Thoughts on the War on Terror

an essay by Matthew Bissonnette

On a September morning during the first year of the third millennium, the world witnessed both the best of humanity and the worst. Some gave there lives in an attempt to save others, while a group of men driven by hatred took not only their own lives but the lives of around three thousand people. The opening to the war on terror was a tragic instance of man's inhumanity to his fellow man, but what followed was just as tragic and has cost the lives of far more people; for now Western nations are conducting a war on terror and in that endeavor two nations where occupied and limited attacks are currently being launched against other nations in the region. Our leaders said that this was a altruistic mission and that this was an effort to promote democracy and stability in the region, yet what has resulted seems to have done anything but promote stability and it may be questioned if it is true democracy that the West wants to bring to that part of the world. Are the people of these middle eastern countries truly living in a democracy where a general consensus decides the fate of their countries? Is there a possibility that they would like the coalition to leave? This was in an attempt to save guard us from senseless acts of terrorism, but does possibly this war have the opposite effect; that perhaps we have gained the hatred of many in the region. The West spoke of civilized ideals, such as human rights and freedom; yet in how it conducted itself in the region seemed to ignore such principles. The Coalition efforts to neutralize terrorist factions have directly caused the death of thousands of civilians and perhaps indirectly killed far more. Is not the senseless loss of human life tragic no matter who's borders such loss occurs in? Billions where spent on reconstruction in these “liberated” nations yet evidence surfaced that there was corruption and much of the funds to rebuild these nations vanished. Also the large part of these financial investments where towards building an army to preserve the current authority. The basis of this war was to protect from terrorism, yet if the threat of global terrorism was so dire I imagine they would have done something by now. But the enemy is not some shadowy global terrorist network but the senseless acts of unbalanced men who are not part of any formal organization and thus can be hard to fight. There is no clearly defined enemy and thus victory in such a war may never be achieved. Victory will never be achieved until the denizens of that region come to trust the West intentions and we can only do that if we make their lives better as opposed to worse.