What is "The War on Terror" and is it being fought properly?

It is non existent. It is nothing more than an idea, a figment of your imagination, no it is something that has been told to you over and over again and now it seems real to most but there are some that know that "The War on Terror" is not a real war. The real name of this war is "The War of Lies". Although you won't get that name in any media anywhere in the world, it's real enough.

There is no such thing as a war on terror as you can't have a war against a strategy.

In reality, what you have out there is an ideology that justifies (mostly) young men to engage in acts of destruction against the "West" to attempt to coerce those nations (including the U.S. as the leader of the West) into modifying their policies as they effect the Muslim world. You have several loosely affiliated groups that promote this ideology and then help train the young men in how to engage in such acts and suggest targets. Because these groups tend to base themselves in remote, scattered locations, it is difficult if not impossible to target them militarily.

Because the war on terror has been pursued primarilty as a military strategy, it is not being fought properly. To fight it properly, you need a broader based approach.

First, in the long run, victory requires actively competing on the field of ideas. You can't defeat an idea with guns only with other ideas. That means that we have to be willing to publicize our ideas -- both explaining what we are doing and why we are doing it (as opposed to letting the other side define us as is currently taking place). In addition, our actions must be consistent with our words (and unfortunately there has traditionally been a disconnect here).

Second, we need to recognize that the enemy of our enemy is NOT our friend. We need to figure out who our friends in the region really are and help them. We will lose some allies, but those allies (e.g. the House of Saud, Musbarek, Fatah) are hurting us in the long run, not helping us. We may find ourselves in the position of stabilizing unfriendly governments because they are doing the right thing for their countries in the hope that some day they will come to realize that we are their friend.

Third, we need a good mix of intelligence work and criminal investigation. We need solid criminal cases against suspected terrorist not vague justifications for holding people associated with terrorism indefinitely.

Finally, when military action is appopriate (either as a surgical strike or to remove a govenrment that is actively supporting terrorism), we need a good strategy and we need to allocate the necessary military resources to succeed. A blundered occupation only helps the terrorists and has an unecessarily high cost in U.S. lives for little purpose.

The phrase "War on Terror" is so 2-years-ago.

"The Bush administration is retooling its slogan for the fight against Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, pushing the idea that the long-term struggle is as much an ideological battle as a military mission..." (July 2005)

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/26/politics/26strat...

"The Bush administration is abandoning the phrase "war on terror" to better express the fight against al-Qaeda and other groups as an ideological struggle as much as a military mission..." (July 2005)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4719169.stm

There is no war on terror...

Did it ever occur to you that maybe the U.S is the one terrorizing other countries?

Iraq and Iran never did anything to the U.S...neither did Pakistan or any of those middle Eastern countries.

U.S wan'ts to control their oil, but of course they cant just walk in there and do it, they need to make a "scene" in order for people to support their agenda.

It's a sham! Just look at where the term originated.........the MEDIA!

No we aren't fighting it right..........otherwise Bin Laden would have been in US custody by the end of 2001.......and we would never have invaded Iraq!!

The War on Terror was initially a way to prevent large scale external terror attacks on the US. Part of it still is, most of it, however, seems to involve our young men and women hugging oil wells in Iraq.

The "war on terror" is not actually a war on terror. It has become a war aginst humanity. People (Bush) is using the term to cause devastation to people who have done nothing against them.

I think it's a fraud. A real 'war on terror' would have involved the annihilation of syria, pakistan, the sudan and iran. Bush and other liberals would rather take away our freedoms here in the homeland.

If a suicide bomber comes to your neighbor hood, and if you live through it, then you answer the question.

Yes. It is the War on Terrorists.

And it is being fought properly.

Terrorists & their friends, the Democrats don't like it.