The War On Terror – An Un-winnable Strategy

The war on Terror . . .

Once again, news stories about our war strategy in Afghanistan are dominating headlines. And the recent icing on the cake is President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize and how that may affect Afghanistan’s military direction.

Have you ever really paused to reflect on how our current strategy of ‘war on terror’ began? I’ve had this conversation numerous times and, almost regardless of political affiliation, the conversation resembles the following:

Q: Why are we in Afghanistan?
A: Because al-Qaeda attacked us, and the Taliban helped them.

Q: Why did they attack us?
A: Because they hate us.

Q: Why do they hate us?
A1: They hate our freedoms.
A2: They detest our wasteful lifestyle.

This is about the point where I shake my head in utter disbelief. How naive and stupid can we be as a nation? Terrorists don’t give a damn about our freedoms or how much of it we have. They couldn’t care less about our lifestyle either. They don’t have time for this non-sense. Grow up people. Jealousy is not their motivation. They attacked us because they detest our presence in the Middle East and our meddling in their affairs.

The conversation continues:

Q: Why are we in the Middle East?
A: To protect our interests.

Q: What are our interests?
A: Peace, democracy, Israel, ensuring 9/11 never happens again.

How small-minded! Most Republicans I speak to do not even cite oil as a top reason for our presence in the Middle East. Democrats jump all over the oil issue, but are unable to see the big picture.

The only reason we are in and care about the Middle East is oil. If you’re unable to see this truth, you live in a fantasy world. As a nation, we don’t care about democracy in other parts of the world. We are not interested in human rights. We are not able to control terrorism abroad. Don’t be fooled by what the government is telling us.

Democracy

Who’s our best friend in the Middle East despite the fact that they produced 19 of the 20 9/11 hijackers? Saudis, of course. Do they have a democracy? Far from it. When was the last time we threatened them with UN sanctions? Never. Why? Oil! I rest my case.

Who’s our other best friend in the Middle East? Israel. Do they have a democracy? Yes. Has that helped us in any decipherable way in the past few decades? I, as a member of the American public, am not aware of any. Are you?

Human Rights

Where was the last Olympics held? In China. Did we force them to confront their human rights violations in return for awarding them the Olympics? No. Why? They own our currency.

Terrorism and Spread of Democracy in the Middle East

The war on terror is not winnable. There, I said it. It is so un-impressively naive to believe that a democratically-elected government in Afghanistan is going to bury terrorism for us. Even if that was the case, then what? Pakistan is next, and we’ll have no choice but to invade them as well. At some point, we’ll have to deal with a nuclear face-off between India and Pakistan. In the mean time, Saudis will produce generation after generation of terrorists.

Democracy does not stop terrorism in the Middle East. In fact, there’s evidence that it will increase it. Israel is a democracy. Has any of that rubbed off on their neighbors in Palestine?

So much for protecting our interests in the Middle East.