Two caveats: (1) Mr. Moderator…this may belong in the other forum (IMHO) & (2) This may appear anti-patriotic but I can assure you that it is not my intention.
But my question is:
What defines Victory in America’s New War?
I have trying to figure out how we can be sure that we won?
Osama Bin Laden = Dead? Surely victory would include this but he would just become a martyr for the radical Muslims
End of Taliban? How will we ever know for certain?
End of Al-Queda? Bush, Powell, Rumsfield etc. have been saying that this network is in 50 countires. The extent of Al-Queda is probably wider than any of us would want to think.
Unfortunately, I don’t think we can ever eradicate terrorism. With the outbreak of Anthrax possibly being tied to terrorism, how can we be sure that Mad-Cow disease or Foot & Mouth disease wasn’t a terrorist act? What about the next disease that threatens free lives?
I believe George W said it would be when Americans feel safe. To do that we will have to deal not only with the terrorists, but with those that harbor and assist them.
This will not be a short war.
Of course, anyone that has listened to one speech by Bush since 9/11 should know this.
Very good question; I like the Owellian undertones.
Obviously, this is not a war in the conventional sense. Al Qaeda does not hold territory and we have no need to take territority from anyone (a brute force ocupation could very well be counterprodctive.) It might be better to think of this as being a police action or investigation. After all, this is more of a criminal act than hostilities between sovereign nations. Our long-term goal will probably be to permanently disable Al Qaeda and the organizations that it works with and set up some sort of permanent system to police terrorism as a threat to the US. The end result will probably look as much like a police investigation to shut down a drug smuggling network than like a conventional war.