How can America "win" the war on terrorism?

[meowchi]

Okay, so the surge has shown signs of "success", I can't see much of an arguement with that, it went from HORRIFIC to BAD, fine. But my question to those who claim we are or we must "win" this war, What does winning the War on Terror entail? My notion of winning a war involves some sort of surrender or treaty, our war is with terrorists of all sorts from just about anywhere, so how does one go about winning that war. A terrorist organization doesn't usually surrender, and if they do, another will just form in its place.

And for some reason, people are so focused on getting rid of Bin Laden. Ah, yeah even if he's gone there's quite a few rubbing their hands in glee to take his place. This is not a war that can be won, just like the "drug war" can't be won. There's always going to be someone who just has to get their crack fix so there's always going to be someone who provides it. Supply and Demand. Same as terrorism. People should be aware of it, sure, but not live their life by it, how sad is that?

People have this idea that we can win the war on terror by killing all of the terrorists, or scaring them into submission, doesn't really seem like it's going to work. I think that the biggest tool that we can use against the war on terror is the same tool that is best used to fight the war on drugs, economic security. Invading a country, killing thousands, and destroying all infastructure and businesses that used to provide jobs was the worst thing that we could do. Of course there will always be those who just want to cause destruction, but our presence causes nothing but more animosity and more hatred for us.

Thoughts?

[Tuffty]

It's a horrible horrible situation the US has put themselves in with Iraq and with no real good scenario at the end of it all.

If the troops stay out there they put themselves at risk, people in the US continue to resent the government for keeping them out there and they may continue to be there for a long long time.

If they withdraw, sure they've got the troops home, but they leave Iraq to fight amongst themselves. "Oh hey yeh sorry but we gotta go. Sorry for invading your country, destroying your buildings and the killing of men, women and children and all that but I think we've been out here long enough. Uh, bye!" It will just cause further resentment among current and future generations of Iraqi citizens, and may even cause men to join terroist groups for revenge. Which is never a good thing.

And now with Iran testing out these long range missiles it only adds fuel to the fire of another potential invasion. The US claims these tests are justified for some kind of anti missile shield in the Middle East. But Russia is vastly opposed to the idea, and threatened to even use military power if necessary.

Great. Just seems like the doomsday clock is reaching closer and closer to midnight.

[tru_harmony]

i think the scariest part in this scenario is that the US is stuck... if they stay, people will die... if they leave, some other people will die... humanity is at risk from both sides...

they underestimated the situation and thought they could export democracy like frozen beef... i feel bad that we humans have come to this part of history where war-induced death is inevitable... is this the clash of civilizations they were talking about in the late 90's?

it's a shame that at a time when we have that word 'humanity' we exist as if it doesn't...