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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Cartman: [QB] [QUOTE]I fail to see why we must address whatever econo-political problems yielded Islamofascism [i]first[/i].[/QUOTE]Because, if you don't, every terrorist you kill will just inspire ten more to strap on a belt of explosives and blow themselves up for their greater cause. [QUOTE]Waiting around to try diplomatic and cultural transformation of the underlying conditions would not stop those already hell-bent on killing [i]now[/i].[/QUOTE]No, but it would stop those that might become hell-bent on killing [i]in the future[/i]. [QUOTE]It's not a matter of choosing one theater to the exclusion of others until you find a silver bullet answer to the problem. I don't think anyone in the national security establishment, be they Ds or Rs, really thinks just trying one method of engagement is going to suffice. Granted, some will think some forms will be more effective than others, but saying we have to look to underlying causes first has [i]never[/i] been a winning strategy in [i]any[/i] war.[/QUOTE]But this war isn't [i]like[/i] any other war. It cannot be won with strategies of the past, so new ones have to be drawn up. And that hasn't been done. Combating terrorism isn't about bombing training camps and arresting cell leaders, which are reactionary stopgap measures, but about long-term investments in improving the social/cultural/economic conditions in those countries where it is originating from. There's your silver bullet on a silver platter, you just have to be willing to fire it. [QUOTE]The most effective multi-pronged way of warfare similar to the way we are fighting right now is the Philippine insurrections of the very early twentieth century. While the US Army fought the rebels in the mountains, engineers followed after and built infrastructure like roads and schools that eliminated many of the conditions the rebels had been complaining about. It worked then. It can work again.[/QUOTE]While I do not know to what extent the Philippian situation can be considered a microcosm of terrorism in all its facets today, eliminating the problems that spawn Islamic fundamentalism is going to take more than building a few roads and schools, and is absolutely not something that can be completed in the sort of timeframe that this administration appears to have in mind for, say, Iraq (which it criminally underestimated the task of rebuilding of). And just like it's naive (at best) to think you can transplant a set of Western ideas and ideals which needed centuries to mature to a country/region of the world with a totally different history and expect everyone there to accept them as gospel, thinking that terrorism will "go away" if you kill enough extremists is equally devoid of any sense of reality. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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