Terror
It has been nearly a week since the anvil fell on the heads of America, in what some call the results of the 2004 US Presidential election. John Kerry, the becon of light for so many during the past several months, has quietly faded into the background of our lives, as I suppose is normally the case for the runner up in a presidential election. And so, at the head of this "great nation" of ours, stands Dubya. America, as it were, got its wish. Perhaps I am the only one who finds it ironic that the wonderful show of democracy that was displayed last week may, in the end, prove to be the downfall of the world's greatest democratic nation. Why? Because terror and moral values are important. International relations, education, healthcare, the economy, and our environment (among other issues) are aparently not.
But the eletion is over. While miserably depressed at the choice America made, it was indeed made and thus I must live with it. However, I must not live with it quietly, and so I shall continue.
Because Terror was and will continue to be such an important topic in the future of this country, I started thinking about what it all means. Why are we really in Iraq and Afghanistan, "fighting the good fight"? I thought about the fact that America's armed forces are stretched thin. I thought about the continually escalating demands on our soldiers and on the American budget. These terrorists that we are hunting... who are they? How do we know them? Where do we find them? How do you stop them? Perhaps the combined intelligence gathering capabilities of our grand coalition (including of course, Poland) will lead us in the right direction. But then again...can anyone say weapons of mass destruction?
So when does it end? Though we have all heard the line before, I'm going to go back to it again... this war on Terror will become our generation's Vietnam. There are of course, ney-sayers to this who will give all sorts of reasons why this is untrue. Perhaps we learned from our mistakes. Perhaps our policy makers are smarter today than they were fourty years ago. Perhaps this is different since this time the enemy attacked America. Perhaps our army has everything it needs today to fight a quick and decisive war against our enemies in guerilla style combat. Perhaps the Iraqi and Afghani people love us so much that they will help us at all costs, even turning over their sons, brothers, fathers and husbands who have decided to fight against America.
So why isnt this like Vietnam again? But perhaps Vietnam is too drastic an example to use. So let us use another example... how about the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan. For those who are unfamiliar with this period in world history, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan for a 10 year period, which I believe spanned from 1979-1989 (I am an aspiring scholar of military history). In my own humble opinion, I would cite the two main reasons for the attack as 1) The Reds (insert joke about US election map here) wanted to keep Afghanistan from "jumping ship" as Iran had done (and become a Fundamentalist government) and 2) they wanted a cozy little spot on the Persian Gulf for obvious reasons. It is also highly interesting to note, that many of those who supported the Soviets in their assault, commended them on making an attempt to quell Islamic terrorism... anyone scratching their head yet?
In case you couldnt figure out the end of this story, after 10 years the Soviets walked away. The great Red war machine had been beaten into a bloody stalemate. Some 1 million Afghanis and 15,000 Soviet soldiers were killed.
But this is different, you say? The US was attacked - we have to respond, you say? We know who did it and we are going to get him, you say? Indeed.
Reading the transcript of Bin Laden's most recent message, the final piece to the puzzle clicked in my head. This war on terror cannot and will not end in US victory because you cannot defeat a guerilla army in their own lands. The US is slowly but surely finding itself on the wrong side of a war of attrition. Short of Osama Bin Laden and his subordinates, we fight no clear enemy. In a war of this nature, there are civillian casualties. And each of these casualties breeds one more person willing to die to see the US vanquished from their homeland. Each of these casualties breeds one more person willing to punish innocent US civillians for the pain our Army... our President caused them and their country.
The war on Terror cannot be won because terror is not an enemy - it is a concept which cannot be killed or beaten. As long as people in power hope to push their will, be it taxation policy, political ideology, or religious persuation on the unwilling, terror will exist. As long as people are different and those differences cannot be resolved there will be terror. As long as countries impose their will on others, there will be terror.
And so our President... our leader... asks congress for who knows how many billion more dollars to fight terror. Our president asks that more soldiers have their terms extended to fight terror. And everywhere... terror laughs. Let us all hope that our leaders will end this before too many more of our brave sons and daughters pay the price.
But the eletion is over. While miserably depressed at the choice America made, it was indeed made and thus I must live with it. However, I must not live with it quietly, and so I shall continue.
Because Terror was and will continue to be such an important topic in the future of this country, I started thinking about what it all means. Why are we really in Iraq and Afghanistan, "fighting the good fight"? I thought about the fact that America's armed forces are stretched thin. I thought about the continually escalating demands on our soldiers and on the American budget. These terrorists that we are hunting... who are they? How do we know them? Where do we find them? How do you stop them? Perhaps the combined intelligence gathering capabilities of our grand coalition (including of course, Poland) will lead us in the right direction. But then again...can anyone say weapons of mass destruction?
So when does it end? Though we have all heard the line before, I'm going to go back to it again... this war on Terror will become our generation's Vietnam. There are of course, ney-sayers to this who will give all sorts of reasons why this is untrue. Perhaps we learned from our mistakes. Perhaps our policy makers are smarter today than they were fourty years ago. Perhaps this is different since this time the enemy attacked America. Perhaps our army has everything it needs today to fight a quick and decisive war against our enemies in guerilla style combat. Perhaps the Iraqi and Afghani people love us so much that they will help us at all costs, even turning over their sons, brothers, fathers and husbands who have decided to fight against America.
So why isnt this like Vietnam again? But perhaps Vietnam is too drastic an example to use. So let us use another example... how about the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan. For those who are unfamiliar with this period in world history, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan for a 10 year period, which I believe spanned from 1979-1989 (I am an aspiring scholar of military history). In my own humble opinion, I would cite the two main reasons for the attack as 1) The Reds (insert joke about US election map here) wanted to keep Afghanistan from "jumping ship" as Iran had done (and become a Fundamentalist government) and 2) they wanted a cozy little spot on the Persian Gulf for obvious reasons. It is also highly interesting to note, that many of those who supported the Soviets in their assault, commended them on making an attempt to quell Islamic terrorism... anyone scratching their head yet?
In case you couldnt figure out the end of this story, after 10 years the Soviets walked away. The great Red war machine had been beaten into a bloody stalemate. Some 1 million Afghanis and 15,000 Soviet soldiers were killed.
But this is different, you say? The US was attacked - we have to respond, you say? We know who did it and we are going to get him, you say? Indeed.
Reading the transcript of Bin Laden's most recent message, the final piece to the puzzle clicked in my head. This war on terror cannot and will not end in US victory because you cannot defeat a guerilla army in their own lands. The US is slowly but surely finding itself on the wrong side of a war of attrition. Short of Osama Bin Laden and his subordinates, we fight no clear enemy. In a war of this nature, there are civillian casualties. And each of these casualties breeds one more person willing to die to see the US vanquished from their homeland. Each of these casualties breeds one more person willing to punish innocent US civillians for the pain our Army... our President caused them and their country.
The war on Terror cannot be won because terror is not an enemy - it is a concept which cannot be killed or beaten. As long as people in power hope to push their will, be it taxation policy, political ideology, or religious persuation on the unwilling, terror will exist. As long as people are different and those differences cannot be resolved there will be terror. As long as countries impose their will on others, there will be terror.
And so our President... our leader... asks congress for who knows how many billion more dollars to fight terror. Our president asks that more soldiers have their terms extended to fight terror. And everywhere... terror laughs. Let us all hope that our leaders will end this before too many more of our brave sons and daughters pay the price.
posted by Chris Stubbs at 4:48 PM
1 Comments:
Stubbs--
Where have you been? I'm missing your random thoughts-->
C
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