Week 8 Discussion: Terrorism in the 21st Century

Week 8 Discussion: Terrorism in the 21st Century

Discuss how you see the "war on terrorism" as of this date. Do you think the United States should be engaged in such a war? Give reasons for or against this war and whether or not we are giving up our own principles to wage it.

Jackson (2018) describes the war on terrorism as, “… term used to describe the American-led global counterterrorism campaign launched in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001” (para. 1). I think it is important that the U.S. be engaged in the war on terror, but I also believe that this focus should be on protecting our country. It’s hard for me to take a stance on this because I’ve served in both Afghanistan and Iraq when I was in the U.S. Army. I think it was appropriate for the U.S. to go to war with Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks. These terrorist (al- Qaeda) brought the war on to our own homeland when they decided to kill thousands of innocent civilians. I was stationed in Giessen, Germany when I watched the attacks on the news. It was understood amongst all us soldiers that it was only a matter of time before we were deployed. I will tell you, not a single one of us had second guessed this decision and were more than willing to fight for our country. I think as a country; our hands were forced into action as we would not sit back and allow this to happen on American soil. When we arrived to Afghanistan, many of the Afghani people were relieved to see us because of the own abuse, torture, and killings they experienced at the hands al-Qaeda and a corrupt government. These bases in Afghanistan employ a lot of the local people and provide them with better opportunities than they could ever have without our country there. So, I believe this war was necessary, but will be never ending. I feel our sources should be on protecting our own country first against an ever-changing enemy. We also have our own home-grown terrorist and issues we must focus on as well. Unfortunately, we will never be able to free this country of corruption or terrorism. Do we pull out of this country and count our losses, or do we stay there fighting a war we will never truly win?Iraq was a whole other ball game, and the number of soldiers and civilians lost can never justify the need for war. I believe that there was a need for the U.S. to intervene in order to protect the people against Saddam Hussein’s regime. However, I don’t believe the U.S. realized how long it would take to start a new government from scratch. I’m very much on the fence because I think of the close friends/soldiers I lost in the Iraq war, and how things are still going in that country, and I don’t feel it was worth it. But, on the contrary, how can we not step in and help those that are in dire need to be freed from oppression and a tyrant. Iraq is such an uncivilized country and religion will always dictate the way this country goes about things, which unfortunately isn’t good. America will never spread democracy in countries such as Iraq as the religion and customs are completely different than ours in America. We are fighting a faceless enemy so to say. These terrorists don’t play by the same rules of engagement, and in my opinion should not be guaranteed the same rights under the Geneva Convention. Because we are the country we are, we will never defeat these cowards as they play dirty and there are too many sympathizers in our country who have no idea how these terrorists operate. Obama pulling out the troops in Iraq without any kind of plan, set us back so far and allowed other terrorist groups such as Isis to

form. Either way, this is going to be a long war as this country is in shambles and in my opinion will always house corruption as this is what they have been accustomed to. I don’t believe we are giving up our own principles to wage this war, but we are trying to force our principles on a country that will never want it or change to achieve it. Keen, Cornell, and O’Donnell (2012) states “Restoring law and order and creating a new democratic government proved difficult as Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds divided along ethnic and religious lines” (p. 900). Like I said, religion and ethnicity will always play the major role in this country which will never allow them to become a flourishing democratic country.

Keene, J. D., Cornell, S., & O'Donnell, E. T. (2012). Visions of America: A History of the United

States (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.