilized itself by then (which I'm sure it won't) then at least we'll have grown too weak to piss them off by meddling in their affairs. Once that happens they will have no provocation to attack us.

Edit: I'm just adding this for some clarification. The U.S. has been directly meddling with the affairs of the middle east since the cold war. This fact is lost on a lot of Americans. Terrorists are not without their reasons for attacking us. I don't agree with their tactics, but when you are fighting a super-power, you can't do so on level grounds. If you take away their reasons to fight, then the fighting will stop for the most part, but you can never absolutely remove terrorism. There'll always be the nuts out there.

Answer 3

First of All, I dislike the term "war" we are not at "war" with terrorism, anymore then we are "at war" with drugs, or poverty, or ignorance. By calling it a "war" you prevent rational discussion of the problem. We at war in Iraq, to fight terrorism yes, but we are not, and could not be "at war" with an idea.

As for whether this "battle" can be won....I would say no. However, merely because victory is impossible does not mean we should not fight. For, although the "war" against ignorance is impossible to win....should we give up? Never! The world will never be made completely "safe for democracy" but it can be made safer. And we must do all we can to keep our nation safe.

But I think what you’re asking here is the method of fighting this war, does not violence beget violence? Perhaps, however sadly there is no reasonable alternative. The fools who believe evil can be pacified through "understanding" are fools indeed. Evil is not rational, world peace cannot be reached merely through diplomacy. Throughout history, there was no peace when equal nations respected each other; there is peace when one nation is too strong to attack. Those who wish to be noble and "turn the other cheek" need to realize that it is not their cheek that will be hit but some stranger will pay the price for their nobility. They need to ask themselves if they are willing to gamble with someone else's life for the sake of being noble.

If there is a watchword for this "war" it must be "no negotiations with terrorists" I am afraid the answer to your question is, it will stop when only one of us is left standing.


Hope that helps,

Josh K.

Answer 4

The same way they are also fighting a "War on Drugs". When are they going to win that one? They must have lost because every time I turn on the TV a drug dealer is trying to sell me some new drug that I gotta try. It's just like they told me in grade school too, these drug dealers will give you a free sample and then start charging you.

Maybe someday they'll have terrorists on TV.
Wait, when is the next White House press conference?

Answer 5

That's why the "war on terrorism" is the worst concept on the face of the planet. No one will ever win this battle but who really thinks the war is on terrorism? It's either a war for oil or a war for land ownership.

Answer 6

It will stop the day we realise that we are fighting without a cause and what we actually thought was the cause is a stupid cause - also most importantly, the day we learn to forgive each other for our forefathers madness's and ignorance. We don't need to fight just because our fathers did !

Answer 7

You are right...... but we arent trying to convince anyone of anything. We are trying to make it logistically hard for people who like to become terrorists - to do so.
You can hate all you want...... but when you form that hate into a gun and point it at me, we have another problem entirely.

Answer 8

*Sigh* All decisions are made emotionally, then justified logically. Can we win this "terrorist" war?

If you notice in "Star Trek" there is no Islamic people- cause this shows the future! :D

Answer 9

So you want to do nothing and become a Muslim monkey boy. Do you think they will leave you alone if there is no U.S. soldier standing around with a gun on them.

Answer 10

Support the troops. Support diplomacy too!