Can the War Against Terrorism Be Won?

Terrorism has become a problem that plagues our society both in America and the wider world. Our governments do all within their power to foil terrorist attacks at home and we go out of our way to stop terrorists at their core in other countries. But can this cycle of violence be won? Is it right to fight terrorism with the same means, or are we engaging in a futile attempt to fight an invisible and reincarnating enemy?

The war against terrorism is firstly riddled with hypocrisy. It has become acceptable to fight a war on foreign soil for terrorist acts committed against us, without even considering that actions we take in that war could constitute terrorism on our part, and result in further backlash. The attitude has been established, that if they do it us, it's wrong. Evil. Terrorism. But if we do it to them, it's OK. Morally right. Acceptable. By no means is this the case. This is both wrong in the sense that it's not justifiable, and that it creates more problems than it solves.

By engaging in or supporting terrorism ourselves, we create martyrs in countries such as Iraq and Palestine. Sure, we may call it "counter" terrorism, but to the victims of our "counter" aggression, our actions constitute terrorism in its purest form, blatant and direct. When we analyse the results of this martyrdom in Iraq and Palestine, we see that not only are these martyrs made heroes by their countrymen, but they are replaced by new and more ruthless insurgents, and the cycle continues.

So by current means of rooting out and destroying insurgency in Iraq, sponsoring Israeli occupation of Palestine, or locking up thousands of suspected terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, we are as much a contributor to the continuance of the war against terror than those we are fighting against, and considering the men we kill are only going to be replaced by worse, our methods can lead to no victory, even if it takes John McCain's one hundred year promise.

The further problems with fighting against Islamic extremists such as Al-Qaeda is that they wear no identifiable uniform, they are an occupied people, and they hold no limits to the actions they are willing to take to kill western soldiers. This kind of mindset is going to exist no matter how long we fight this war, no matter how many young martyrs we make. It's time for a change in tact with regard to the war against terror, because under the status quo, we are simply magnifying every spectrum of the problem we're meant to be fighting against.