I'm Terrorfied!!! Or The Great American Facepalm

There's been a lot of recent criticism of the way that Obama has handled the Antiterrorism initiative since taking office last year. The right wing balked at the (as yet still pending) closing of Guantanamo Bay, the ending of interrogations by the CIA (now to be done by a new group led by the FBI) and the plan to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind 9/11, in a civilian court, granting him full protection under the Constitution (Egads!). The left has criticized the troop surge, and his extension of the Patriot Act. Oh yeah! And the fact that Guantanamo Bay is still open! So know some want a return to the old school two-fisted Cheney school of Antiterrorism; namely shoot 'em all and let (white man's) God sort 'em out.


Well, now that we have all that lovely background out of the way, let's move onto what's really important; WHAT I THINK!


I was 15 years old when 9/11 happened. I'm 24 now. Basically what that means is that there's hasn't been a time in my adolescence or young adult life when my country wasn't at war in the middle east. If I want to stretch further back I can remember watching the events of Desert Storm unfold on TV when I was but a wee little turd. So what I'm saying is that I've seen a lot of brown people get blown up on TV. A lot. Now, I understand that so far my exposure has largely been second hand; you know from newspapers, TV news, films, books and the stories from other kids my age who have had a tour, or several, of Iraq or Afghanistan. I'm not some big important politician who REALLY understands how the world works, so I understand that my solutions may be, oh shall we say, a bit naive (And by naive I mean no one really gets rich of it). But what the hell? I'll give it a shot.


As anyone who has devoted any real thought to the subject knows you can't fight terrorism. The British tried to do it and they got America.


Here's the real deal right here: we need to GET THE FUCK OUT of the Middle East as a whole. You can't fight these people. It's simply not possible; how do you win? They have an endless supply off soldier who are willing to sacrifice themselves and become martyrs for their cause. And really that's the key; the people doing this aren't career soldiers, they're fanatics. They will stop at nothing to achieve their goals, and frankly America won't except the kind of casualties that a victory would require.


Here's something I don't think that a lot of people realize either; by staying in Afghanistan we're actually playing directly into Osama bin Laden's hands. No one can control Afghanistan, that's why it's been basically controlled by warlords throughout it's entire history. But that doesn't mean that bin Laden can't get the U.S. completely bogged down there, spending trillions of dollars, taking thousands of lives and cripple our economy. I mean he did the EXACT GODDAMN THING BEFORE TO RUSSIA! Come on! Are we really this fucking shortsighted? Yeah, I guess so.


For anyone who thinks that we need to have a hand in the Middle East I have only this to ask you; Why? For their oil? Well how about we try focusing on creating a green energy industry in this country so we can move past fossil fuels already? Shit, that might even create a few jobs and get this country back on the right track.


Fuck, it's not like anyone ever listens to me anyway. I don't even know why I try.


-Jon J