War On Terror?
© 02.15.08 By Elisa Williams

This article originally appeared at elisawilliams.com

It has been seven years since the WTC towers fell, five years of American military presence in the middle east, 4,000 lives, 600 billion dollars and still the war on terror continues. And I don’t expect it to end because in my opinion it’s a war we cannot win.

How can you conquer terror with military might? We fight terrorism but we’re just killing the symptoms. Terrorism isn’t people or underground organizations; terrorism is a religion. You cannot kill a religion with war. This is why I say we will never win the war on terror.

As long as man kind exists there will be cruel dictators and bloody tyrants and there will be haters of freemen and there will be terrorists.

There is always a potential threat to freedom. It is born every day. Religions of hate have been in existence for hundreds of years and we live with that existence and we fight it when it grows so strong as to challenge us. In WWII much of Europe was taken or was in danger of being taken by Germany and her allies. They had to fight for their lives and their homes.

Our side won the war but we did not kill the ideas that started it. It’s like a man carrying a bottle of poison with which he kills people. To stop the poisoning the man is killed but the poison merely falls to the ground and soon another man comes along and picks it up.

The war we are fighting in the middle east has ceased to be against terrorism. We aren’t battling the standing army of a terrorist country or defending our homeland from Nazism. We are throwing punches in the dark because there is no sure target. A few terrorists here, a few supposed terrorists there. They might support terrorism, and they hate America, but what is for certain? Whom has a gun to your head?

It is time we left the middle east. Whatever reasons we had for our initial invasion are long since null. We live in a world of constant potential threat. Are we going to chase down everyone and anyone who could or might attack us? You cannot fight a winning battle against religion. What is the point of seeking out potential threats and pursuing conflict; perhaps creating war where there is none? Instead of wasting time, money and lives fighting an unconquerable ideology we should be developing a strong home defense so that when a real and tangent threat arises we will be ready to stand it off.

Our future in Iraq depends on the upcoming presidential election and the candidate who is sworn in as the next President of the United States. It is one of many issues that hinges on American votes. How do you view the war on terror? Which presidential candidate do you believe to be the best choice to lead our country through this conflict?