The War on Terrorism, (also called the Global War on Terrorism) is the name of a campaign with the stated goal of ending international terrorism by preventing those groups said to be terrorist in nature from posing a threat, and by putting an end to state sponsorship of terrorism. This can be in any country anywhere in the world.
Everyday on the news is one disaster after another, often linked to the War on Terror. We have Somalia now being run by the Islamic Court which the Ethiopians dont like so they have invaded towns on the border, ongoing problems in Chechnya and the worsening situations in Iraq and Afganistan.
George Soros thinks that the War on Terror is a false metaphor. It has been used by the Bush administration to further its own objectives, but those objectives are opposed to the principles of open society and harmful to the national interest.
The allies have killed more innocent civilians in Iraq than the terrorists killed on 9/11. In addition to killing, we have also humiliated and tortured many Iraqis. By creating innocent victims, we have advanced the terrorists cause.
Why are we hated? Not because terrorists hate democracy but because they hate arrogant idiots who think they know better. Terrorists are only defeated when the large majority of the community feel that they can trust the local authorities to maintain law and order and work for the common good. Then ordinary people will turn the terrorists in to the authorities when, or even before, they strike. In countries such as Iraq where the police and army often consist of Al Qaeda and other militants sympathisers it makes the job even more difficult. The availability of army and police uniforms on the open market and those sold by corrupt officers means that ordinary people are afraid to stop at the checkpoints in case they are militants dressed as the authorities.
Osma bin Ladens purpose for the 9/11 attack was (and is) to provoke massive retaliation from the US against Islam. He hoped that our retaliation would finally unite Islam against the US as a common enemy, and that his vision for a fundamentalist pan-Islamic state would sweep away all the more moderate governments in the region.
One of the Western Allies, Israel was recently subjected to the kidnap of two of its soldiers by Hezbollah militants based in Lebanon, this led to a month long way in which Israel was silently and invisibly encouraged to continue the War on Terror on behalf of the USA in the Middle East. Why did the USA care how long the war went on for as none of their soldiers or civilians where dying? The destruction on Lebanons infrastructure including water and electricity utilities was a crime against humanity, how can this destruction and harm against the civilian population ever bring them to forgive Israel and the West?
If this destruction was intended just to weaken the Lebanon state and prevent the movement of Hezbollah then this short sightedness has lead to the long term poverty, struggle and hatred of the allies by the general population. Many of whom have now aligned themselves with Hezbollah for defending their homeland of Lebanon.
Finally back to Iraq where recently Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to death and the problems seem to go on and on. We need to remember the old saying that one mans terrorist is another mans freedom-fighter. Until we fully understand this saying and the tools and strategies for dealing with it-. The war on terror will become the old war on communism- and that lasted for nearly 50 years.