Quote:
Originally Posted by DGthe3
Warning: long off topic post. might want to skip ahead. And please, keep my signature in mind.
You cannot fully secure your borders. You don't have only the mexican border to think about. there are a few thousand miles of Canadian border too. And even more coastline. Ports are extremely unsecuure. Not everything can be inspected. Not all airports have top notch security systems. People become lazy and inattentive when searching and finding nothing. Passports are easy to fake, even fancy ones. Most terrorist attacks against the US (at home and abroad) have been conducted by citizens of that particular country.
The thing about fighting terrorisim is that no system designed by humans is perfect. There is always a drawback, a compromise. Its not an enemy that can be stoped by killing all of them. They have to no longer want to fight you. That is why Iraq isn't going too well, Afghanistan is doing a bit better but its not anywhere close to a self sustaining country. I support our troups, Canadian, Americian, Brits, and everyone else laying their lives on the line for everyones freedom. But when a terrorist (a freedom fighter according to the other guys) is killed, what does his brother think? or his son? Will they accept that he was a bad man and should never have fought for his country or beliefs? None of us do when it happens to our soldiers. Over there, the families of the fallen take up arms to avenge the deaths, and I would do the same thing if they killed one of my brothers. Kill 1 terrorist and you create 2 freedom fighters. Then there is the issue of civilian casualties. A smart bomb will almost always hit its target, but who says that target is accurate? then theres the ones that go off course. And of course there are false reports as well, "The evil Americans blew up a school today" could have been a terrorist training facility or one filled with innocent children. But what it actually was makes no differance. If people think it could have been children, the damage has been done regardless of the facts.
Its not all bad, there are schools and hospitals and lots of other good things being built. Our soldiers are helping the people. But human nature is such that we often forget about good things and focus on bad things. So if you just built a hospital that saves 10 lives a day, that won't make up for killing 10 people in combat. To win people to your side you have to provide them with something more attractive than what the other guy is giving. Problem is, a school and clean drinking water isn't as nice as a place in heaven with Allah.
As I said earlier, there is only 1 way to fight terrorism: make them no longer wish to fight you. 2 ways to do that, make them like you or make them fear you. If the US had invaded Iraq and used everything they had, the war would be over. And by everything I mean nukes too. If there is a terrorist stronghold, wipe it off the map. All that stuff about kill 1 terrorist make 2 freedom fighters doesn't apply when everyones gone. Its a brutal, heartless, cold blooded way but thats how its always been done. Stop the uprising by burning down the village. After a while, nobody will want the same fate.
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He's spot-on. It is impossible to close the borders completely. Take a look at Britain, a relatively secure island. The terrorist attack in London was not a consequence of bad border patrols but instead people who legitimately entered the country. In America's case, all 19 hijackers had visas if I remember correctly. Even if they didn't, assuming my memory is way off, they still got onto Union soil.
The real way to stop terrorist organizations is to stop them from wanting to fight. At the same time, it is impossible to stop all acts of terrorism. Anyone could make a bomb. How many of us saw
FIght Club? They made bombs with soap leftovers. Most people wouldn't dare do something so violent, but there are always those who break the rule.
I think we all support our soldiers overseas. The problem is that we aren't seeking the appropriate political solutions. We aren't even asking the right question of those we help: how can we help? Sure we can build them a hospital and some schools, but they already have some of those things. A lot of people forget how well off some countries are without American aid. We brought down a regime that should never have been there. Maybe its time to go. Maybe we can help ourselves better by not helping at all right now.