Several underlying problems with your militaristic approach is that there are other militaristic approaches to consider. While you aren't the first to think that way (I've considered it vaguely but being someone who appreciates social engineering I've steered away from it), it's a good point to note that simply killing threats doesn't make all of them go away. A sheer might makes right approach will just agitate the global situation and those forces on the sideline such as Russia will play the "This country is a monster" card and threaten Mutually Assured Destruction as well as exerting the situation to their advantage in gaining popularity for opposing the now Xenocidal America. International politics is one hell of a shitfest that you don't want to agitate. There is no one sized fits all solution to terror, instability, prosperity, or opposition forces. Taking a might makes right path will just start a world war and turn the entire world further against us. Sure, you may be joking but I'd like to point all of this out.
Incorrect. It has worked for North Korea for quite some-time. North Korea has made several aggressive moves towards its neighbors, openly tested weapons, and even went so far as to threaten the UN. North Korea does whatever it chooses to do and the UN just sits on their balls. I never said, "Might makes right." I said, "Might controls everything." If you're going to skim my posts don't respond to them. Politics is rarely, if ever, about what is "right." It's about what is "best" for ones own nation. If the U.S. has to invade a country for oil under the pretense of fighting against terrorism then obviously it's not right, but it's what's best for the country. (Provided the oil or whatver reasources that are really the cause of the war are actually there.)
For one, the US Military, while trained for tactical combat is not as a strategic force truly prepared for actual anti-insurgency and occupation. It's trained for conventional and maneuver warfare on broad battlefields and as far as occupation goes it's brute force and media attempts at propaganda. The occupation itself is just an inefficient, often hate filled slaughter with plenty of violations of international war going on. Obviously that's the way war is. You can't just go and say that everything is going to be all nice and while you agree to principles it's often logistically difficult - especially with the system of war in place to avoid casualties or to keep absolute discipline on your forces at all times. This leads to plenty of abuses and logistics problems in supporting an occupation. You'd probably have been better just sitting things out and waiting for people topple the dictators themselves.
You misread the intent of my post. I'm not talking about occupying terrorist nations to make them peaceful, I'm not talking about launching a war that will take years and cost trillions of dollars and thousands of American lives. I'm talking about unleashing a nuclear Holocaust on those nations who have already set themselves against America. In elementary school, peace is friendship. In religion, peace is loving thy neighbor. In politics peace is having a bigger gun than the other guy. Sitting by and letting the people topple dictators themselves. You must be joking!! How long should we wait on the ignorant masses to rise up and overthrow their leaders? A decade, twenty years, fourty years? While we're waiting on people to overthrow their ruthless dictators, those dictators will have plenty of time to launch attacks, invest in terrorism, commit human rights violations en masse, and so forth. Your approach to politics to war is simply crippling. You want everything to proceed at, "All deliberate speed." We're not in a position where we can afford to take our time.
Moving in and toppling these countries just caused unstable power vacuums with no genuine movement of the people of those countries in place to adequately fill the vacuum. The interim governments themselves are weak and reliant on coalitions and foreign forces to hold together and the extremists are just waiting on the sidelines while agitating the situation to move in and cause problems. They're waging the same fight that the North Vietnamese used against the US in the war of the 60's-70's. The battles are still raging, the groups haven't let go and as time goes on the social forces in these countries increasingly turn against the occupiers as the target objectives are not properly achieved and they start to see the foreign forces as monsters waging war in their country to support unpopular or weak governments regardless of how much they used to like the forces and the benefits they brought or how much they hated the old order. These people don't particularly enjoy foreign reliance and all it is doing is bringing more willing volunteers to the warped causes of the terrorists or "freedom fighters." This whole thing is just a quagmire that's worsening the longer things go on.
Maybe I should make myself clear. I'm not advocating a peaceful co-existence between the U.S. and the world, I'm talking about the best way to handle the world which will benefit America. I'm not arguing that we should rush into a country, remove their dictators, and place power in the hands of the people or a different government. I'm talking about rushing into a country, removing their dictators, and turning the place into a colony. Why give the people control over anything? Those same people who we give power to are the same people who bred the dictators that were terrorizing their own country to begin with. You don't give conquered people the right to rule their own country anymore than you would give a child a gun.
I will say now, I find the general culture of the middle east to be barbaric and behind the times by a long shot - I don't think religion itself should justify living in a neo-medieval type setting. However, these people are still people regardless of how barbaric their culture is because they have their own right to believe in and rally behind their own social order. This is just a fact of life and it is the foundation of societies for those with similarities and a common set of concepts to form nations. We need to remember that all of us are easily capable of this same barbarism as societies and we frequently cross the moral event horizon in our policies and what we support.
They also have their own right to die for that cause. The Middle East is anti-west. The nature of the Koran itself not only allows for acts of violence it even encourages them. No one is debating their humanity. The fact is they are a threat and any competent government, when faced with a threat to national security would make it their primary objective to remove that threat. Really Cephal, your bleeding heart may be admirable in some circles, well maybe just this one, but that mindset never makes a good politician
in the real world. No one is denying the fact that we are ALL "capable" of a similar form of barbarism. Issue is, this isn't about what people are "capable" of it's about what people are
actually doing. The last batch of presidents we had have been far too lenient on the Middle East, North Korea, and all aggressive nations in general. The current administration has taken an impotent world peace approach to everything that is slowing killing the planet as a whole. We negotiate with terrorists while they're killing our people at home and abroad. We try to seek a peaceful co-existence with dictators who support terrorists. When it comes time to overthrow those dictators i.e., when the ignorant masses get their shit together, we support these same people who (culturally and socially) bred the dictators in the first place. When you're faced with a vicious cyle you end it. If a million people have to die well shit oh well. They brought it on themselves.
The best way to launch the first steps of handling an occupation is to bring the country to your side, obviously. But as the time draws on these areas want increasingly less to do with us and they take more moves to spite us by siding world other world powers such as China or Russia in the face of rising American "Imperialism."
Right, cuz that has worked so well. :huuh:
The way to handle insurgency is to understand the root causes of why things are happening and how we can fix it. Good, old fashion social engineering with some force to be applied is the best solution. The causes are rampant poverty, extremist elements constantly working to dominate the forces of these societies, dictatorial or authoritarian regimes that have spanned long enough periods of time, insufficient educational systems and exposure to foreign cultures (Same problem the USA increasingly having) which leads to increasing xenophobia and a sense of perceived or intended superiority, insufficient modernization, terrible or harmful policy decisions by the foreign countries with interests in the regions, over-reliance on foreign aid to work on cementing diplomatic ties, culture shock (This is part of the reason that Western culture is attacked more than anything in my opinion. These people find general western culture to be monstrous or deviant.) which falls in line with the xenophobia, and chronic instability.
Like I said. Go into the countries, remove their leaders, strip them of rights, and turn the country in an American colony. That's the best way to handle all of these situations. People aren't governed by ideals, religions, or identity. They're governed by what they're going to eat and how long they're going to live. As long as you guarantee the safety of the people, the question of "who" rules them never matters.
I'm not going to sit here and outline how we can solve it, that's not what I've set out to do.
The irony is killing me. :XD:
But the matter here is that a "War on Terror" won't get rid of anything and will just increasingly inflame the war. These "terror" movements aren't just distaste for foreign cultures and their ways or "freedom fighting." It is also to do with intended assertions of that these people believe their causes to be just and right and seek to destroy cultures unlike their own in a will of wanting or envisioning superiority. These groups have to be isolated from the bases of potential volunteers by social engineering the causes which open them up to such crap away, at which point you can cooperate with these areas to administer the kill strike when their numbers are too few.
Or you could just nuke them and that will be the end of it. Four or five bombs will bring peace to the world. If millions of people have to die so the rest of the world can have peace, it's a sacrifice we have to make as a species.
Of course, we will still have to defend plenty and the potential of danger from terror attack - domestic or foreign in origin as terror is the theme of the day. Unfortunate but so long as people use these methods to fight against powers stronger than themselves, you must consider the risks and associate what you can with gains. It's a slippery slope that we're not going to recover from anytime soon.
Remove the threat of terrorism and problem is solved.
Proper foreign and domestic policy decisions would definitely be a good, first start. That's for sure.
Because it's worked so well right?