How do you defeat terrorism?

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Attacking the leaders only breeds new leaders... ignoring it only leads to more attacks... and giving in to it only makes others believe that these tactics actually work...

so how do you defeat terrorism? can it be done?

 

[Malibu Whortense]

Nevermind.

 

[melon]

Personal wealth, steady and good employment (not Nike sweatshops), and secular education.

Melon

 

[deep]

Other questions that have been asked in the past:



What can be done to control the Negroes from going wild, burning and destroying property? (circa 1940s-1960s)


What can be done to stop the pinko, drug-crazed hippies from running amuck, taking over college campuses and ruining our way of life? (circa mid 60s ? early 70s)


What can be done to get them crazy women from marching in the streets, smoking and wearing bridges? (circa 1910s- 1920s)


What can be done to get them savages from doing that ?Ghost Dance?? (late 1800s)

 

[deep]

Attacking the leaders only breeds new leaders


i beleve this is absolutely correct and even deversfies it, making it stronger.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Other questions that have been asked in the past:



What can be done to control the Negroes from going wild, burning and destroying property? (circa 1940s-1960s)


What can be done to stop the pinko, drug-crazed hippies from running amuck, taking over college campuses and ruining our way of life? (circa mid 60s ? early 70s)


What can be done to get them crazy women from marching in the streets, smoking and wearing bridges? (circa 1910s- 1920s)


What can be done to get them savages from doing that ?Ghost Dance?? (late 1800s)

if this kinda bullshit is gonna be the response, then please could a mod close my thread...

 

[deep]

Would you rather have a discussion where everything posted is in areement with your thinking?


or ask for further elaboration to a reply that does not agree with your thinking?

 

[BVS]

so how do you defeat terrorism?

I think you have to ask what causes the terrorism? Is there anyway to curve the hatred of your country without sacrificing security. I think like Melon said, education is key.

can it be done?

Not the way we are handling it now. Waging war on countries, tightening security, racial profiling, etc. none of these moves will defeat terrorism it may be a band aid solution that just causes and allows the recruitment of others.

It would be interesting to see if during the questioning of all these assumed terrorists we have locked up if anyone is questioning these individuals how they were recruited, why they chose to do this, etc. Of course this would be ridiculous to think they would waste their time with these questions, because the root of the problem will dissapear once they end this "war".

 

[verte76]

Perhaps by steps? The first thing you do is identify the cause(s) of terrorism. Then you try to see how these can either be controlled or eradicated. It's been said that there are two main causes of terrorism: poverty and lack of democracy. States like Afghanistan and Pakistan, which have bred many terrorists are good examples. If you want to argue that bin Laden and Co. are wealthy guys from wealthy families, well, you're right, but they take advantage of impoverished people in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Sudan, and God knows where else, to sell their messages of hatred and fanaticism.

 

[Dreadsox]

if this kinda bullshit is gonna be the response, then please could a mod close my thread...

Don't take the bait.

 

[Dreadsox]

You need a balance. You are not going to defeat it with education and economics alone.

You need to be strong on two fronts. Unfortunately, I believe we are only strong on one front.

 

[nbcrusader]

Attacking the leaders only breeds new leaders...

A new leader will take over, at least for the first few hits. The attacks do not "breed" new leaders. The existing schools breed the leaders.

 

[Tasty Taste]

I don't think it can ever really be defeated. I mean, look at the 'war on crime' which has always existed. All we can do is attempt to use positive means (education) and negative means (enforcement) together to reduce the amount as much as possible.

 

[verte76]

You need a balance. You are not going to defeat it with education and economics alone.

You need to be strong on two fronts. Unfortunately, I believe we are only strong on one front.

You're probably right. The problem right now is that there is *not* a balance.

 

[nbcrusader]

You're probably right. The problem right now is that there is *not* a balance.

Who is responsible to create the balance? Plenty of the world's wealth flows into the middle east.

We argue economics and education, but what do wealthy muslims do for the Palestinians? Besides supplying weapons and building schools that advocate the destruction of all jews?

 

[verte76]

Who is responsible to create the balance? Plenty of the world's wealth flows into the middle east.

We argue economics and education, but what do wealthy muslims do for the Palestinians? Besides supplying weapons and building schools that advocate the destruction of all jews?

You're right. Damn those Wahhabist madrassas. The other thing is a lack of democracy which can be blamed on all of the Middle East governments, like that of Syria, etc, etc. that reject any kind of democratic reform. I have read complaints about Syria in particular in U.S. Arab newspapers about reform ideas going nowhere fast.

 

[Dreadsox]

Excellent points....

I say we declare Saudi Arabia a terrorist state until they stop paying terrorists to attack anywhere but in their home country.

The are certainly not our friends. Why should we continue to send foreign aid to countries like Egypt when they too spout such hatred towards us. I am sick of it. We are paying them off.

 

[verte76]

I'm afraid if we completely cut off Saudi Arabia we screw their liberal/pro-reform element. These people are mostly middle class people in Jeddah, who regularly walk around in public not wearing their veils, women who drive in political demonstrations demanding the right to drive, etc, etc. There are even enough pro-reform people in the Royal Family to be causing rumors around the the place about royal infighting. I don't know.........

 

[najeena]

I don't think we can defeat terrorism until our species has changed at a very basic level. We've always preyed upon each other, we've just gotten better at it as time has gone by. It's going to take the second coming or some similarly earth- shattering event to change the way all people think. And that event might very well be the end of us.

Sorry, feeling rather hopeless about it.

 

[FizzingWhizzbees]

Excellent points....

I say we declare Saudi Arabia a terrorist state until they stop paying terrorists to attack anywhere but in their home country.

The are certainly not our friends. Why should we continue to send foreign aid to countries like Egypt when they too spout such hatred towards us. I am sick of it. We are paying them off.

Out of curiosity, what do you think is the reason for the US' continued support of Saudi Arabia?

 

[melon]

You need to be strong on two fronts. Unfortunately, I believe we are only strong on one front.

Do you think that guns are going to solve terrorism? They aren't. You can kill people, but you can't kill ideas. The death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin didn't kill Hamas; in fact, the group probably has even more support and will now get even more militant. Yassin, ironically, was "moderate" in comparison to the new leader of Hamas. And if he gets killed too? Another will take his place.

In the midst of everything, nothing in Palestine has changed. There is still 50%+ unemployment, there is still a barely functioning government, and education is still probably controlled by the extremists. The only way we are ever going to end terrorism for good is to appeal to human nature:

--Money, which means employing people in dignified jobs, not creating a sweatshop nation that can't afford the product they create. Greed, above all, is what controls humanity.

--Secular education, which, regardless of what *anyone* says, is the most *tolerant* education out of them all. As it stands, many of these nations are getting educated by religious fanatics, who merely indoctrinate them to hate everyone who isn't like them. The only reason that Europe and America isn't killing each other today is thanks to secularism, which, above all, teaches that different cultures can co-exist in the same state. That's certainly a far cry from pre-secularism, where Europe was plagued by the Papal Inquisition and it is certainly a far cry from what is going on in Muslim nations today. Organized religion has done *nothing* but polarize people.

Melon

 

[verte76]

Excellent post melon. I agree with you 100%.

 

[verte76]

Out of curiosity, what do you think is the reason for the US' continued support of Saudi Arabia?

I'm tempted to say "oil". I don't think supporting their liberal/ reform element is considered as important, but I think that's valid.

 

[melon]

Oil and the fact that an autocratic, but dependable monarchy is preferable to elected Islamic fundamentalists.

Melon

 

[Dreadsox]

Oil....

And I do not believe ECONOMICS by itself will do a blessed thing. I am leaning towards the beliefe that the terrorists have no interest in becoming friendly with us. I do believe that not demonstrating that you are willing to defend yourself they look at as weakness. I think statements from Muslim leaders over the past year, alluding to how Mohammad bid his time, to get strong, and then struck at his enemies is a big indicator, that we may be able to buy peace for the short term, but long term the west and its culture is not part of their plans.

Maybe I sound awful saying this, but I do not believe the terrorists as they exist now want true peace.

In my opinion the economics would be good to help the people of Africa and other poor nations where terrorism may be able to recruit.

As for the "Holy Man" shall I list the number of deaths he is linked to? Israel did the right thing. I only fault them for not hitting all of Hamas leadership at once.

 

[Dreadsox]

Maybe we can stop sending foreign aid to all of the countries that support terrorism who consistently allow the terrorists to bread their hatred of the us and send all of that money to Africa...and for AIDS.

 

[melon]

Stop sending foreign aid? Go right ahead. Then you'll bankrupt their governments, which will, in turn, end any potential form of secular education or social services. Where there's a need, there's going to be someone to fill that void: militant Islamic groups that will provide these basic services, which will, in turn, make the general public sympathetic to their cause. After all, you don't bite the hand that feeds you. As the story goes, Fidel Castro only turned communist after the U.S. refused to give him aid, while the Soviet Union was happy to oblige.

Terrorists don't want true peace? That's certain, but these people will eventually die. The matter, thus, is not whether we can rehabilitate these people, but whether or not they will be able to make an impact on future generations. Leaving people in abject poverty is fuelling terrorism, because, as I said, where their governments cannot provide, terrorist organizations are more than willing to take their place.

Melon

 

[STING2]

Its important that the United States continue the strong ties that it has had with Saudi Arabia for nearly 60 years now. Saudi Arabia supply's the planet with 25% of its energy and is vital to the global economy. The destruction or cut off of this energy supplies would plunge the world into and economic depression that would dwarf the Great Depression of the 1930s with unknowable consequences.

US engagement with Egypt has helped keep peace between Israel and Egypt for nearly 30 years now. Egypt unlike other Arab countries has recognized Israel and its right to exist. Egypt has also worked extensively with the USA in combating terrorism and helping to contain and keep pressure on Libya.


Melon,


You may not be able to kill idea's, but you can certainly manage those that attempt to cause harm in the name of those idea's. We need Police on our streets that have guns in order to fight crime and deter it. Without military action in Afghanistan, Al Quada would still have its base of operations in Afghanistan posing a major threat to the world. Having good intelligence and a strong military to fight terrorism is vital.

Like Dreadsox said though, there are two tracks. Foreign aid and economic development of the rest of the world is very important. Globalization and Free Trade are aiding in this process.

Secular education but respect for religion and culture are very important as well. But like all these things it is not the only thing. The worst disaster in human history, World War II, did not involve religion.

 

[melon]

Police? With what money? That's certainly part of the problem. And Afghanistan? Talk about backing up my argument; the nation is one gigantic failed state.

Our president said that the "war on terrorism" would be a different kind of war. And that I agree with, but what have we done as a result? Fight it in the same exact manner. Certainly, in this short term, the military is needed to a degree, and sweeping up the terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan is a positive development. But what kinds of plans do we have in the long term? Overthrow governments, install new ones, and leave them on their way? That doesn't seem like a "new kind of war" at all. In fact, it was overthrowing governments and installing puppet governments that helped get us in this mess in the first place.

Melon

 

[BVS]

Who is responsible to create the balance? Plenty of the world's wealth flows into the middle east.

We argue economics and education, but what do wealthy muslims do for the Palestinians? Besides supplying weapons and building schools that advocate the destruction of all jews?

That's the thing we need to think beyond us. We all need to move towards the balance. But we probably never will. Moving towards a balance with the rest of the world is going to require sacrifice. It will require sacrifice financially on our part, it will require sacrifice in religious beliefs with others and humans aren't capable of doing this.