Will the USA lose the war on terror because we are not willing to do what it takes to win?

Question

People say there's no way to win a war against a religious based ideology nor an enemy that blends in with the rest of the cultures.
This idea really isn't true. The people of the USA are just not willing to do what it takes to rid the planet of these terrorist. That being wage the war exactly like WWII, massive death and destruction.
These terrorists weren't the first to fly airplanes into targets and blow themselves up just to kill others. The Japanese did exactly the same thing during WWII. The Japanese had exactly the same notion in their heads that they would go to a special place in heaven if they sacrificed their lives to kill the enemy.
In the last year of the war in Europe, just the Allied aerial bombing alone killed almost 700,000 civilians in Germany and left tens of millions homeless. This type of death and destruction is what takes the will to wage war out of the population of the enemy.
This surgical war they are trying to wage against terror will not work. All it will do is bring more people into the enemy's fold. The middle-east, particularly the radical countries like Iran, Syria, Jorden, Pakistan, and mayeb even Saudi Arabia, need to be bombed into the stone age. Every city needs to be leveled. Massive civilian deaths must occur. Only this way will the people of that area want peace, just as the Japanese did after a few atoms bombs fell from the sky.
The people of the USA can't live with that much death on their hands, however.

Answer 1

That is one way to win, but if you think that path is lined with rose petals than you are far more ignorant than you appear. Sure, you could beat the Middle East population into submission, but they would put down their weapons against us reluctantly. They may even foolishly fight to the last man. I think the Middle Eastern insurgents have far more balls than Japanese Kamikazes did. They do appear more brazen, bold and relentless.

You would effectively say the solution is to enact genocide against the Middle East. That's a war crime, if we do that we are no better than Hitler, trying to 'purify' the gene pool by just removing those with disagree with. This is not the American way of doing things.

If you think your plan would affect only the Middle East, think again. The entire world would condemn us for such heinous acts. Iraqis and Iranians and other Middle Eastern nationals occupy the world over. Do you think they'd just ignore what you want to do to their home? In essence I think you'd create more enemies than you started with.

Answer 2

Perhaps one should determine in what context Iraq is a war. iraq is an occupied country. Occupied countries usually rally a resistence by their people against their occupiers. In this context how exactly does the world 'terrorist' fit in? Were the French resistence in WWII terrorists because they battled the Germans who occupied their country? Of course many s**t disturbers have pored into Iraq which was prime for civil and religious strife if anyone ever broke down the once thing that united the people of that country - fear of their repressive government. Iraq is bound to break into several nations with Iran emerging as a regional power and the real winner of this 'adventure'. To try to be so black and white and say they are terrorists who 'hate freedom' is plain stupid...they see this war as a struggle for their own freedom which is a great irony.

Answer 3

the US will not win "the war on terror" because it never was/has been "the war on terror" to begin with.
don't believe everything you see on tv, hear on the radio or read in books produced in the US. you might even want to check for accuracy in the history books you read from in grade school.
with all due respect, where does one get peace by bombing entire countries "into the stone age" ?
if the US is pissing off this many countries (and many more than you have mentioned), maybe the us should take a long hard look at itself and make some changes.
who you really need to be worried about are the South American countries: Venezuela, Chile, Cuba, Brazil (though i doubt Cuba is much of a threat at this point), etc.
...and the people of the USA have been living with this much death on our hands since we first came to this country and took land from the Indians.

Answer 4

#1 It was Bush and Cheney who started this war with the intention that it will never be won or ended.
#2 It was a PHONY, an unnecessary war in Iraq, and Bin Laden was responsible , as well as Saudi Arabia, for the attack on 9/11/01 on our country soil. We would have a border control of this country.
#3 Bush has now increased the amount of insurgents.
#4 Also, Bush and Cheney, Senate, and house have begun to bankrupt our treasury.

Answer 5

The tentacles of these terrorist groups reach all over the world. What are we supposed to be willing to do? Bomb every single country on the globe except for ours? Those who say you can't win a war based on religious ideology are right. All we can do is the best we can to protect our own country. Terrorists are like weeds. You can kill them but there will just be more that pop up in their place.

Answer 6

Bob,

We are not fighting a war on terror. You have a short memory. If you will remember, the twin towers were destroyed by Saudis and Egyptians. We just made up the terror threat posed by the Iraqis and Afghans to terrorize them. You have to understand historically about the people of the middle east, they have never lived under "so called" democracy so it's not going to work. We need to cut our losses and theirs, take the money we are spending in our ruthless effort and spend it on giving children's health care, taking care of our borders and our infrastructure.

The people of the United States are NOT the world police. People of other sovereign nations should have the option of living the way they want or the way they tolerate to live.

In this scenario, we are the HITLERS trying to impose our form of government on other countries. People who believe as you do are the followers of the third Reich who were completely snowed by "Hitler" and his administration. People of Iraq and Afghanistan are our 6 million Jews.

Wake up and smell the coffee. Aside from ruining our economy for countless years, this war is ruining our planet's climate...you will be dead but your children and grandchildren will have to deal with the problems created in this administration.

Answer 7

This battle has been waged for many thousands of years with much less restraint than we show on the subject and yet it endures. You are absolutely correct in your assertion that the people of the United States do not have the stomach for the fight anymore. However, in my opinion you are incorrect in your belief that this can be ultimately won by military means. We can exact retribution to be sure, but in order to win the war on terror we must eliminate the thinking which breeds it in the first place.

As for Japan, they were an honorable culture which accepted defeat and then changed their way of thinking. This in turn led Japan to great economic power. However, they were not fighting WWII as a matter of religion or culture in the first place. Their motives were material and revolved around needing resources to fuel their economy. Islamic terrorism is a completely different matter fueled by a total belief that infidels must be converted or killed.

Answer 8

Japan was a sovereign nation. WWII was a declared war on a foreign nation. The terrorists do not belong to any nation and therefore it is impossible to declare war. What is your answer, destroy the entire Middle East? The war on terror is a war that must be won with intelligence and police work, not by bombing indiscriminately. There are countless numbers of Muslims throughout the world. You would have to attack Asia as well. How far do you go? Your proposal is not only foolish it is reckless as well. America cannot declare war on the entire Muslim world.

Answer 9

What would be "winning" the war of terror? If we found Osama? I'd consider that victory of the "war on terror", but not the policing of Iraq. Iraq will never be stable, can't set up their own government, and their soldiers are too dumb to defend themselves. We would have to stay there for 100 years before we saw MAJOR improvement. Let's stop throwing money at this "war" and move north to Afghanistan. Time to find OBL.

Answer 10

I am not going to read the others answers.
Brother, Boy how I wish you lived somewhere around Houston, Texas, as you and I could have many, many, cups of coffee, coca colas, and discuss WW l and WW ll History !!!
You know much about "French-Indo China" ?? (pre 'nam?)
I am afraid that the liberals, "political correctness" "detente", group, etc., like Korea, & 'Nam, these defeatists will continue to stir up the population with their scatology !!!! The result will be our withdrawel, and (muy mucho) very many more attacks on our own homeland, and all the while, these liberals will point the finger of blame at those of us who prefer to fight on the other mans turf !!!!
To me, this is a sad , sad, sad time.