- Nov 19, 2001
- 27,730
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I'm not offering any great, new ideas. What I am doing in essence is repeating the Bush doctrine, which to me seems the only way to effectively combat terrorism.
We hear so much about a "cycle of violence". It seems never-ending. The problem is that barring a massacre, there is no effective way to fight those who melt into a civillian population, and those fight FROM a civillian population. Unlike terrorists, 1st world western powers today do not target civillians. Obviously, civillians do die, but IMO the terrorist group which draws the army into civillian areas deserve the blame.
So how do you fight it? Some people might answer that we should hold hands, sing Kumbaya, and we will slowly win them over. I disagree. I think the only way to fight it is by giving it an address. By saying that there is no distinction between the terrorists and those who harbor them. If a country wants to offer shelter to a terrorist group or terrorist leaders, they are responsible for the actions of whatever terrorist group it may be. Eventually, if that becomes real policy to all 1st world powers, countries will not want to harbor terrorists.
I realize this is very oversimplified, and it doesn't account for an oil blackmail or anything else. But at the core, I think it's the only way. Without it there is no way to fight it.
There is no difference between what Israel is doing in Lebanon today and what the US did in Afghanistan, except that it's much easier to justify an attack against a country who's leaders are religious tyrants than against a government which claims to be a bit of a democracy. Keep in mind though, that Hizbollah has 15 parliamentary seats in the Lebanese government, which makes it kind of ridiculous for the Lebanese government to say that they have nothing to do with Hizbollah.
We hear so much about a "cycle of violence". It seems never-ending. The problem is that barring a massacre, there is no effective way to fight those who melt into a civillian population, and those fight FROM a civillian population. Unlike terrorists, 1st world western powers today do not target civillians. Obviously, civillians do die, but IMO the terrorist group which draws the army into civillian areas deserve the blame.
So how do you fight it? Some people might answer that we should hold hands, sing Kumbaya, and we will slowly win them over. I disagree. I think the only way to fight it is by giving it an address. By saying that there is no distinction between the terrorists and those who harbor them. If a country wants to offer shelter to a terrorist group or terrorist leaders, they are responsible for the actions of whatever terrorist group it may be. Eventually, if that becomes real policy to all 1st world powers, countries will not want to harbor terrorists.
I realize this is very oversimplified, and it doesn't account for an oil blackmail or anything else. But at the core, I think it's the only way. Without it there is no way to fight it.
There is no difference between what Israel is doing in Lebanon today and what the US did in Afghanistan, except that it's much easier to justify an attack against a country who's leaders are religious tyrants than against a government which claims to be a bit of a democracy. Keep in mind though, that Hizbollah has 15 parliamentary seats in the Lebanese government, which makes it kind of ridiculous for the Lebanese government to say that they have nothing to do with Hizbollah.
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