Thread: Why Terrorism Exists

Originally Posted by Universal Mind

If we did not care about innocent people, the Middle East would be a sheet of glass with American flag decorated oil wells all over it. We could do that in a very short time from the air with no U.S. casualties.

No. We couldn't. Why couldn't we? Because every nation on the planet would turn against us; the American people at large would turn against our government; foreign relations would take a severe hit (both in terms of economically and the possibility of any allied forces, in future military campaigns), and our government, in the eyes of the entire world, would be the same "terrorist organization" that we have just labeled the Iranian Republican Guard. Don't assume that our not carpet-bombing Iraq has only to do with benevolence. There is much more to it than that.

Originally Posted by moonbeam

But we destroyed a whole country. I'm pretty sure more people are miserable in Iraq now than when our ex-friend Saddam was in power.

Not only did we destroy a whole country, but we are creating future terrorists; have all but destroyed our public image by not only initiating this premature war (and by this premature war, I mean the one against Iraq and not the people that actually attacked us); and also, by breaking so many congressional and constitutional laws in the process that even the American peoples' trust in government is waning even more than ever, we are destroying ourselves with this war (such as circumventing a napalm ban by using white phosphorous on the battlefield, among other tactics).

Our government has created the illusion that "terrorism" (which is a method, not an ideology) can be stamped out with a military of any size, and that is simply not true.
What happens when we leave? What happens ten years down the road, when the philosophy of radical Islam has had a chance to regain steam? They will start growing in numbers again. They will begin further undermining our national security measures (which are a joke, anyway. Border fence, anyone?) Do we start all over?

What happens if we stay? Does anyone really think that the American military force overseas can outlast a force that takes merely the word-of-mouth spreading of radical-Islamic principles and IED's that can be put-together in minutes, at little to no cost? I believe that would be a ridiculous assertion. Whenever this military campaign stops, there will still be enough radical Islamists, world-wide, to continue their campaign against us, and they will. There will be other bin Laden's, Al Ziwahiri's, etc. (and, heaven forbid, other 9/11's) We are fighting against an ideology (radical islam, not terrorism), and ideologies - especially those that are religion-based - spread faster than any military can defend against. Remember, we live in a world where hate-speak reaches the masses at broadband speed. Is this not common sense to the people that are sending thousands and thousands of people over there to die fighting for a region that will, in all probability, never be what we consider stable? We're already seeing that the Iraqi forces aren't even pulling their weight. We are sending our men over there and only asking that the Iraqi's meet benchmarks that we set, so that we know they are working towards stability. They've only met, what, maybe 20% of what had been projected for this period?

Originally Posted by dragonoverlord

Hardly the fate of the world is at stake, it seems your government randomly picked out a country that was totalarian and made an excuse that was a lie and then invaded.

Nah. It wasn't just any totalitarian country at random. It was the one where we had the most to gain by protecting American interests. The totalitarianism excuse (I believe) is more of a front, than anything else. Otherwise, we would have been sending scores of troops into Africa to stop the genocide. But, as we all know, that entire situation was all but ignored by the Administration, accept as a use for sound-bites from press conferencess saying how "deplorable" it was.

Originally Posted by tdkyo

Deception plays a part in every war of course, but if the government just wanted to take over iraq without thinking of innocents.... back when we started this war politicians would have had no problem selling that we needed to carpet bomb the country and that only the kurds are our allies. Back then it would have been easy to say that all Iraqis hate us because everyone believed that the whole middle east was out to get us. Of course now we all know this isnt true in Iraq, but I use as evidence that most people now believe all Iranians hate us thanks to the media and politicians.

I don't really believe that that many people believed all of Iraq was out to get us, or that that many people believe, now, that all Iranians hate us. Definitely not enough so that the government could sell a carpet-bombing campaign to us. I see where you're coming from, though.