If the USA is in a war callled the war on Terror, are we not at war perpetually?

Question

or at least for many many more decades to come at a very minimum? I am not talking like a lukewarm war like the cold war. I am talking real fighting wars with invasions and conquests and policing of civil wars, and eavesdropping on would be supsected terrorists, and extraditions and Gitmo, and looking at citizens rights under "more enlightened" eyes due to current threats and the whole ball of wax. We are at war against terror, and we are in this war for the long foreseeable and unforeseeable future.

Answer 1

The war on terror is a propaganda term. How can we war against a method? We can war against an ideology or a nation but a method? Terrorism has, does and will always exist as a method of people who see themselves as oppressed and lacking the means to organize into a formidable fighting force using conventional weapons and tactics. It was usded by Gengis Khan, Hannibal, the Huns, Vandals, and others in ancient times in greater quantities than what we see today in the Middle East. The barbarians used terror as one tactic to take down the Roman empire because they didn't have the weapons or means to obtain weapons to fight equally with Rome. Terrorism had to be the method of choice as it is effective and it works for small or large groups and requires little or no investment outside the committment of those employing it.

Answer 2

Declaring war on terror is like declaring war on unhappiness. There is never going to be a time when there is no unhappiness or no terror on the planet. Terror is a rather ambigous thing to fight a war against. How do you know when you have won? Lets say that the army destroys every last person in AlQuaida. How do we know that they are destroyed? They have cells all over the planet. Even then, there are plenty of other terrorist groups that can be fought. There will be a new one every month or so. It is a war that will never end.

What is even worse is that the current government is violating the rights of people in the name of this "war". Illegal wire tapping, torture, holding people without charge or trial. All of these are reasons why the founding fathers of this country set out what the rights of the people are. They fought against a country that violated the rights of its citizens on a regular basis. Back then, they considered that country to be bad guys. I believe that they would consider the current government to be bad guys as well.

Answer 3

Since terror is a tactic or idea rather than an entity you can logically go to war against, yes we will likely be mired in some level of conflict for the foreseeable future UNLESS we get an administration that knows anything about world events and fixes the wrongs of the current administration rather than chasing ghosts and invading countries for no good reason

Answer 4

Bush Administration propaganda.

We should be focusing on finding Bin Laden, or whomever orchestrated the 9/11 attacks; instead, we're still fooling around in Iraq and threatening Iran.

Talk about your "Shotgun Approach" for waging a war.

Answer 5

Yes we are, and that is exactly what the Bush/ Cheney Mafia want. It will result in them and their cronies swimming in oil and OUR taxpayer dollars. End of story!

Answer 6

that's the idea, it's never supposed to end, that's the whole point...

"we've always been at war with oceania, eurasia has always been our ally"

Answer 7

Oceania is at war. Oceania has always been at war.

Answer 8

yes, but those entities refuse to compromise, like in israel where hamas refuses to accept the existence and are hell bent on destroying them. it sux but you are right.

Answer 9

Unfortunately so, probably never ending to insure our freedom and independence.

Answer 10

The war on drugs, the war on poverty, the war on gays, cons love war.