Is the war on terror like the war on drugs?

Question

It's like the war on drugs. You bust one drug house, and another one pops up around the corner to replace it. Same with terrorists. Kill 10 of them, then 50 pop up to replace the 10. You can't declare "victory" against a war on terror. You can't say "I've won the war on terror!" Unless you can somehow perform the immpossible by preventing future terrorists from becoming terrorists. You'd have to be omni-present to stop all terrorism. It will always be around, just like drugs. It's a perpetual "battle". The "war" on terrorism can't be "won", only stablized for a small amount of time.

Answer 1

I am afraid that it is an endless cycle and the two can definitely be compared. Just like you said. Close one drug house, two more pop up. Kill ten terrorists, fifty more pop up.

Answer 2

Declaring war on things like drugs and terror is a good way to create the illusion that you're actually doing some good when you're not. If we're fighting a war on drugs, the drugs are kicking our ***. The same could probably be said of the war on terror. I don't know the exact statistics, but it seems like there are more terrorists in the world now than there were before we declared war on them. I think a pretty good case could be made that declaring war on things is the first step toward failure. Now I'm really going to go out on a limb. Maybe war is not such a good thing after all. Maybe we should think long and hard about how to solve our problems without war, whether real or rhetorical.

Answer 3

Although I don't see the 'war on terror' as winnable the way it is being fought, I do not see a parallel between it and the war on drugs. The war on drugs is doomed to perpetual failure, because the desire for drug usage seems to be genetic. There is no known culture in all of recorded history that abstained from using psychotropic substances. People want them, and there is evidence we have evolved to depend on them (at least alcohol).

The war on terror, though ill conceived and poorly executed, is not hopeless. History is filled with parallels to it that eventually came to an end. Religion is tied into terrorism, no doubt, but it is as much a political movement as a religious movement. If the US withdrew from the middle east and removed it's support for Israel, terrorism really would decline. Other alternatives are much less appealling.

The Muslim world coexisted peacfully with the western world for most of its history. This isn't what the Christian doomsdayists like to admit, but it is the real history of the world. The current strifes were brought about by the breakup of the Ottoman empire and the arbitrary political boundaries drawn in the wake of that.

Answer 4

You are right, the war on terror will not be wrapped up in a neat little package for you within a few months. The goal of terrorism is not to win militarily, it is to take small shots at the enemy until their morale is weakened. They rely on the weak willed amongst us to give up. Your ideas have played right into their hands. If you did not smoke that stuff you would realize this.

Answer 5

Education is the only way. Sometimes the solution isn't clear. The thing about the war on drugs is that it is inhumane because it punishes sick and weak people that need help and love.

Answer 6

Yep. Big, expensive, impossible to win, and can apparently only be fought by taking away our rights, thus giving the terrorists exactly what they want.

Answer 7

it is unwinnable.
human nature being what it is will continue to rebel.
we still have a police force after 300 years of law enforcing.
enough said.

Answer 8

It's a good excuse for oppression because it is indefinable.

Answer 9

Yes indeed. Did you just notice.. Fall on your head real quick now... reality is so .. not worth knowing ... these days.

Answer 10

that's the word on the street