Best deconstruction of War on Terra that I've seen

[burythehatchet]

George Soros


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-soros/a-selfdefeating-war_b_30591.html

The war on terror is a false metaphor that has led to counterproductive and self-defeating policies. Five years after 9/11, a misleading figure of speech applied literally has unleashed a real war fought on several fronts -- Iraq, Gaza, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Somalia -- a war that has killed thousands of innocent civilians and enraged millions around the world.

• First, war by its very nature creates innocent victims. A war waged against terrorists is even more likely to claim innocent victims because terrorists tend to keep their whereabouts hidden. The deaths, injuries and humiliation of civilians generate rage and resentment among their families and communities that in turn serves to build support for terrorists.

• Second, terrorism is an abstraction. It lumps together all political movements that use terrorist tactics. Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Sunni insurrection and the Mahdi army in Iraq are very different forces, but President Bush's global war on terror prevents us from differentiating between them and dealing with them accordingly.

• Third, the war on terror emphasizes military action while most territorial conflicts require political solutions. And, as the British have shown by foiling a plan to blow up to ten airplanes, terrorists are best dealt with by good intelligence. The war on terror increases the terrorist threat and makes the task of the intelligence agencies more difficult. Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri are still at large; we need to focus on finding them, and preventing attacks like the one foiled in England.

• Fourth, the war on terror drives a wedge between "us" and "them." We are innocent victims. They are perpetrators. But we fail to notice that we also become perpetrators in the process; the rest of the world, however, does notice. That is how such a wide gap has arisen between America and much of the world.

[babylonsister]

1. Does this have anything to do with what I read today, Soros thinks

he needs to divorce himself from politics?
Thanks for this. I hadn't read it.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. This needed to be said on September 12, 2001

by as many anti-Bush types as possible.

[emmadoggy]

3. Oh man. Sane words are such a breath of fresh air.

Too bad it's too late. Too bad the American public wasn't hearing this for the last 5 years. Too bad so much damage has already been done.

Ugh. I'm so depressed. :-(

[Old and In the Way]

4. How about the neglected War on Cars?

"On an average, there are more than 6 million car accidents on the roads of the US, annually.

More than 3 million people get injured due to car accidents, with more than 2 million of these injuries being permanent.

There are in excess of 40,000 deaths due to car accidents every year."

http://www.lawcore.com/car-accident/statistics.html

So, lets do the math - Over the past 5 years, cars have killed 200,000 Americans vs............. 3,000 by terrorists.

In the past 5 years, I'm not sure how much we, as our government, have spent on public safety (more crash resistant cars, better roads), but I'd guess it was a hell of a lot less than what we did under Clinton and that wasn't nearly enough.

I do have a handle on what the "War on Terror" has cost us-

We've spent $1 Trillion Dollars+ (that's $1,000,000,000,000.00+), lost 3000 American soldiers, as well as our international reputation and self-identity. We are fighting a GWOT, but it's not a Global War on Terror, it's 'George's War on Thinking'. The "War on Terror" is the biggest, most sustained con I've ever seen perpetrated on the American people.

[burythehatchet]

5. if only a courageous leader would be honest about

calling it what it is.