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ikos9lives
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Is "War on Terrorism" properly focused at the root cause?
Are proper tools being used and in the proper way?
Are proper tools being used and in the proper way?
Pengwuino said:"Is the War on Terror being fought in a sensible way".
For example, an armed fashion Radical Islamists that are chiefly in Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.Proton Soup said:can you be specific? "war on terror" is just a propaganda slogan.
Yes, I think people harp on the grammatical incorrectness of "war on terror" too much in order to avoid the issue: Obviously, this is primarily a war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Or more broadly, a war against people who use terrorism against us. It also includes a local law enforcement component, of course (most visible at the airport). "War on terror", while grammatically incorrect is still easier to say in a soundbyte, but I doubt anyone is actually confused about what it means, despite the protests the phrase gets. 'Task which has the goal of keeping us safe from terrorism' just doesn't have as nice a ring to it.ikos9lives said:For example, an armed fashion Radical Islamists that are chiefly in Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
russ_watters said:Yes, I think people harp on the grammatical incorrectness of "war on terror" too much in order to avoid the issue: Obviously, this is primarily a war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Or more broadly, a war against people who use terrorism against us. "War on terror", while grammatically incorrect is still easier to say in a soundbyte, but I doubt anyone is actually confused about what it means, despite the protests the phrase gets.
russ_watters said:Or more broadly, a war against people who use terrorism against us. It also includes a local law enforcement component, of course (most visible at the airport).
The gov was already acquiring information, legally and not so legally, from just about everyone. Nine years later, all that information gathering hasn't had much impact.humanino said:One fights terrorism mostly via intelligence, trustable genuine information. Those who invented the idea of "war on terror" are most definitely at the opposite of the spectrum in terms of "intelligence" and "trustable genuine information". They are the kind of people who fail to understand that behind grammatical incorrectness lies ignorance.
humanino said:They are the kind of people who fail to understand that behind grammatical incorrectness lies ignorance.
apeiron said:Agreed. Except it is worse than that. Governments indulged in intentional misdirection to justify their actions - hoaxes like Blair's weapons of mass destruction.
So either the decisions were ignorant, or they had wider purposes which were not being admitted. And indeed probably a mix of both given the folk involved, such as Cheney and Bush.
No one disputes that terrorism has to be dealt with. The only question is what is effective.
mheslep said:There is no War on Terror. Obama ended it, so says the fan boy Washington Post, the day he took office:
Bush's 'War' On Terror Comes to a Sudden End
Not modified, or gone in a different direction, but brought it to an End did the President "with a stroke of his pen".
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...012203929.html
apeiron said:This is back to front reasoning. The argument is that there were better ways of dealing with the problem rather than a series of military invasions of countries. Like a policing action, or a diplomatic action, or an economic action.
Only a "war" justifies armies. It's a simple rhetorical trick that governments play and which citizens get fooled by.
russ_watters said:Yes, I think people harp on the grammatical incorrectness of "war on terror" too much in order to avoid the issue: Obviously, this is primarily a war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Or more broadly, a war against people who use terrorism against us. It also includes a local law enforcement component, of course (most visible at the airport). "War on terror", while grammatically incorrect is still easier to say in a soundbyte, but I doubt anyone is actually confused about what it means, despite the protests the phrase gets. 'Task which has the goal of keeping us safe from terrorism' just doesn't have as nice a ring to it.
Either way, Proton and lisa - if you didn't know for the past 9 years what it meant, now you do: So do you have an answer?
And by the way, if you've been confused about what the war on drugs, war on crime and war on poverty are about for the past 20 years, I can explain those to you too - probably best to start a new thread for them, though. Of course, they may be more difficult to get straight, as none include any actual war component at all.
russ_watters said:All I am saying is give war a chance. Heck, if done right it probably has better odds than diplomacy.
lisab said:Terrorism is a tactic. I don't understand how we can go to war on a tactic.
Maybe that's just semantics.
skippy1729 said:It is commonly called terrorism instead of war with, for example, Islamic Fascists, since most people are afraid of being being labeled as religious bigots.
Whatever you choose to call it, it is the third greatest threat to Western Civilization. The first two being Political Correctness and Cell phones.
Skippy
nismaratwork said:You really think that these nuts are that level of threat? Compared to the economy, China, Oil use vs. Production, India-Pakistan, and more? It's one of the most frighting, but that's because of the unpredictability, it is not such a great threat.
Lord we've come a long way from, "This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." (FDR)... and he was dealing with the greatest war in history.
apeiron said:I'm guessing this is an attempt to be witty. How many people have died, how much has been destroyed, how much has been spent in a decade of the US war on terror? Please quantify what you consider to be a "reasonable chance".
I'd change the above to was fighting. Now for the US there's essentially only war a, Afhganistan. Yes there are still 50k US troops in Iraq for another ~12 months, but then there are ~30k US troops in Korea and we don't say they're in a war there.zomgwtf said:I fail to see why people are talking about Iraq on a thread about the war on terror. Iraq is a separate war from the war on terror, one declared by America and a few of its allies.
It really has nothing to do with what's going on regarding al'qaeda and the taliban.
To put it in simpler terms that I'm sure everyone will understand America is fighting war a AND war b, at the same time.
apeiron said:No one disputes that terrorism has to be dealt with. The only question is what is effective.
zomgwtf said:My answer to the poll was yes, I definitely support the war on terrorism and anyone who doesn't I would call a fool and slap. If people in 3rd world nations being attacked by us can see that the war on terror is worthwhile and we're clueless about it I'd say there's something wrong with the education system in your area.
Of course, that information alone is not sufficient to judge. One also needs to know things like what goals have been attained or are likely to be attained in the future... and a good estimate of the comparable information for the alternatives.apeiron said:How many people have died, how much has been destroyed, how much has been spent in a decade of the US war on terror?
When making this kind of argument, that there's much that can be done but somehow the current political authority has missed or fails to see the wisdom for, it is easy to appear naive, so I suggest care is warranted when bringing forth the One clear example of what is wrong. Yet the numbers above are grossly wrong and misleading when compared as they are.inflector said:[...]
If you follow the causal chains you can see pretty clearly that there is much we can do to improve terrorism that does not involve war.
One clear example is Pakistan. We've spent how much supplying arms and money to the military there over the last 10 years? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/23/AR2010082305476.html" . Yet when they have an unprecedented natural disaster we offer aid of what? $150 million. [...]
mheslep said:Yet the numbers above are grossly wrong and misleading when compared as they are.
Hurkyl said:Of course, that information alone is not sufficient to judge. One also needs to know things like what goals have been attained or are likely to be attained in the future... and a good estimate of the comparable information for the alternatives.
But I'll assume you knew that, and were just trying to add color, for better or worse.
Hurkyl said:Of course, that information alone is not sufficient to judge. One also needs to know things like what goals have been attained or are likely to be attained in the future... and a good estimate of the comparable information for the alternatives.
But I'll assume you knew that, and were just trying to add color, for better or worse.