|
Izzy, Yoepus, and others who say that you cannot negotiate with a non-nation like Al-Qaeda, what is your suggestion? Retaliatory force / military aggression? But how can you attack a non-entity like Al-Qaeda? Badda-bing. This suffers the same problem as diplomacy. You can't just invade arbitrary countries. Even if you did, the terrorist networks are, by definition, not tied to any particular nation and will move. So where do you stop? What happens when you get to your own doorstep?
sifntj0r, what you are suggesting is extremely dangerous and I'm glad that such a preposterous idea would never actually materialize in any half-sane civilized nation. You cannot simply kill someone out of hand, even if you have "evidence." We all know that things such as death penalties themselves have error rates ("false positives," shall we say).
"Well, you have to make a tradeoff ... a few lives taken by mistake versus hundreds or thousands prevented!" <- This is even more dangerous thinking. Where do you draw the line? How would you feel if you were falsely accused and slain? "Oh well, statistical error got the better of me!" 
No thanks, none of these solutions work. This, however makes much better sense:
| quote: | Originally posted by occrider
So in effect, while the cylce of violence may continue, over time, the random, indiscriminate attacks (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Iraq, whoever) will only strengthen global resolve and cooperation against these groups. Furthermore, the mere nature of the attacks alone unite the majority against the Al-Qaeda cause since their attacks directly affect the very group they are attempting to recruit from. Lastly as each attack against indiscriminate innocents unites global resolve, it also serves to remove the capability of Al-Qaeda type groups the ability to operate freely in ANY country that desires some kind of good relations with the rest of the world.
|
(Why isn't there a thumbs-up smiley?)
Hehe:
| quote: |
Or the west does something extremely stupid ...
|
Like invade a certain large middle eastern country on shady pretenses?  Like you yourself have said, Occ, this has only increased violence and hatred against the west!
---
I am also of the mindset that Al-Qaeda will bring their own downfall. People don't just naturally tend to adopt insane fundamentalist and terrorist thinking. It requires a certain environment and brainwashing to emerge.
One of the only places for hope, IMHO, is to remove the causes for this kind of militantism (as others have said here). There is no way that merely a religion can cause this kind of widespread behaviour. Religion, or rather fundamentalism in this case, serves as a label over all of the woes that these people are suffering (no, they're not doing this because they are bored).
What do you think is a better recruitment vehicle? Explaining how your living conditions are horrible for whatever reason (the west?) etc., or proclaiming war on Satan and setting the conquering of the world as your goal?
More than anything, ignorance is what fuels this kind of crap. Again, I think it would be far, far, better to transfer spending of billions upon untold billions of dollars of military money (talking about the world here, though America takes the cake on this one) and use it for more constructive social uses. Or, as some more aggressively-minded people here would say, for "pacifist" purposes.
Violence is never a solution for violence. Not now, not before, not ever. It's up to every individual to see this for themselves. If you cannot, then look at the cold hard facts of history and you'll find it there.
|
Water
