posted on Sep, 5 2010 @ 09:47 PM
I'm starting to study international relations in college this semester. My professor has been saying that the United States is having difficulty
with Al-Qaeda because they are fighting assymetrical warfare. Now putting conspiracy theories aside, I have a hard time believing this is the case.
People act like we aren't fighting a clearly defined enemy. But we are. We are fighting the terrorist organizations that attacked us on 9-11 and we
have a right to defend our allies from them, and, to defend ourselves from them. That's my view.
These terrorist organizations have great PR because they're able to claim that the American government is an evil empire. We are in fact an evil
empire, or, at least we have been for the last 200 years (in my opinion anyways). But by going into 75 different countries and invading foreign lands
and occupying them doesn't work. All that does is plays right in our enemies hands. We can defeat most enemies but if we are too far spread out we
create more terrorism when in reality we're trying to fight the terrorists we are fighting.
By waging war against terrorism to defeat terrorism we create it. Our leaders must understand that the terrorists fighting in the Middle East are no
different from the people who were ideologically behind the Soviet Union. I believe we can view the model in the war against terror in a political,
military, international, and ideological view much like the same way we could view the Soviets. Once we have more of a deeper understanding about how
we view the Al-Qaeda organization, we can more effectively reduce its influence around the world. It will take time... but treating them as just if
they were terrorists who wanted to go around the world blowing stuff up won't work.
That's what our leaders need to realize. We're fighting not just a bunch of people but we're fighting people who are fighting for an ideology and
who believe they are fighting for a religion. Instead our leaders seem to think that these people are just animals with no brains that just want to
go around and blow stuff up...
I've been reading a book about the history of Al-Qaeda (the Secret History of Al-Qaeda) so I've just been wondering why people have such a hard time
understanding Al-Qaeda. We shouldn't be intervening in all of these foreign lands and nations. Not because we can't do it. But because it creates
resentment around the world- and provides a recruiting boon to Al-Qaeda, and, because it essentially plays right into everyone else's hands. We have
a right to help our allies, but, when will our government get it that we can't be an American empire? Empires just don't work. If we try to do
many things and intervene too much in too many places our status will erode as a world power, anti-American sentiment will boom, and, Al-Qaeda will
gain more legitimacy around the world.
Putting conspiracy theories aside, why won't our government seem to learn that even though this is an asymmetrical warfare that the standard rules of
warfare still apply, and, if we do things that are overreaching, that people are going to react in certain ways and do certain things based on our
actions?
It's as if the US government works for Al-Qaeda almost.