WHO’S WINNING THE UNWINNABLE WAR SO FAR?
Okay, some all together not very encouraging responses to my last post. Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply, many new commenters and hardly any regular commenters oddly enough.
So I have another question. President Bush’s war on terror is now well into it’s 4th year so perhaps I can ask you all how you think that is going? He said he would rid the world of terror, but it seems from watching the media, and even fictional TV and movies, that we’re more scared of terror now than we ever were. Is this merely an acceptable blip in the terror scale, like a rise before it’s crushed? Or is the President’s war failing?
After 9/11 the world felt a great sympathy for America, but now it seems not unfair to suggest that President Bush has squandered nearly all that good will among foreign nations. Further more it actually seems like President Bush has managed to create a very serious level of anti-American sentiment from countries and former friends who actually rallied alongside the United States in the wake of September 11th 2001.
I’m curious to hear what some of you might say to the claim that Osama bin Laden has effectively won his war so far in that he has managed to change your life, restricted your freedoms and reduced your liberties. Through fear it might be claimed that he continues to have the upper hand as homeland security is stepped up and liberty is pushed aside in this war against terror.
Certainly though it can’t be ignored though that there haven’t been any more attacks on American soil. Though Spain, Australia (via Indonesia) and Great Britain have all suffered attacks. And in Iraq alone (now the ‘front line’ of the war on terror) American tax payers spend one hundred and seventy seven million dollars a day and that’s only the cost of that action is cash terms.
Can President Bush seriously expect to win a war on terror? Lets use a unfathomable amount of imagination here and say the middle east becomes a home for peace thanks to America, what then? Where does the war on terror move then?
Is it unfair to suggest that President Bush is in actual fact losing his war on terror, and that if Osama bin Laden wanted to affect the freedom and liberty of those in the west, one cannot ignore the fact that he has achieved this already.
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Wrote the following comment on Mar 22, 2006 at 8:58 am
Who knows what’s in the man’s head. As for changing our lives? Not really. Daily life in the Midwest hasn’t changed. Okay, so I can’t lock my luggage when I fly and I might get searched – it’s probably something we should have been doing all along anyway. I think the general public just doesn’t think about the war that much – it’s been going on for so long that it’s lost our interest. Yes, last week all of a sudden it was back in the news – only because it was the three year anniversary of the beginning. We are so protected for the horrors here. We don’t live it, we don’t experience it, we can’t understand it’s true impact. And the government tells us what it wants to. I saw an interview with the – I don’t even know who it was, the Iraqi president? – who said that yes, they are in a civil war. All I’ve seen since is our government repeatingly denying that there is a civil war going on. Have we made anything better? I don’t see it. Will the war ever end? Last night the showed Bush – he was asked if he sees a time when there will not be American troops in Iraq and part of his response was that that will be up to future presidents. He started it, doesn’t mean he has to end it. The next presidential election ought to prove to be an interesting one.
Wrote the following comment on Mar 22, 2006 at 7:18 pm
who cares about terrorism. i support the war on high gas prices!
Wrote the following comment on Mar 22, 2006 at 7:20 pm
While captiva2 says that day to day life doesn’t appear to have changed I can’t agree. The Patriot Act seems to be fairly conclusive proof of a shift in the way the “home of the brave” works. I don’t think these things happen in dramatic steps. I think it’s a case of rights and freedoms and ebbing away. If something fades away over time no one is likely to notice are they. So captiva2’s midwest life isn’t changing as far as they see it, but I think it’s changing slowly via things like the ID cards you will now have to carry, the patriot act, the spying etc.
And as Sommer points out. Isn’t it funny that the war on terror seems to have focused in a land where oil is also a MAJOR issue. But that’s just coincidence right?
Wrote the following comment on Mar 22, 2006 at 1:37 pm
Can you ask a kiddie question again? :)
I have only 1 little thing to say because it affects me personally. My neice just got married to a guy who just got out of Marine bootcamp in Oct. He just turned 19 a couple of weeks ago. Because he scored so high on the ASFAB he was selected to be a Biological and Chemical Warfare Spec. and guess where he’s going…yep Iraq. BUT before he joined bootcamp they told him after all of his training Bush would prob start pulling out. Yeah right…he is just a kid right out of high school….most of the graduates were 19 and most of them from TX hmmmm. The recruiters promise all of this made up crap and of course they are drilled with Patriotic Duty. I am proud of him for doing this…it will prob be very good for him…but it reminded me of my dad telling me about Vietnam and how he was just 19. Now Bush says it will prob be years before we pull out….how did he come up with that? Sounds like NOYB :)
Wrote the following comment on Mar 23, 2006 at 5:27 am
I definitely don’t think Bush is doing a good job about the war, or anything else on his agenda for that matter. It’s true, we are only more scared and wary of each other since 9-11 happened. If you don’t think lives are being affected daily, go to an airport or talk to a gay person, and watch reality unfold. Instead of trusting each other, we are turning away and discriminating those closest to us. Doesn’t unity equal strength?
On a completely different topic Sie, I see you talk plenty about Bush, but hardly ever about British politics. What is the reaction going on over there?
Wrote the following comment on Mar 23, 2006 at 10:49 am
it was a joke!!! :)
Wrote the following comment on Mar 23, 2006 at 10:35 am
I’ve given up telling Americans we pay eight bucks a gallon!As for reaction to the war in the UK. Well as I said, I think there is a lot of anti-American feeling around nowadays. The war has created that hot on the heels of all the good will that was floating around for America after 9/11. Tony Blairs political career is done for, his support for Bush will be his undoing, plus our freedoms have taken a series of hidious body blows recently, all part of this unwinnable and foolish war on terror.
As if a war on terror could have ever been won. What a fool. I can’t believe anyone actually went along with that BS in the first place! :(
Wrote the following comment on Mar 23, 2006 at 12:07 pm
If you were an American, what would you be doing to prove that you’re not all for what’s going on as far as the “war on terror” goes?
Wrote the following comment on Mar 23, 2006 at 12:24 pm
Vote for Hillary Clinton?
Wrote the following comment on Mar 23, 2006 at 5:03 pm
Hey Simon…forgive me, but I saw the pic and just skipped the text. I figured I’d disagree, and my intent was to just pop in and say hi…long time no read.GO BUSH!
Wrote the following comment on Mar 23, 2006 at 10:08 am
I wouldn’t state that Bush is losing his war on turrrrrrrrr, but he is fighting a war that cannot be won. The proponents of of terror know that the world is a very large place and have many places to run to. Many dispersed places into which they can spread themselves. These people can be chased in circles, but it is very unlikely that they will all ever be caught.To be spending 177 million dollars a day should be seen as nothing less than obscene. The value to be gained from investing that money in more productive ventures is huge. And tell that purple kat that she doesn’t know the meaning of high gas prices!
Wrote the following comment on Mar 23, 2006 at 11:06 am
It’s all a bloody mess, isn’t it! If you visit me in Houston we’ll squander some $2.47 a gallon gasoline, and I’ll drive you anywhere you wish to go (does that win me “good bloke” status?). I’ll even pour you margueritas by the pool in the backyard.
Wrote the following comment on Mar 24, 2006 at 4:35 am
hey don’t leave me out….drive from houston to mansfield, I have a pool also! AND I just fished out all of the dead mice! well one at least! Simon are you in a funk this week or REALLY mad at Bush? We could talk about dumb criminals….after flash flooding here some stupid guy afraid of going to jail was running away from the police at a traffic stop and ran into a field where he perished by sinking into the mud. The police began to sink also so they tried to rescue him and in the process he died from exposure. Turns out he wasnt even a wanted man…..
Wrote the following comment on Mar 24, 2006 at 9:13 am
What would I be doing to prove that I’m not all for what’s going on as far as the “war on terror” goes? Good question. I guess there isn’t much one can do outwardly. I might get some kind of bumper sticker like the one I saw once that said “Bombing for Peace is like fucking for virginity.” Other than that what can one do? I might have one of those ‘Question War’ stickers that looks like a “support our troops” one.
Now David, I’ll take you up on the invite sometime, and mate, you’re already a good bloke in my book :-)