Do you think terrorism can ever be stopped?

[napi21]

I see * is going to try, at least for now, to portray himself as being the only one who can stop terrorism.

I don't think terrorism can ever be stopped. A torror can be someone like McVeigh, or the anthrax killer (whoever it was), or any of millions of different people who have a cause they are willing to die for.

Am I nuts for thinking the best way to deal with the radical groups that hate Americans is to stop antagonizing them....get out of Saudi Arabia, let Iraq govern itself, even if they choose a leader we don't like, and only intervene when someone asks for help.

[KissMyAsscroft]

1. No...

Terrorism isnt a noun, its a verb.

[Cat Atomic]

7. Exactly.

It's like trying to stamp out cursing.

[AliceWonderland]

19. Precisely. It's a tactic.

You can no more end terrorism than you can, say, end flanking manouvers.

Besides, we are the safest people in the world. We are a hyperpower with an interventionist foreign policy and a black and white plan to take over the world. Yet, the risk from terror is negligible on a daily basis. We're pretty damned lucky. We're more likely to get taken out on the highway or from a clogged artery.

[radwriter0555]

33. What terrorism?

There isn't exactly an epidemic of terrorist attacks going on. You stand more chance of being hit by lightening 20 times than of dying at the hands of a terrorist.

Don't buy into the hype. It's all bullshit to keep you under the bush reich thumb.

Hitler did the same thing.

[Vittorio]

2. As long as humans are populating the planet...

terrorism will never be stopped.

Sad but true.

[Djinn]

3. not while humans roam the earth

we've always fought and terrorised others we always will...but the only kind of terrorism that most westerners give a shit about is that directed at them - shrub never had any plan of "stopping" it (it that were even possible) in third world countries

Edit: I must have been channeling Vittorio then!

[napi21]

6. Then why can we play that card against *.

Make it obvious to the public that "terrorism" can never be stopped! If presented logical;y, most people will agree with that.

Take *'s only fight away from him!

[Wapsie B]

4. Chimpy set us back

many years in that respect alone. Just think of all the Iraqis being killed, families without fathers, brothers. We have new hatred of this country being born everyday we are there.

[notbush]

5. You're talking about total isolationism

This didn't work in the 1930's, and I don't think it will work today.
To say "I don't care what people in other parts of the world are doing" just won't work with today's global networking.
What was "there problem" a hundred years ago, is "our problem"
today.
With the speed of technology and transportation today, those oceans that used to separate and protect us are no longer there.
Just my 2cents.

[napi21]

11. I didn't say isolationism...........

I said we don't need to be sticking our nose into everyone's business. If a state, or country asks for help, of it's citizens display that they would be happy for help, that fine. We're not doing that at all. It appears we only care if there's oil, or some other money making source for the US.

[htuttle]

8. I've always tried to hold out hope for the further evolution of humans...

...but things like terrorism aren't going to go away anytime soon. It's more of a 'growing out of it' sort of thing. That includes reducing and eliminating the causes of despair, like hunger, torture, unjust dictatorial regimes, etc...

Whether or not 'terrorism' is ever eliminated, there are many other dangers that kill many more people prematurely than terrorism. Right now, it's mostly a political football in the US.

[lucidmadman]

9. Nope...

...it's cheap and effective.
One way to limit it would be for the USA to curtail aid to Israel...
Question: is carpet bombing terrorism?

[Fenris]

10. You can't kill an idea

You can kill the terrorist, but you can't kill the idea he advocates.

Terrorism will win in the end because it will outlast any attempt by America to destroy it. Because America does not realize that killing Osama bin Laden will not rid the world of terrorism, just like America did not realize that outing the Ba'athists would turn Iraq into a terrorist war zone, and that the situation in Iraq would not be improved by "democracy." If anything, attempting to transform the governments of Iraq and Afghanistan has made the situation much, much worse. Democracy will not work where it is either not understood or not desired.

[sweetheart]

27. Reciprocity in thought

Your words with the subject/object reversed.

You can kill the American, but you can't kill the idea he advocates.

American imperialism will win in the end because it will outlast any attempt by Terrorists to destroy it. Because terrorists do not realize that killing Bush will not rid the world of American imperialism, just like Terrorists did not realize that outing the Republicans would turn America into a terrorist war zone, and that the situation in America would not be improved by "democracy." If anything, attempting to transform the governments of America and Britain has made the situation much, much worse. Democracy will not work where it is either not understood or not desired.

It reads true both ways. Funny that, eh?

[leesa]

37. Democracy is not understood? How arrogant! Do you think the

US is a democracy? These cultures in the ME have existed and thrived for thousands of years and you have the audacity to act as though a few hundred year old society, which is already dying, knows more than they do?
Unfettered capitalism is NOT democracy.

[Cat Atomic]

12. It's like trying to end war.

You can't make it disappear. It's a tactic. It's a way of fighting.

Like war, you can't end terrorism. But you *can* address the issues that give rise to it. It can be prevented or greatly reduced through responsible foreign policy.

[notbush]

14. Talk to anyone who was in WW2

We dealt with renegade terrorists for years in Germany and many of their former allies.
Persistence is the key to American victory.
At some point terrorists have trouble finding anyone to blow themselves up "for the cause".
Terrorism....you can't completely wipe it out, but at a point 99.99% of potential terrorists will realize it's futile, with enough resolve.
History is on my side.

[Cat Atomic]

18. History is not on your side.

I assume you're referring to the "Werewolves" in postwar Germany. There are two problems with the comparison.

1) They were supposed to be an underground resistance, not a terrorist group.

2) They accomplished NOTHING. Didn't kill a single American soldier.

There were no "renegade terrorists" in post-war Germany.

[Djinn]

24. no its not

maybe terrorists of brand XYZ, or ABC will disappear, there's not many people left wanting to join Bader-Meinhof for example, but new groups with new agenda's resulting from new situations will always spring up, unless there's a massive change in human nature or a catastrophe which removes us all.

[ComerPerro]

13. No, and Bush knows it

The only reason he wanted the war on terror in the first place was because it is really perfect for his jingoistic foreign policy.

He gets the fun and exposure of being a wartime president without having to be expected to do hard work or fight a real war.

Plus, a war on terror can't be measured, for success or failure, becaue a war on terror is unending and takes place on almost infinite fronts.

This is beautiful, because Bush can have noteriety and have the illusion of being a leader whose bold decisions keep us safe, and he can still take his annual monthlong vacation and get ten hours of sleep per day yearround.

Really, the WOT has defined Bush's presidency. Without it, he would be nothing, and everyone knows that.

How damn convienent for him, therefore, that we were attacked on 9/11/2001....

[Art_from_Ark]

31. Excellent summary

You have nailed it perfectly

[Captain Absolut]

15. nope

terror, in some form has existed for thousands of years. It will always be with us because some group will violently oppose another group.

[Festivito]

16. No, you can't please everyone.

But, you can keep an eye on the ones you cannot please.

[uhhuh]

17. No

It will never be stopped because it has yet to have a definition that all people accept.
Does the person who is blowing themselves up, or crashing a plane, or slaughtering everyone in a village with guns or bombs, or uprooting crops and bulldozing houses,or undermining an economy, or covertly supporting rebels, recognize themself as a terrorist? Do they feel justified, or do they relish evil for evil's sake?

Terrorism will only end when all people can look at an event and say, yes, that was a terrorist act. I don't think that it is likely to happen soon. Too many excuses are made for what should be obvious.

[imax2268]

20. No...

if anything BushCo has created more terrorists who will do more acts of terrorism...

[TreasonousBastard]

21. Of course it can't.

I remember the Weather Underground and the Puerto Rican separatists making bombs in NYC. McVeigh and the Unibomber, anyone? Snipers on the highways? The Red Brigades? Munich Olympics?

Britain has been dealing with the IRA and Israel with the Palestinians for how long?

Parts of South America and Africa have been dealing with various forms of terrorism for as long as anyone can remember.

Sorry, it's part of the human condition that someone, somewhere will be pissed off and crazy enough to go out and kill people.

What we can do, however, is attempt to reduce the fertile grounds where much of this grows. We can't stop it all before it happens, but we can reduce the frustration that leads many people to insane acts like suicide bombings.

That, of course, would actually be more work than just blowing things up ourselves in revenge.

[DoNotRefill]

22. No way in hell.

Terrorism can't be stopped. Of course, being isolationist and pulling out of everyplace we are wouldn't help either, in fact it would make it worse.

The problem is that we're a big target. We can be as nice as we can be, and people will still hate us, because we're the last world superpower, because of the diminishing freedoms we enjoy, and because they don't rule us yet. The problem with an isolationist strategy is that the allies we have will fall one by one without our support, and their demise will do nothing to cool the ardor that drives anti-american sentiment.

If we don't hang together, we shall surely hang separately.

[DinahMoeHum]

23. No. Because terrorism is a method, a means to an end. . .

just like war.


:evilfrown:

[YNGW]

25. Depends.

If terrorists are able to inch their way towards their goals by continuing terrorism, then No, it'll continue. If they see they're getting nowhere, at some point you would think they would stop and try something else. What they would try next I don’t know. But, I can't imagine them saying "We've been killing ourselves for ever how many years now and we're getting nowhere. Let's keep doing it." Then again, who can say what a bunch of nutsos are willing to do.

[DrWeird]

26. Not by blowing the shit out of Iraq.

Who the hell thinks that solved anything?

Jesus fucking christ. The only people who are stupider than Bush are the pepole who think he's doing a good job.

[John BigBootay]

28. Not entirely-- but you can make it less likely and less destructive

.

[arewethereyet]

29. stopped, no squeezed to where its very rare, certainly

its just a matter of intel. time to rebuild the CIA and the clock started 9-11-01.

[w4rma]

30. Terrorism is spawned from oppression. End oppression to minimalize

terrorism.

Democracy is an outlet for "war" with much less violence. Introduce democracy and more folks will fight using politics, rather than bombs.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

32. By definition it cannot.

As long as a guy can slap together a Molotov Cocktail in his kitchen or basement there is terrorism. That is why the notion of a "war on terrorism" (which really means Arab/Islamic terrorism in shrubspeak) is a false construct, it is by definition a war without end. Of course you won't see any moves against the IRA or Chechen rebels anytime soon from shrub.

That's why the argument, made by both shrub and his supporters, that you should vote for him because you should never change leadership during a war, is crap. They are saying because 9/11 happened during a Republican presidency and that president started this "war", then it follows that the Republicans should stay in power while this "war" wages, which is FOREVER?! Screw that...

I'm surprised that Pat Buchanan is one of the few public figures who has addressed the fraudulence of the premise of a "war on terror". You basically never hear this from major news media, print or broadcast.

http://amconmag.com/3_1_04/cover.html

[pacifictiger]

34. No. Not until the

US military industrial complex has been dismantled. Thats the fallacy about this whole thing - license to wage perpetual war. There resides a dark side in all of us - for Bush to imagine he can rid the world of evil speaks of total delusions of grandeur. The "terrorists" are little more than smart street thugs - and we're using a very large sledgehammer to squash a mosquito. You generally catch more bears with honey so to speak. But there's no profit in that tactic.

[bonemachine]

35. No

Not gonna happen

[historian]

36. as long as we ourselves are terrorists

no it will never stop. We have a sad history of meddling in other peoples affairs and installing thugs in place of legit governments who then proceed to massacre their own citizens with our blessing. That is terrorism as well. Flying planes into buildings is a reaction i believe. Not condoning it, but its understandable if you open your mind to the facts.