Can the US win the war on terror and finish the Iraq job successfully?

It seems to me that in order to win in both areas, we would have to stoop to the level of our opponents at times. Our own people are against this - witness the outrage at the prison abuse photos. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I condone them, but seeing that reaction tells us that the US must "play by the rules" as much as possible.

It's getting harder and harder to truly do secret things - there are too many eyes and too much money flowing around for pictures or video proof of wrongdoing. Besides, let's say we kill Bin Laden - someone else will rise from the ashes to lead the fight anew. Look at Iraq - Saddam is toppled, but Al Sadr is there now, leading battles that - while they don't really damage our numbers greatly - they damage the perception that the American public has conderning the occupation of Iraq, and they damage the perception of the Iraqi people.

With oil prices continuing to spiral out of control, it is going to cost more and more to drive those tanks around over there. I'm not saying I'm against it, but it's getting costly...

Any opinions - I'd like to see a few. I guess I'm questioning things a bit - I'm as patriotic as anyone, I also think about things.

[Edited on 15-5-2004 by natas]

we are gonna have to give up the ideas of making places off limits to fire at. people have to realize that this is a war. if the enemy is hiding in a mosque(sp?) then we have to shoot up a mosque. we are sending our guys in with their hands tied behind their backs & the enemy knows this! when you realize that you will realize why it is taking so long & how our morale can get down very easily. we cant worry about every little whimper we hear from every corner of the world. go in, take care of business swiftly. some will complain for a while but the results will speak for themselves.

the problem is, the tabloids and some broadsheets latch onto the small things and nitpick. they highlight the smallest mistake yet forget to mention the good thats coming out of this war.
some americans even think the troops should pull out of iraq!! maybe in this case the opinions of some people should be ignored. our troops pulling out of iraq!? They really dont have a clue do they.

It's a war of attrition, all we have to do is fight them where they are, no tortures, no barbarism.

If we do that, fundamentalism there will die out in time. Fundamentalism is a reaction to change in Islam, if you want to overlay Islamic history with Catholic history, they are about at the 1400s. Wouldn't you know that's about the time the Vernacular bible came out. Islam does not have a "Vernacular" yet, it only accepts Arabic as the true way to understand the Qur'an and other texts.

So naturally Islam is going through changes that we could compare to Catholicism...they are having their "Protestant Reformation" if you will.

And if anyone knows their history that reformation resulted in the 30 years war in Europe. Big war.

So here we see violence from Islamic groups, it is to be expected, so long as we keep the pressure on, they'll die out and the "reformation" will go through and Islam will become much more "open-minded".

Islam began very open-minded and scientific, so did Catholicism, when the two organizations began to exert control however both became very close-minded. The Rennaissance and the Protestant Reformation changed all that for Catholicism, now I think Islam is having the same event.

It'll be violent, but they'll be more open-minded eventually and much more calm because of it.

And when they are more tollerant...their views will be very favored...after all, they don't believe in charging other Muslims interest in loans

The war in Iraq, we can win rather easily....
the war on terrorism will be a lot harder.

Right now, IMO we are losing the war on Terrorism, every time we unjustly harm an Iraqi civilian or prisoner we take a step backwards, in order to win the war on terrorism, we have to win the minds of the people.

The recent prison scandle hurt us very badly. This was a win for terrorists, because it will cause more people to flock to thier groups thinking that we are the bad guys.
We need to stop giving the average joe a reason to see the US in an unjust light.

Many policies we have in place are hurting this war. Its not one we can win with force and security.

We have to adress our policies with Israel, and take a much more active role in the Middle East Peace Proccess again. Somehow, we need to help the Arab states and Israel come to terms with each other.

We have to show the arab people that we care more about humanity than oil.

We have to stop pointing fingers at the world, and start pointing the finger at ourselves and take a good hard look at what we have done to help cause much of these issues, and come to terms with it.

We have to stop funding our enemies, who we often end up facing later on.

The list goes on and on. In order to win the war on terrorism, we have to not only face our enemies, but face ourselves and start asking what our own role in all of this was/is. IMO

You can't win the war on terror. It is an impossible task, and is a naive concept at best. Unless George Bush plans to conquer the world and install a Big Brother style reigime with ultimate totalitarianist monitoring and control of the population over it's entirity, there will never be an end to the war on terror. As long as there are 'free' people, there will be terrorism. Perhaps George Bush will be able to destroy Al Q'aida eventually, but he will never be able to destroy terrorism full stop.

I tend to believe that the invasion of Iraq and the War on Terror are two mutually exclusive events with little or no relation to each other. The pretense for war in Iraq was absolute bollocks in relation to terror.

Originally posted by lordlefty
You can't win the war on terror. It is an impossible task, and is a naive concept at best. As long as there are 'free' people, there will be terrorism. Perhaps George Bush will be able to destroy Al Q'aida eventually, but he will never be able to destroy terrorism full stop.

I agree on this, in the end, we will never be able to fully stop terrorism. There will always be people who will use terrorism to attempt to achieve thier goals. However, at the present time there are specific large groups, who want to see the US and its allies destroyed in the name of thier radical form of Islam. This is what we are trying to fight.

I tend to believe that the invasion of Iraq and the War on Terror are two mutually exclusive events with little or no relation to each other. The pretense for war in Iraq was absolute bollocks in relation to terror.

Well in the beginning this was the case, but as fighters filter in from other areas of the middle east with the goal of jihad (sp) it has turned into a front on terrorism.
I never saw any connection between Saddam and terrorism other than what he inflicted on his own people.

just my take on it.
in the end, the major battle on terrorism wont be won with guns, it will be won with actions of understanding and compassion, education, and lack of fear. There will always be terrorists. Just hopefully some day, they wont have as much power and control over the minds of people. This is why we must "win the hearts and minds"

America will win this War!

If America can make a long term commitment then this war will be won in less than 30 years!

30 years?? yes it seems like a long time..a long time to sacrifice innocent USA / BRITISH and AUSTRALIAN troops?? Not really and I think this is what CNN + others have to realise..This is not a weekend story...

If you look at the history of past wars (not just 1900's) you will realise the Americans have a vision..a goal...a long term goal..they believe this is the best thing for the western world...and it is?

Democracy in the Middle East..not one that is False.. (United Emirates) so called friends..dripping in money every time we fill our tanks...

I feel it is a great vision...but a great vision takes many years to evolve...not 12-24 months...but decades..

I know the Americans know this...I pray they do!

That is why I support the greatest democracy in the world..EVER..

Best wishes brave soldiers..without conspiricay they believe in their leaders to the bitter end...we should be so proud of them!

-peace

Daniel

The message above is what I feel..

I am Australian and thats what I think...

ps... lets hope [GM] changes over to HYDROGEN! ;-)

-Daniel

gluer, america definatly cant do this on their own - they need all the help they can get

Nuke Bomb! (picture)

I agree.. I feel this war isn't the greatest war, but i feel it is one we will all remember (AUS/BRITS/OZZ).

I feel sometimes we need to make a stand, to show those who don't appreciate our way of life..

I am proud of our stance on this one..we didn't have the support of the UN but we followed in what we believed would (and will) make the difference...

We will know soon enough whether we have made the right or wrong decision with this one...

It is long term...it surely is.. I apologise by not expressing that America is not on their own.

America are NOT ON THEIR OWN...

They have the best of the Commonwealth!!

Many thanks for your reply!

-peace

Daniel

Originally posted by GeniusSage
gluer, america definatly cant do this on their own - they need all the help they can get

Indeed, everyone has a stake in this war. And it can't be won alone, although we would try to do it on our own if we had to.

A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL supporting Govts and people!

*edited for annoying typonese which I speak fluently*


[Edited on 16-5-2004 by Darkblade71]

What has really been gained by this war? So we got rid of Saddam...was he really that big of a threat to us? Is the Muslim world sending us thank you letters? Have we made more enemies as a result? I realize the US has a long-term goal in mind. But the thing that gets me is most of the people there don't want our help. Our brave men and women are giving up their lives for these people and all they want is us to leave.

I am not saying I don't support this war but I feel our gains from it are minimal. I fully agree that it is impossible to win the war against terrorism. Its like the war on drugs. Its a fight we can never win.