So, when and how does the War on Terror end?

[Ampersand]

The war on terror wont be won by strength of arms, because you're fighting an enemy that can't be killed.
The only way it can be won is with education, compromise and ultimately time.

 

[Bruden]

So the majority of people here think the war on terror can never be won, but I disagree. The war on terror as it exists now, no, that can't be won, but a war on terror is a relatively simple thing to achieve done correctly. The important part of what makes terrorism work is the media coverage that circles the events. A giant ratings circus appears when a terrorist attack happens and it becomes pretty much the only thing talked about on news and political programs for a long period of time.
To defeat terrorism, remove that media frenzy around it. Everyone gets one, one single chance to report on it, maybe with a single follow up later when they total up the casualties and that is it. No opinion pieces, no why did this happen, no giant hour long talks about it, nothing, you get to state the facts and move on, and you only get 2 minutes to get the information across no matter who you are. And most importantly you never, ever, say what group is responsible.
Essentially once you stop beating people over the head with the scary terrorist attack it stops being effective, people not directly effected by it will let it slip from their consciousness and terrorism will stop being an effective way to get noticed. Especially with the clause that the media never gets to divulge who did it, terrorist groups do terrorist acts to get noticed. They know it doesn't change the way people think, but it gets their name out there and it makes people find out who they are and what they want. Terrorism is like their version of those old spice ads. It has nothing to do with their message, but it gets people to sit up and take notice. Without that terrorism is no longer a tactic.

 

[Dragon_Nexus]

THIS war on terror might end, but there's always another enemy. Today's enemy might be tomorrow's friend, and vice versa. Perhaps when we get bored of Afghanistan, Korea might want to start something. Or hey, maybe China!

Bottom line, are we talking about the current war? Terrorism in general? Or ANY war?

 

[Logarithmic Limbo]

It will end when they create a new boogieman.

 

[The Lost Big Boss]

This "War on Terror" will end when the world gets the fuck off oil.

We fund the Saudis' from oil sales, who then go and fund the terror groups.

when all them mother fucking terrorist die or surrender...and i mean al-queda and who ever openly attacks us.

You do realize that USA is doing more damage to the countries in the middle east than they ever did to USA? It's not the terrorists that's the bad boy here, it's uncle Sam.

Yea... no. You are talking about a group of people who use kids as suicide bombers. Going to town to town enforcing their extreme version of Islam, killing those who don't follow it. The middle east will always be fucked, it's just the way it will be. You have a place in the world that is the birth of three major religions, as long as those religions stay, there will be bloodshed.

The US may not be Superman, but we are far from being on the same level of that scum.

 

[Varanfan9]

My god a lot of negativity in this thread. Anyways it will end when the countries are rebuilt. Terrorism in the middle east started because the US didn't help repair the nations in the middle east after being attacked by the Soviets even though we gave them the weapons to defend themselves. Quite simple we need to "fix" the nations to end it. Build schools and help the government be able to defend themselves. So yeah it will end when we fix the mistake we should have fixed several years ago.

 

[Manji187]

It will never end. It is an endless war. The terrorgroups NOW might disappear. But they will keep making new ones. Maybe even in the west. So no, it wont end. Never.

Can you actually picture this in your mind as going on forever? Something that will still happen in the year 3000, 30.000, 300.000, 3.000.000?

EDIT: I mean...formally speaking slavery in the U.S. ended...even though it lasted a long time.

You seem to forget, Humans are assholes. We want shit. There are plenty of crazy people out there who want nothing more than to kill so and so for this and that. Terrorists will never end. Slavery was different. Saying Terrorists will stop is like saying there will be no more murder or violence.

It never ends.

The Cycle of Violence continues.

The End.

Maybe you're right about the slavery thing.. but what I don't get is how people can say that something will never change. NEVER...

Example: if space is infinite...you cannot beforehand hold that it is absolutely impossible for there to be other sentient life.

If time is infinite...you cannot beforehand completely rule out a possibility.

The slavery example was meant to show that human beings have made moral progress...however slight. Slave owners from 250 years ago probably also thought that it would last forever.

 

[Nikolaz72]

The war on terror is, at best, a load of shit based on the misnomer that you can kill an idea (namely the idea of terrorism). And at its worst? A blank check to do immoral things all in the name of a very flimsy excuse.

Will things not change if more and more people understand this? Will they not come to understand...as time drags on?

Well, there is a danger, you see. Have you seen in Ghost in the Shell how America is referred to as an empire? Consider this... People stop believing the lie (whichever lie it is, per se) and don't buy into the political jargon. Government officials have a slip in the morality core and the next thing you know, they do things openly and without needing to justify themselves anymore. The danger with all of this is that they use the smokescreen in order to imply the gossamer-thin reassurance that Democracy is working. And really, it still functions, but the nation has...ALOT of power and influence, doesn't it? It pokes its head into affairs worldwide under the pretense of being the good guys. What happens when they stop pretending?

WWIII for total domination/ control?

Does this mean that the whole pretending has an ameliorating affect? Something bad...preventing something far worse?

I'm not badmouthing the U.S. or anything. I'm merely stating what I think about the whole 'terror' thing as a concept and theorizing what happens when we abandon pretense. It might never happen, but you have to admit...of all the countries in the world, the U.S. could do it. Dominate? Could be...

Cant dominate while having the 10% debt to china. Deny the debt to China. War with China. Use nukes? Loose all allies. China and the West gone? US Economy crashes. US Superpower has fallen.

 

[jprf]

It will never end. It is an endless war. The terrorgroups NOW might disappear. But they will keep making new ones. Maybe even in the west. So no, it wont end. Never.

Can you actually picture this in your mind as going on forever? Something that will still happen in the year 3000, 30.000, 300.000, 3.000.000?

EDIT: I mean...formally speaking slavery in the U.S. ended...even though it lasted a long time.

I'm afraid slavery never ended. There are more slaves in the world now than there ever were at the height of the atlantic slave trade, and it isn't any different in the US.

http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/09/23_16691.shtml

On topic, while I don't think terrorism itself will ever end, the current political and media fixation on the 'war on terror' will fade over time and they'll move onto other scapegoats.

 

[Stilkon]

There will always be people like Mr. Caine just described. You can't stop people from being unhappy and irrational.

 

[Vishnu Namboodiripad]

honestly there are much more terrifying things than terrorists. Like the axe murderer under your bed. You probably should check, but I wouldn't push it. Be as nonchalant as you can and exit out the window.

in all seriousness the war on terror is really just military propaganda.

Join 'Merica to fight the goddamn terrorists and the evil dictators! (*who we provided CIA training and arms to, did we forget to mention that?)

Yes terrorism does, and always will exist as long as mankind exists. We're just kind of like that; dicks.

 

[cainx10a]

This "War on Terror" will end when the world gets the fuck off oil.

We fund the Saudis' from oil sales, who then go and fund the terror groups.

when all them mother fucking terrorist die or surrender...and i mean al-queda and who ever openly attacks us.

You do realize that USA is doing more damage to the countries in the middle east than they ever did to USA? It's not the terrorists that's the bad boy here, it's uncle Sam.

Yea... no. You are talking about a group of people who use kids as suicide bombers. Going to town to town enforcing their extreme version of Islam, killing those who don't follow it. The middle east will always be fucked, it's just the way it will be. You have a place in the world that is the birth of three major religions, as long as those religions stay, there will be bloodshed.

The US may not be Superman, but we are far from being on the same level of that scum.

Oh, you are on the same level (not the people, but the action of your government). You just love to paint the other sides with a more demonic tinge to make yourself look better.

 

[Bruden]

Oh look, another mindless 'America sux lol' thread on the Escapist.

The "war on terror" is only a cute gimmick for a series of proxy wars that are fought for specific, strategic reasons. Major powers have been fighting proxy wars since time immemorial. Now that the internet has dramatically increased the free flow of information, it is more difficult for governments to justify the use of martial force in the act of maintaining and expanding global influence, resources, and power.

Contrary to what they apparently teach you in European public schools, the USA is not the first major power to do this. I do not justify it, but it is a reality of human civilization since we first learned how to start fires. The strong control and take from the weak. In some cases, however, one could argue we are merely continuing and participating in the war that Islam declared on the West 1300 years ago and has fought without rest.

Every single major country on the face of the Earth has used martial force to get what they want at some point in history. To list all the black marks would require an entire day of posting, so I'll just hit a couple.

The OP's country, the Netherlands, exploited a wide range of colonies throughout the world, namely in what's now known as Indonesia. The same can be said about Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, and ESPECIALLY the big three colonizers, Spain, France, and Britain.

Erm, you realize the Middle east and the western world have been fighting since at least 600BC if not earlier right? I don't think at this point you could honestly pick a starting point for the mutual distrust. The current heavy anti-western sentiment can probably be traced back to the support of Isreal though. Prior to that the mutual dislike was at a low point, but then again the U.N. did pretty much give away someone else's country so it's kinda understandable.

 

[commodore96]

When haters stop hating

 

[sora91111]

In the year 20XX when megaman x wakes up.

 

[martin's a madman]

When women are no longer oppressed in the middle east and the countries can gain momentum. When they stop this theocratic nonsense and work towards a secular state with stable infrastructure, then terror can stop. Granted, developed nations keep sticking their dick in it which doesn't help either.