Can we win the war on Terror?

[JUGGERNAUT]

I was thinking about Bush's conference & recent stats I've read about America in general & came to the conclusion that we are fooling ourselves into a false sense of security by referring to terrorists in a different mindset than we do other organized crime orgs.

 

Here are some surprising stats:

There are an estimated 100K persons involved in gangs in Chicago alone.

This figure came out of a report that was focused on gangs from NYC & LA expanding into Chicago recently.

 

On average 13000 persons in America a year are killed as a result of organized crime activities.

 

Despite billions spent on the War on drugs since the Reagan years, illicit drug use & gang recruitment & activity has not declined.

 

 

Now those are pretty eye-opening statisitics when you consider that terrorists are considered to be better train & better organized then illegal drug distributors (organized crime).

 

How does organized crime keep from growing large enough to be a concern in America? Competition. Since these organizations are rooted in capitalistic pursuits

they seek to work within the system rather than against it. This keeps them below the radar so to speak. The size of any one organization is limited by the fierce competition of another. For all these reasons organized crime pretty much polices & limits itself.

 

Now if we think of terrorists in this manner it changes the perspective of who we are fighting in this war. We are not fighting a military power but rather a close-bound collection of militias trained to use every means necc to enact criminal violence on their enemy. How do you defeat militias?

 

If a country were to occupy America by some means there would be an estimated 25 million in militias to reak havoc on their forces. This is best on estimates of non govt sanctioned militias training & operating in America today. So even if you were able to defeat the US military you would have your hands full to actually occupy it.

 

What has happened in Iraq recently is that the Shiite & Sunni militia's have become organized by leaders loyal to Saddam. No one can put a true estimate on these numbers but considering Iraq's been on a war footing for the better of 30 yrs their numbers are probably on the order of 10's of 1000's if not millions.

 

Now this poll is really asking the question how can you win a war in which the very people you are fighting are also the people you are liberating? You can't unless you are willing to pay a high price in lives & money to win the mental war of changing their ideology.

 

Thinking along the lines of competition for the militias in Iraq one only has to turn to the Kurds. Hundred's of 1000's of Kurds were martyred by Saddam, the Suuni's, & Shiites. Since they have been fighting against these groups for years if we were to leave w/out question they would go after their oppressors. How is that a bad thing

for the US? The World think's we should leave, the Dems think we should leave, & the American people are strongly suggesting they want us to leave. So if we leave, how could any one blame deaths at the hands of other Iraqi's on us?

 

From a safety standpoint for the US would a Kurdish controlled Iraq be more or less safe? Perhaps instead of seeking to change the world we should concentrate on our own self-interests first.

[SuperSteve]

Did ya get too lazy to write yes and no so you just wrote letters?

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

Yes, but only if we're serious.

 

There are too many folks that aren't though. They dont have the balls to go in and crack some skulls make them understand that we are not to be messed with. These people only understand one language: action....only understand one word.....force. If we are going to defeat them then we'd better continue to speak their language.