we never should have invaded iraq
the resources that we used in iraq should have been used in afghanistan
when we killed bin laden we should have left afghanistan as that was our excuse for going in in the first place
what we are doing with our drones is barely a fraction of what we did during wwii to civilian populations...anybody remember dresden...
however, as long as we are going to fight terrorists, we should use drones, just with much better intelligence...war sucks
what you did not reply to was my question about what rules/laws should be used regarding terrorists around the world
First, at some point you may have to wake up to the reality that we create our own boogeymen. How else is the MIC going to milk Americans unless it keeps them in fear"
Secondly, the real question isn't the weapon as much as it is on how we use it. Dresden references aside, killing innocent people on purpose to kill guys that can be replaced in 20 minutes is not the answer. Obviously, the military is not the answer.
IMO, the answer is exactly what the Rand Corporation described years ago.
Fight Terrorism With Intelligence, Not Might
excerpts --
Much emphasis in the fight against terrorism has been placed on military capabilities. We have come to expect that planes, tanks, helicopters, and heavily armed soldiers will be used to protect America and defeat our enemies.
But calling out the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines in full battle gear to combat terrorism on a day-to-day basis is rarely a successful strategy at home or abroad. There's no question America has the military might to crush an enemy on the battlefield - but in fighting terrorism, the primary challenge is finding the enemy on a battlefield that has no boundaries.
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In some cases, the individuals involved in the attacks are unknown to local police - Al Qaeda often seeks out anonymous individuals. But in other cases, the individuals responsible for attacks are known to the police in the areas where they operate and have a history of terrorist activity. Al Qaeda relies on these more experienced operatives to pull off a successful attack.
This is where the local police can play the most crucial role in preventing future attacks. In most cases, the police are already aware of the activities of local extremist groups with established records of advocating and carrying out violent acts, and often know the players involved because of their past participation in terrorist activity.
Monitoring the activities of local extremists in individual countries - such as travel in and out of the country and involvement in criminal enterprises - can be carried out through physical surveillance and other methods of monitoring permissible under legal boundaries. This can give local police the upper hand.
By doing this, law-enforcement agents will not be able to prevent every terrorist attack, but they will make terrorists' job a lot harder by dismantling networks and fostering a hostile operating environment. We know from past experience that faced with this situation, terrorists will either cease conducting attacks in that location and restrategize, or move their operations completely.
http://www.rand.org/commentary/2003/12/26/CSM.html
How Terrorist Groups End
Implications for Countering al Qa'ida
excerpts
Of the 648 groups that were active at some point between 1968 and 2006, a total of 268 ended during that period. Another 136 groups splintered, and 244 remained active. As depicted in the figure, the authors found that most ended for one of two reasons: They were penetrated and eliminated by local police and intelligence agencies (40 percent), or they reached a peaceful political accommodation with their government (43 percent). Most terrorist groups that ended because of politics sought narrow policy goals. The narrower the goals, the more likely the group was to achieve them through political accommodation — and thus the more likely the government and terrorists were to reach a negotiated settlement.
In 10 percent of cases, terrorist groups ended because they achieved victory.
Military force led to the end of terrorist groups in 7 percent of cases. The authors found that militaries tended to be most effective when used against terrorist groups engaged in insurgencies in which the groups were large, well armed, and well organized. But against most terrorist groups, military force was usually too blunt an instrument.
Obviously there is a more intelligent and effective way of fighting terrorism than killing babies and becomind the terrorists ourselves.
You didn't answer the question of what have we gained.