How Bush Is Creating More Terrorism

Iraq incites more terrorism

When George Bush pitched the Iraq war to the American people, he made it sound more appealling by saying it was part of our War on Terror. But has our invasion or Iraq really deterred terrorism?

Before I explain my case let me just say that I think terrorism is disgusting, evil, and abhorent. I do not support terrorism in any form and it is not a legitimate form of protest. That being said, the way we're going about fighting it is innefective and even counterproductive in many ways.

Since 9/11 our general policy on terrorism has been to find and kill or arrest every terrorist in the world. Sounds pretty good, if only it were that simple. This strategy assumes that terrorists are seperate from everyone else, when in reality, any person can become a terrorist or a supporter of terrorism. It also assumes that we can kill every terrorist in the world, and then terrorism will no longer exist. Even if we could find and kill every terrorist in the world (which we can't), by the time we were finished we would find that the hatred and angst we had stirred would have created ten times more terrorists.

We were definitely right to attack al-qaeda in Afghanistan. The U.S. and the rest of the world saw the evil atrocity al-qaeda had committed in the United States and agreed that we had to go to Afghanistan and disable the terrorist structure that had done this to us. The war may have stirred up some anti-American sentiment within the Muslim world, but people also saw how horrible Al-Qaeda and the Taliban were. The war in Afghanistan probably didn't anger anyone who didn't already passionately hate America.

The War in Iraq however has created tremendous amounts of anti-American sentiment and inspired many people to become terrorists. Some people may argue we did Iraq a favor by getting rid of Saddam, but that is not the common view of most Iraqis or Muslims. It's not very hard to understand why Iraqis would oppose the U.S. invasion of their country. Does anyone really want their country to be invaded?? And what most American news networks didn't show a lot of was the thousands of Iraqis killed, injured, or blown out of their homes by the U.S. invasion. Most people in the Muslim world view the Iraq war as an attempt to increase U.S. power in the region.

As we now see in Iraq, thousands of people are now fighting against the U.S. in Iraq. Were these people terrorists before the U.S. invasion? Most of them weren't. The invasion has increased hatred toward the U.S. among millions of Iraqis and other Muslims. More Muslims are now willing to fight against the U.S. than before the war. When the U.S. pulls out of Iraq, will all the insurgents go back to their homes and start leading peaceful lives? Some of them might, but many of them might retain their hatred of America and commit more terrorism against the U.S. Hatred towards the U.S. in the Muslim world has undoubtedly increased since the Iraq War, and terrorism thrives on hatred.

There are a few things we can do to help curb terrorism. The first thing is to get out of Iraq as soon as we can secure the peace. We should also hold elections, so that the Iraqi leaders are not veiwed as puppets of America. Another thing we can do is not invade any more Muslim countries unless it is absolutely necessary. Every country we invade just convinces many Muslims that the war on terrorism is more a war on Islam. We can also end our policy of equanimity towards Israel. We rightly condemn Palestinian acts of terror, but we don't condemn Israel going into Palestine and killing large numbers of civilians. More Palestinians have died in the last few years than Israelis as a result of Israeli-Palestinian violence. We should still support Israel, but we should also show that we are generally concerned about the plight of the Palestinian people. We should help support Palestinians in decreasing poverty, and establishing their own state in the West Bank and Gaza. When we take actions such as these our standing in the Middle East will increase, and hatred will subside, and with it terrorism.

We need to rethink our strategy in the Middle East and make sure that the measures we take don't just make more people want to kill us.
7,093 views 10 replies
Reply #1 Top
You've done a good job here; it's pathetic that no one has gone to it--keep plugging.
Reply #2 Top
Yes, good piece. I'm sorry I missed it the first time. Steven, thanks for bumping it.
Reply #3 Top

With attacks on France and Russia, two countries who couldn't be considered to be supporters of the invasion of Iraq, I now see any justification terrorists use as simply an excuse to kill. If not Iraq, it would be something else.


I hope you're not correct about Muslims. Although I know many people believe the majority of them support the terrorists, Muslim theocracies, and despise the western nations, I'd like to think otherwise. If that's the case though, then perhaps people are correct to label Muslims altogether as a violent group of people.

Reply #4 Top
Great piece. Many arabs view the United States as an imperial power, as Pat Buchanon has pointed out many times. I don't think there is any way the fighting in that nation will stop as long as there is an occupying force. There are also the sanctions and bombings which cause Iraqis to view the USA unfavorably. This is probably going to be a mirror image of the West Bank.
Reply #5 Top
matt07: Excellent post. I think you make some important points here, and I hope plenty more people get the chance to read this.
Reply #6 Top
Nice post Matt. You have stated your position clearly.
We should also hold elections, so that the Iraqi leaders are not veiwed as puppets of America.

But , what options does the US have? There will be 3 groups jockeying for power here:
1. Existing Administration:- Will not win as seen to be pro-American.
2. Sunni: Minority with Strong Saddam Attachment. Pliable to the Saudis which for the US, is better than the Iranians. But the Majority Shias will not accept a Sunni led govt.
3. Shia: Obviously extremely Pro-Iran and then the cycle of revenge begins with the Sunnis who had a field day till date being targeted by extremist(no shortage of them as we saw recently) Shia elements.

Now, which option does the U.S. choose?



We can also end our policy of equanimity towards Israel. We rightly condemn Palestinian acts of terror, but we don't condemn Israel going into Palestine and killing large numbers of civilians. More Palestinians have died in the last few years than Israelis as a result of Israeli-Palestinian violence.


Sure, but whom do the Americans speak to? Arafat no longer pulls all the strings and the Israelis hate him. He will allow no other power center to develop. We saw Qurei resigning yesterday. So does the Hamas negotiate for the Palestinians? And will the Israeli hardliners(many in the Likud) agree to US demands to sit down again with the palestinians.

So many questions, I'd say obstacles.
Reply #7 Top

Reply #3 By: Messy Buu - 9/11/2004 2:57:48 AM
With attacks on France and Russia, two countries who couldn't be considered to be supporters of the invasion of Iraq, I now see any justification terrorists use as simply an excuse to kill. If not Iraq, it would be something else.


I have to agree with Messy Buu on this. France and Russia both were not involved in any fashion with the war in Iraq! So what is the terrorists reasons for attacking them?
Reply #8 Top
Citizen matt07 excellent message one I wanted to do myself. You are right on target and this fact should be the one that Kerry should run with. It has been stated by all the key commanders that the violence and amount of terrorists are on the rise. Look at the statement by Osama's number 1 that was released. They are claiming that Afghanistan is now under the control of Al-queda again. Tommy Franks said a long time ago we are taking our focus off from terror to prepare for the War in Iraq. What does the Bush team say? Iraq is the front on terror. What crap is this anyways and why is the public eating it up?

I lost a good friend in the attacks on 9-11 and there is no way at all Iraq was or is part of the war on terror. Sure there are terrorists there now but only due to us being there. The US policies are the reason we were attacked in the first place. It has nothing to do with them hating our freedom or way of life. They dislike us supporting the very governments that repress them. It is quite simple to understand if you view it in the correct context.

The ultimate plan of course is to make Islam the dominate religion in the world. This is why France & Russia was attacked. There will always be a group against the west within this religion. It is written in the bible and in the Koran (sp) concerning this issue. Osama and other groups like his will always attack any infidel. There plans are to take over all the holy sites of the world and make TRUE Islamic states. I predict that Iraq will fall into one of these type of governments in time. Or it will breakup into 3 different countries especially if this administration stays in office. We need to find ways to ease tensions in the middle east not create more tension as Bush has done.
Reply #9 Top

I have to agree with Messy Buu on this. France and Russia both were not involved in any fashion with the war in Iraq!


france makes sense.  theyre obviously hoping to forge a new alliance with the neocons in anticipation of a 2nd bush administration.  as for russia, al-arabya doesnt have much of a film library so theyve had rambo3 in heavy rotation the past couple months. 

Reply #10 Top
Why is everyone so PC and so afraid to say (or are they just consumed with what is contained in popular news to know better) that there are over a dozen places in the world where active fighting is taking place and only 1 that I can think of does not involve Muslims on one side?

Perhaps it is not the US that has been hijaked by war mongers but the religion of Islam and the US has finally been dragged into their cess pool?

The plain fact is that Muslim Extremists do play nice with others and their own web sites will tell you bluntly that they aim to convert the world to Islam. They aim to destroy the west. They aim to replace Islam as the dominant culture in the world. And that they desire to kill as many infidells as they can.

Yes, the US can secure itself and mind its own business, I call that the Ostrich strategy. Anger and blame toward Bush is misslaced on this issue.

Sucking up to the other Totalitarian Despots and religeous fanatics in the world will not make us any safer. Remember, 9/11 happened long before Iraq. They do not need our help to breed terrorists. The fact is, they would kill you if they could and show your body to your family via TV.

The US has not been attacked since that day due to the efforts of our current administration. They should be thanked and honored. Not lambasted and ridiculed. Our freedom is not free. Neither has it been won by backing down in the past. Lets not start now.

The Russians did not support our going into Iraq. Look what happened to them last week. Lets not go that way. We bring it to them, not sit on our hands (read: Practice political correctness and isolationism) and waiting for it to come to us.