The Absurdity of the War on Terror

Back in 2001, on the 11th of september, the whole world stood utterly shocked by the tradgic events that took place on that day. This shock and terror was amplified in western nations, partly because of the media, and partly because most of us had been living out our lives mostly unconcerned with the tradgedies going on around the world. As long as all was good and well on our doorstep, then we seemed to think everything else was just somebody else's problem. It was a bit like somebody rigging your alarm clock to a shotgun to wake you up from a long, deep sleep.

Up until that day, whatever tragedy we saw on the news, weather it be starvation, terrorism, genocide, you name it, we always managed to keep a psychological distance between ourselves and the people going through the tragedies we witnessed. Of course we felt compassion, yet at the same time we reacted as passively as could be, living by the motto "ignorance is bliss". Rarely was the connection made in peoples minds that maybe, just maybe, these tradgedies had something to do with our western economic/governmental policies, that allow us to live so lavishly in this age of mass consumerism, and mass waste.

Then all of a sudden, two giant 747's crash straight into two of the tallest buildings in the world. This was our wake up call. Hold on, we though, this isn't supposed to happen in our world. This kinda thing is supposed to happen on TV, some place far far away, who's name we cannot pronounce. Not here, not on our doorstep.

My initial reaction to 9-11, besides compassion and empathy for those who had lost loved ones, was also a feeling of hope. Hope that this was in fact the wake up call we'd needed for a long time. That maybe people would realise that we can't just allow our governments and corporations to bully their way through the world, devastating billions of lives just so we can drive a nice big car, wear nike trainers and go to McDonalds every other day.

I thought the fact it was the world trade center that was attacked, one of the great institutions of globalisation, free trade and mass-exploitation, would be enough to make people realise that we can't expect to go down this path without consequence. Perhaps enough to bring about the winds of change that have been needed for so long in this world.

Alas it wasn't long before my hopes were ripped apart, smashed up, and later defecated on and thrown into the furnace of media hype, spin and disinformation. Instead of analysing these events intelligently and holisticly, looking at it from all angles, we were quickly told to keep our minds locked shut and to accept only what our TV's told us to be the truth.

Our TV's told us that this was a war. A war between good and evil, with us westerners undoubtedly being the good guys. We were told that we were fighting against these baddies who despised us because we were free (what??) and that they were all controlled by an evil genius (no doubt) who goes by the name of Osama Bin-Laden. Xenophobia was promoted with all the baddies being middle-eastern muslims, who look different to us white westerners and so they must be evil. George Bush summed up this complete polarisation of events with his statement "You are either with us or with the terrorists". And people fell for it! Millions of people actually fell for this fairy-tale! Its frightening to consider how many of us can be duped into blatant propaganda which has allowed the elite to furthur such a destructive and dangerous agenda.

The war started in afghanistan, where our heroes scoured these barren lands in search of Osama and his evil minions. After dropping god-knows how many bombs, and searching every mountain, cave, nook and cranny, we eventually decided he wasn't there. Osama's army with their sticks and stones had successfuly evaded the most advanced army in the world, with unprecedented surveillance technology that can usually find anyone, anwhere in the world, just by pressing a few buttons on a computer.

After being faced with defeat in afghanistan, and still being all fired up for a war, we concentrated our efforts elsewhere. Enter Iraq, controlled by the evil tyrant Sadam Huissane who must be taken down to protect our freedoms and democracy. The problem here was the connection to 'the war on terrorism' was much less obvious. There was no clear evidence that Sadam was keeping terrorists, yet our TV told us he had weapons of mass destruction and would strike us at any moment. Also Iraq was populated with those measly muslims, undoubtedly evil as they're on the side of the enemy, and should be stopped before they take away from us our freedoms. So off to war we went, and that is where our troops remain today, fighting evil, and sacraficing their lives for erm... wot was it again?

A minute ago i thought we were fighting terrorism. But now i'm not so sure. Just goes to show how mass-amnesia has reached huge proportions, and that nobody really knows what we're fighting for anymore. If somebody out there knows what it is I would be grateful if you could let me know.

As for our troops, I sincerely hope the poor souls can return to their homes and loved ones soon, and escape this entirely pointless conflict.

As for George Bush, fighting all who stand in the way of freedom and democracy, I hope he realises before long that his actions are a bigger threat to these things than any muslim.

Peace

Well said!!! I often feel like I am watching some kind of dark comedy, which is funny, but not in a laughter-inducing way. No, this farce is funny the way watching a drunk person hurt himself, after you tried to stop him from doing something stupid, is funny: you cringe and sympathize with the pain they will doubtless suffer tomorrow, but you also get a sick kind of pleasure out of it, because the fool has no one to blame but himself (and "I told him so").

I keep hoping that one of these days reality is going to kick in and force all of those people, who have become so distracted by today's "Bread and Circuses", to open their eyes and see what is happening in the world around them.

Unfortunately, they are under the influence of the most addictive and debilitating drug there is, greed, and very few are ever truely rehabilitated. It causes the addict to hallucinate, often believing that without alot of money and possessions, a person has no value.

How sad for so many to be so misguided as to believe that just because someone follows a different religion, lives in another country, and/or isn't driven by the need to have the most/best/newest, doesn't mean they want/need our help to make their lives "better" or "more free" by transforming them into us.

Good post.

I agree with your sentiments. I feel like we're living in some weird kind of penance time for our ignorance and complacency. It's like we receive a wake up call, and immediately afterwards our bedroom is filled with knock-out gas.

I think Iraq was the kicker for me. Up until congress went belly up and signed the AUMF, I believed that America's actions were those of a frightened power, reacting to something it had no experience with, fumbling steps but which would eventually straighten themselves out. Instead, after our foray in Afghanistan, we invade.... Iraq? A crippled country of no threat to anyone except maybe Iran, the only nation in the region besides Iraq America had no national interests in? I was against war on a national scale for a criminal action which took maybe 100 people at most to organize and orchestrate, but if we had to go to war, I was expecting Saudi Arabia or Pakistan, the two major players in 9/11. Iraq was just... I mean... how? why? What was the citizenry thinking?

That's when I realized something absurdly, surrealistically bad (for lack of a better term) had been lying dormant across America, for who knows how long. It was like, waking up one morning and realizing your partner you went to sleep with last night was actually some kind of monster, or lump of plastic, or something totally unrecognizable. What the hell is going on?

-koji K.

The war on terror is very real. If you're sight has grown dim then maybe you should see an eye doctor. There are plenty of good doctors over in Israel. Saudi Arabia will provide a thorough examination as will visiting the spot where the WTC once stood. How about the young boys who have come back from war with missing limbs? Lets ask them what it's about.

It doesn't matter what you think war is about - it's about alot of things to different people with different agendas all lumped together in a cesspool of mire. It's about oil, greed, glory, history, adrenalin, R&D, construction, contracts - medals.

To one man it's about honor, integrity - to another, about helping a poor people. Isn't war on terror about revenge as well?

You shoudn't be confused - you're not the one walking through the mire; you're just another person on the boat with an opinion. The war on terror is about different things to different people - thats what war has always been about.

One thing is for damn sure, Iraq didn't curb terrorism, and yes it provides a ground to wage warfare. The most ludicrous thought from amateurs is that pushing the perimeter out as far as possible will keep the gooks from getting in the wire. Recruits are up, morale is high, the cause is just amongst the enemy - you're average general will tell you this is a receipe for disaster. Don't get too comfortable.

The history of wars on generic nouns is not a promising one.

Did the "War on Poverty" end poverty?
Nope.

Did the "War on Drugs" end drug use?
Nope.

But somehow, this time, if we only repeat the same mistakes, but with a shiny new face, it'll work out just fine.
OK, sure.

War on Al Quaeda? I'm all for it. Kill em all, you'll get no complaints from me.

War on Terror? Yeah, good luck with that one.

I'm waiting for the War on Gravity and the War on Unrequited Love.
I'm sure those will work out just fine...


[edit on 3-5-2005 by xmotex]

Thanks for the feedback

I know that what I said didn't exactly contain any groundbreaking insights.
Just felt like a bit of a rant about how crazy the whole thing is and i'm glad some of you agree with me.

I'm waiting for the War on Gravity and the War on Unrequited Love.
I'm sure those will work out just fine...

Like it!

The war on terror is very real. If you're sight has grown dim then maybe you should see an eye doctor. There are plenty of good doctors over in Israel. Saudi Arabia will provide a thorough examination as will visiting the spot where the WTC once stood. How about the young boys who have come back from war with missing limbs? Lets ask them what it's about.

I'm not saying that terrorism isn't real. It is a very real and dangerous threat and needs to be dealt with. I suppose the "point" of my rant was to point out how it has been dealt with in entirely the wrong way. Also, how has the war in Iraq done anything to counter this threat? IMO it has just thrown petrol on the fire.

Originally posted by Abstrakt

I'm not saying that terrorism isn't real. It is a very real and dangerous threat and needs to be dealt with. I suppose the "point" of my rant was to point out how it has been dealt with in entirely the wrong way. Also, how has the war in Iraq done anything to counter this threat? IMO it has just thrown petrol on the fire.

Well, you tried to make it sound like it was all just for greed and power.

The war in Iraq is being fought for many reasons. There are some people that prefer to claim it is all just for oil and to make a few people richer...what else is new?...this has been said of the US for the past, what 60 years?....probably more....

The fact is that Saddam not only broke the sanctions in many ways and was trying to acquire, and probably did acquire, wmd in some capacity. Why else would he had tons of documents which dealt with the construction of wmd, and why would he be trying to break the sanctions by having some of the material that was banned from Iraq? which included scud missiles which some were fired upon the coalition at the beginning of the war, rockets that were banned, and other materials which were found in scrap yards around the world which had traces of wmd gases and even uranium; all of which was in possesion of Iraq before the war started.

This is an old horse that has been beaten several times, evidence has been presented to prove what i have said above, yet people still want ot keep chanting "the US is evil" yaddi, yaddi, yadda....and all the rest of the crap that some people never get tired of repeating.

Saddam was providing support to terrorist groups for attacking Americans and Israeli citizens. Evidence from Spain, and even Russia showed not only that there was a connection between Saddam/Iraq and at least one of the terrorists that was involved in 9/11, but the Russians claimed right after 9/11 and up to the beginning of the war that they had evidence which showed that Saddam was working on getting terrorists to make attacks on US soil. If you want to find this evidence do a search in these forums. I am just sick and tired of having to continue to present this evidence almost every other day.

I am also tired an fed up with all the complaints, and the unrealistic, made up fantasy that some people think, for some unknown reason, that if they embrace terrorists with open arms and a bunch of flowers that the world is going to be a wonderful peaceful place.

The world is not a peaceful place, it is a fact that there are groups in different parts of the world that would kill you without second though because of different beliefs and because of greed and power....and this groups have nothing to do with the US...

Right now there are several wars, and even genocide is occurring which Kofi Annan keeps claiming it is not genocide for some stupid reason, being fought in several countries because of radical Muslims and other radicals who don't want anything to do with Western civilization and would want western civilization to be totally erased from the globe.

BTW, don't start with the crap that it all started because the western world has tried to invade Muslim countries. This started beginning right after the Muslims were converted into Islam and decided to spread Islam by the sword to the world in the middle ages. That is exactly the same thing that radical Muslims are trying to do now. Radical Muslims are stucked in the middle ages and would want to take the world back to those times and have everyone submit to the will of their god.

I am not saying that there are no moderate Muslims which are good people, but I am not saying either that the radicals are a small group of people as some claim, because a small group of people cannot be in power and be able to have killed millions of people in the past 10 years alone.

To find out what I am talking about do a search as to what is happening in Sudan and what has been happening in Nigeria since 2000. Those are only two of the countries where radicals are committing attrocities against Christians and other minority religious and ethnic groups.

BTW, just out of curiosity.....pray tell us how exactly would you have dealt with the war on terror?

[edit on 4-5-2005 by Muaddib]

Originally posted by Muaddib
The fact is that Saddam not only broke the sanctions in many ways and was trying to acquire, and probably did acquire, wmd in some capacity. Why else would he had tons of documents which dealt with the construction of wmd, and why would he be trying to break the sanctions by having some of the material that was banned from Iraq? which included scud missiles which some were fired upon the coalition at the beginning of the war, rockets that were banned, and other materials which were found in scrap yards around the world which had traces of wmd gases and even uranium; all of which was in possesion of Iraq before the war started.

Documents could easily have been forged, they prove nothing really. As for scud missiles, I have done a search and find nothing that states, let alone proves the existence of them in Iraq. And the materials found in scrap yards all over the world, well what use is that really? It all seems like desperate attempts to justify a war who's true intent still seems clouded.

All of these "proofs" certainly do not live up to the sensationalist media claims that Sadam could blow us all to kingdom come and was just waiting for the right time to strike. Here in the UK we were told that we could be attacked within 45 minutes if sadam decided he wanted to, a claim that remains controversial to this day.

Saddam was providing support to terrorist groups for attacking Americans and Israeli citizens. Evidence from Spain, and even Russia showed not only that there was a connection between Saddam/Iraq and at least one of the terrorists that was involved in 9/11, but the Russians claimed right after 9/11 and up to the beginning of the war that they had evidence which showed that Saddam was working on getting terrorists to make attacks on US soil. If you want to find this evidence do a search in these forums. I am just sick and tired of having to continue to present this evidence almost every other day.

The evidence of this is speculative at best. He may well have supported terrorists, but the evidence isn't strong enough even to have been reported by our unbelievably biased media.

I am also tired an fed up with all the complaints, and the unrealistic, made up fantasy that some people think, for some unknown reason, that if they embrace terrorists with open arms and a bunch of flowers that the world is going to be a wonderful peaceful place.

I'm not saying that we should lay down the red carpet for them, or anything along those lines. Terrorists are dangerous and need to be stopped. I'm just saying we need to approach the problem of terrorism holisticly. Look at the causes, not just the devistating effects. The current approach is "The US is right, always has been right, and all who disagree can die!". A 20-year-old muslim, no matter how religiosly fanatical, doesnt strap explosives to himself and run into a building simply because he hates freedom.

The world is not a peaceful place, it is a fact that there are groups in different parts of the world that would kill you without second though because of different beliefs and because of greed and power....and this groups have nothing to do with the US...

The US has funded many terrorist organisations over the years, including Al-Qaeda. Maybe it should refrain from literally shooting itself in the foot.

Right now there are several wars, and even genocide is occurring which Kofi Annan keeps claiming it is not genocide for some stupid reason, being fought in several countries because of radical Muslims and other radicals who don't want anything to do with Western civilization and would want western civilization to be totally erased from the globe.

------ And ------

To find out what I am talking about do a search as to what is happening in Sudan and what has been happening in Nigeria since 2000. Those are only two of the countries where radicals are committing attrocities against Christians and other minority religious and ethnic groups.

Exactly! There are plenty of countries around the world where a US peacekeeping presence would be greatly appreciated. Unfortunately these places, asside from perhaps Nigeria, have little in the way of exploitable natural resources, so these people are forgotten.

BTW, just out of curiosity.....pray tell us how exactly would you have dealt with the war on terror?

If i actually had the power to fight the war on terror, I would start with a radical and major upheaval of economic policy in the west. I would prevent and outlaw the exploitation of the peoples of less powerful nations. I would change foreign policy and take a much less agressive, "We are right because we have more nukes than you!" approach to diplomacy. This would hopefully lessen the anti-US/western sentiment you get so much of around the world, and hence less people would be driven to terrorism.

The US has the power to achieve world peace. Unfortunately world peace isn't as profitable as war, so that is how it will remain.