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Originally Posted by Professor S
Terrorism is not a 21st century invention at all. Its been around for centuries, if not longer. The British boarded up churches filled with women and children and then burned them down. Just because it was the military, doesn't make it any less of a terrorist act.
Guy Fawkes tried to blow up Parliament in 1605.
The IRA operated for decades in the 20th century, as did the PLO, Hamas and any number of fundamental islamic groups in reaction to their advancing culture and technology.
To say that terrorism is an invention of the 21st centuries ignores both history and logic. Are there elements that want to exploit terrorism? Sure, but I think they've failed completely. I don't know any American who operates out of fear of terrorism, but it is a clear and present danger. Should we simply ignore the fact that there are people trying to kill civilians? There is a difference between fear and pragmatic awareness of a real situation.
Statements like the ones you've made about terrorism are only an excuse to pretend it doesn't exist or can't effect us. To do so would be to invite more attacks, and thats common sense talking, not fear.
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See...in my opinion, terrorism is an ideal. It is an abstract. It is not a clear-cut thing and there is no solution for it. And, what defines someone as a "terrorist" becomes a complex argument. I believe that there are clear-cut "acts of terorism" but actually defining a "terrorist" is a difficult task.
Let me remind you that this war in Iraq is a "War on Terrorism." What a load of bullshit that is. I wonder how many American people, even today, understand why the Al-Qaeda targeted us on 9/11.
Our current administration painted this wonderful image. "They are attacking us because we have freedom, and we are a democracy!" And thus, we deemed the Al-Qaeda "evil" terrorists and we are the White Knights of Freedom (never mind the thousands of civilian casualties we inflicted from bombing Iraq). One topic never discussed in American politics is did we have the 9/11 atacks coming. I'd say yes. Was it moral or right of the Al-Qaeda to kill thousands of Americans? No. But, the attack was not random, and in a way it was probably not all that surprising (aside from the execution, which was clever and surprising).
The Al-Qaeda are not upset because we have freedom and Democracy, they are upset because of our involvement in the Middle East. Our pre-Iraq involvement. It seems like we are perpetuating the terrorism problem by continuing our involvement with Iraq. It seems very cyclical in nature. We "create" the terrorist who wants us out of the Middle East, we stay in the Middle East for oil, the terrorist gets upset and attacks us, and we "wage war on the Terrorist" and get more oil.
Our government, on the heels of 9/11, used the terrorists as a reason to go to war with Iraq. Iraq had WMDs...they were helping out the Al-Qaeda! They were aiding those terrorist bastards who wanted to take away our FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY! Talk about massive propaganda. And thus, the American public was at least 50/50 for this "War on Terrorism."
This still negates the fact that terrorism is an ideal. You yourself just illustrated that over the span of hundreds of years terrorism has always existed. Terrorism, like racism, stems from ideals and beliefs. There is no cure for terrorism. There is no war that can be waged against a terrorist. There will always be someone who stands against the status quo.
Presumably, this War on Terror is a War to Get Oil, not a war to smash an ideal.
But, hey. Terrorism is ancient. The Pilgrims were terrorists (die Native Americans!). Christians are terrorists (let's wage war agains the Pagans!). Or, maybe it was the Native Americans or the Pagans that were terrorists.
Acts of terrorism are as old as time. You listed a bunch of examples. Hell, how about Unit 731 and the Japanese and German experiments during World War 2. Or concentration camps. Or Prisoners of War.
It is the current US Administration that has taken the tall order of defining who is the terrorist. And they've done a good job (/sarcasm). And, I actually think they have struck fear in the hearts of some Americans.
But...the bottom line is...regardless of what War you start, who you oppress, who you kill, someone will always rise to the challenge and execute an Act of Terror. I assure you, there WILL be another act of terror, people will die, and it will be a tragedy. You can't stop it. As history has indicated. Unless you want to ignore history.
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By the way...I don't know any Americans who operate out of fear of terror either. But, immediately after 9/11 people sure were rattled. It took a major war, several trillion dollars spent, 4000 American casualities, a huge increase in gas prices and THOUSANDS of Iraqi casualities for the American people to realize that maybe this war isn't about terrorism.