Can America alone win the war on terror? No. Terrorism is a global problem, and any solution to it must involve the international community.
We were attacked on 9/11 by fundamentalist extremist who view our nation\'s modernism and policy as evil. They are fighting what they perceive as the last remaining super power whose wealth and strength threaten and defy what they believe. Not only that but also a nation whose government is perceived as corrupt and greedy the world round. (Whether or not the government is corrupt I’m not willing to argue, so don’t start) They are not attacking our religion, and our “struggle against extremist” in Iraq is not about attacking their religion or beliefs. We are dealing with criminals, plain and simple.
In the future, a long time from now, the War on Iraq will register as a horrible decision that costs lives and accomplished little more than remove a brutal dictator from rule. One, I might add, that had nothing to do with the attacks on 9/11. What of all the other harmful dictators in the world? Those who inflict themselves upon their people and harbor ill will towards others, and not to mention have weapons of mass destruction. Do we invade them too? At what costs, and to what end?
Our strike on Iraq has actually done more harm than good. In pursuing our unilateral war with our “we’ll go it alone if we have to” attitude, the perception of a unipolar world where the United States sits atop everyone else and acts on its own accord has furthered any resentment or hatred than what was present before the war. Our occupation in Iraq, somewhere we never belonged, has created a new generation of terrorist and has made us an even hotter target than ever before. We are not safer than we were pre-9/11, and Iraq is more unstable than ever. Even worse is that there is no end in sight.
Any effort to minimize terrorism will have to be an international effort where everyone involved is acting in unison with the same agenda. Anything else is a distraction and a great waste of effort. I said this a long time ago and my mind hasn’t changed.
Please don’t take my criticism of our nation’s government as unpatriotic or anti-American. I’m going to leave you with a quote:
Patriotism means loving your country and its best ideals, enough even to oppose it when it’s grievously wrong.