Quote:
Originally Posted by Agamemnon
Ok... but are the only two options 'being complacent' and 'invading all their countries'?
I see terrorism as the symptoms of a problem, not the problem itself. People don't blow themselves up for no reason, nor do they blow themselves up to re-conquer Spain. These are symptoms of a greater, real problem that they face. Whether that is the decline of Muslim dominance in the Middle East (their own region), poverty, religious indignation at US presence in their holy sites (I don't think the US dismantling a few bases in Saudi 'fixed' everything), the belief that land was stolen from them, family members were killed by Israelis/Americans/Saudis, etc., etc.
We're attacking the heck out of the symptoms, but acting as if the real problem doesn't exist. Its easier to kill them than to try and understand them... at least, I think thats what the average Westerner believes.
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I agree with most of this. Terrorism is a problem itself, not just a symptom of another problem. Regardless of what the original problem was, the fact that they chose to resort to violence without even talking is another problem. As much as people bash Israel and the US for their actions, at least diplomacy was attempted.
I don't believe that the average Westerner believes that it's easier to kill them than to try to understand them. I believe that the average Westerner does not know much about the average person in the middle east, but also believes that if someone is willing to blow themselves up to attack "us" then we might as well kill them before they get to "us".
Trying to understand "them" (the terrorists who are willing to blow themselves up) is incredibly hard and takes a boat load of time. What would you propose we do in the meantime? The current drastic attack measures sure aren't helping the understanding process, and I'd say that they are severely delaying it, but allowing "them" to grow, train and prosper unchecked is not an option either. There has to be a middle ground somewhere....