To Pyrrhus

I had to think long and hard about whether I should respond to the comment that Pyrrhus left on my blog a few days ago. I was left wondering if it would actually serve any purpose. I still felt I owed it to him, though, so for what it's worth here I go.

First off, you can't kill all the terrorists. I'm sure the army has tried everything in its power to kill them, but so far it hasn't been very effective. By the last count Al Quada was actually recovering a great deal of its strength, something that greatly worried the American intelligence services (as well as everybody else, of course).

I've tried explaining this before, but it seems to be something that needs re-explaining. There are not a fixed number of terrorists. Their numbers grow and shrink, depending on what's happening in world politics and other areas. A botched military operation that is meant to kill terrorists will instead create more as formerly innocent civilians rise up in revenge for being wronged. The feeling that their way of life is being threatened by outside forces (such as, for example, the perceived invasion of one of their countries and a 'war' on their religion) will galvanize thousands, if not millions, and make them become freedom fighters and terrorists.

In order to make it easier to understand, imagine if a state in the US was invaded by some superior power (aliens?) millions of Americans would flood into the army and, if the army was shattered, into freedom fighter cells, flooding from all over the country to help fellow Americans who are in trouble. Some would simply fight with guns and and bullets, others would try politics and a limited few true extremists might resort to extreme forms of violence, be it biological warfare, sabotage or yes, terrorism. The more you radicalise a population, the more moderates will slowly be pushed into this extremist group.

The invasion of Iraq served exactly that purpose in the Muslim world. It doesn't matter whether the war was justified (I still don't believe it was), what matters is whether they see it as justified. Obviously, they don't.

Iraq has become a banner for extremists and a training ground for new recruits. Once the war is over many of those youths might lay down there arms, but a sizable minority, having tasted blood, will probably want to strike out at the west elsewhere. These people will be many times more dangerous then they would have been as raw recruits (forgetting, for the moment, that most of them might well never have been recruited).

Another mistake you make is assume that all the terrorists are being drawn into Iraq. Some are, no doubt, but a sizable group has no means to go to, or true affinity with Iraq and are forced to, or would rather fight the war elsewhere. They see the invasion of Iraq as just another example of the west trying to destroy their way of life. As a result they will lash out at it in their own country, or somewhere where they see the west as weak and vulnerable.

They do not succeed often, but what they do succeed in doing is making our lives less free. I feel that that is a terrible price to pay. Here you also make a fallacy, suggesting that if my dad is allowed to take his pen on the plane (or rather, if we're allowed to bring fluids aboard) then that will mean we have to wrestle terrorists to the ground. Is that really true? The government says it is, but they might be more concerned with not losing votes (which would happen if a plane was detonated in the sky) and appearing to be tough on terrorism (which might win them votes) than with the actual probability of a fluid bomb being successful. We don't know the chances of a plane being blown up by a liquid bomb, they didn't tell us. The chance might be incredibly low, but they might not want to run that incredibly low risk because it might cost them their power.

As for your profiling, It is already happening. So many of my Muslim and dark skinned non-Muslim friends have been harassed by custom officials and others, even though they are innocent. Do you know what that leads to? Resentment and dislike. Many of them, who felt a great deal of sympathy for the US after 911, now have a serious dislike for all things American. They feel they are the target or discrimination and racism and they respond in the same way.

I think back at all the good will the rest of the world felt towards the US had after 911 and then I think about how it was squandered by misguided policies and reality ignoring ideas and it really sucks the life out of me. It is such a shame. It could have been used to unify and instead it led to such division and strife.

Of course, none of this will probably convince you a great deal, so let me finish with this: You should try coming out here for a while, so that you can make up your own mind, rather than getting it all second hand from commentators and critics at home. The world outside America (and Europe) is a great deal different than you think.