War on Terror

The war on terror that the United States is currently fighting is a war that is different from any other war we have fought in. in this war we are not fighting a specific country, rather we are fighting what I would call a concept. That concept is terrorism. Terrorism is defined as the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes. We are fighting in such countries as Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan, but in reality, we aren’t fighting those countries. We are fighting to prevent acts of terrorism and protect innocence people from malicious attacks. This war on terror was fairly tamed before one day nine years ago changed everything. The September 11 attacks in New York and Washington, DC lit a fire and caused a series of actions that would lead to the start of the war we are still in. Most people have very strong opinions toward the war; they are either extremely against it or they are content with it. Many people put a bulk of the blame for this war on George W. Bush. He has been scrutinized and ridiculed for sending troops overseas and taking the actions his did after the attacks. I disagree with people blaming him because any president would have done the same exact thing. The president’s job is to protect the United States and Bush was doing just that. The United States had not been attacked on that magnitude before, and being the powerful country that we are, we couldn’t just sit back and take it.

The reality is that the war on terror will probably never end or be won by one side or the other. Obama has said that he plans on withdrawing troops, but this could end up making things worse before it makes everything better. Al-Qaeda will never stop doing what it does. It will never stop attacking and killing innocent people. The people associated with al-Qaeda are sick and demented people that enjoy what they do, and because of this, they will not stop or be stopped. In my opinion we are fighting a war we cannot win. I don’t mean to sound negative or anything like that but I truly feel that terrorism will never end. The United States has done a fairly good job with preventing any future attacks on our home soil but there are threats being made daily that could endanger this. I agree that we should withdraw troops because these troops could be used for more important purposes. The military has lost too many men and women in this war to road side bombs and other surprise attacks. Because the United States is seen as one of the most powerful countries in the world, it feels that it must do anything and everything to uphold that image. The war on terror shows this because the country’s image was tarnished after September 11th and it took the actions necessary to show that we would not take such violence. We have been at the war long enough. It is time to admit that we cannot fix everything and get our troops out of there.