Get Out of Iraq and Start Fighting Terrorism

There was another huge anti-war protest in the streets of New York today. The usual suspects were there, and that only makes the majority of Americans automatically think they are on the opposite side of whatever is being protested. There is a large segment of society that is automatically diametrically opposed to anything that someone like Rev. Jesse Jackson is for. This is a logical fallacy on their part.

The Bush administration has made a tactical error in the war on terror. This is not a traditional war, but the Administration insists on having our military fight it that way. The very use of the word "war" is probably inaccurate. Battle is probably a better choice. Much as the words "war on drugs" created false expectations along with the unrealized "victory", calling this a "war" on terrorism made it possible for our government to launch us down this path, with hardly a voice raised in opposition, by creating a false expectation of the necessary response. What else do you do in a "war" that you are trying to win other than invade the enemy's country?

Even if the absolutely best possible consequences ensued from invading, conquering and setting up democracies in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and whatever other countries end up on the agenda, it will not impact the problem with terror. The best you can hope for is a relatively low loss of innocents in those countries, along with a relatively low loss of our own young people and then those countries rapidly installing democratic systems and the majority being satisfied with the changes and not upset with our country (and pushed further toward siding with terrorists). That's the BEST. And that isn't bad! The problems are:

A) There is no guarantee that all of those good things will come to pass - ever. In fact, some of the more negative potential consequences are almost a certainty.

B) When you invade a country, you are fighting primarily with the armed forces of that society. In the case of Islamic societies, those soldiers you are fighting are not usually associated with terror. In fact, many times the terrorists residing within that country hate the armed forces as much as they hate America.

leading to the most import problem -

C) The people who already hate us, and the western world, enough to wage a war of terror will be almost completely unaffected by this! There will still be 10's of thousands of militant, fundamentalist, islamofascists living in those countries and all over the world. These folks are largely hidden in their beliefs and lives and you only find out about them either after they have taken violent action or after you hear about us breaking up one of their cells.

As we run around doing nation conquering, our government not only creates the illusion of actually fighting a war on terror, but wastes an incredible amount of resources doing it. We could fight the real war at a fraction of what we spend now. The saving of thousands of innocents and U.S. ground soldiers is a pretty hefty coincidental benefit to this proposal.

This battle is not about "countries". There is not a "country" to conquer to end our problems. In fact, doing so can complicate some very tricky issues and actually make them worse. Then again, if you are more interested in creating capitalistic democracies than in ending, or lessening, terrorism - then I guess Bush is doing exactly the right thing.