How do we win? We win by letting these extremist mosques spout their BS for all the world to hear. We win by not compromising on our beliefs of freedom, equality, democracy, etc. We win by not lowering ourselves to the level of our enemies. We win by going on with our day to day lives without giving them any undo attention. In the case of militant Islamic radical groups ignoring the problem will make it go away. By not giving them any attention they are unable to get their message out and can not bring in new members, their leaders die off and we never hear from them again.

The difference between Iraq and say... World War II is that in WWII we were actually threatened and had a need to act, Iraq doesn't threaten the US and Al Qaeda threatens the safety and security of Americans, not America. Lacking the will to endlessly fight a war that can't be won by military means against an enemy that poses no threat to America doesn't make us weak, it makes us responsible. Since apparently reversing fifty years of foreign policy that turned us into the bad guys and actually trying to overthrow brutal dictators as opposed to prop them up has only made things worse.

That had so much rhetoric it's starting to drip.
Ignoring the problem isn't going to make it go away. That worked wonderfully back in the 90's didn't it? The existence of America and the West itself is enough to keep these people who will do all kinds of harm in power.
Not being able to fight and win does make us weak. The next time you try to use "presence" as a deterrent, it won't work. You'll have to fight yet again, lose, then come back with the enemy with yet another great recruiting tool.
I think the hurt dollar, the rising oil costs (not necessarily all because of the scarcity of oil) and what Muslim extremists are doing in the UK does suggest that Al Qaeda has the capacity to not only harm Americans but America itself. It will lose all its influence abroad wherever extreme Islam has control.
There's been a slight change since the 70s. Back then, terrorists didn't want a whole lot of people dead. They wanted publicity. But now it seems they want not only publicity but also a whole lot of people dead. America is now the target, not simply the audience. And you can forget about "not doing anything" because the press will cover all the events and show it to the world.
Do you know how doing nothing will be perceived here? It will be perceived as such: the Americans have lost the will to fight. We are now taking the fight to them. Victory shouldn't be too far away now.
That's how it is seen over here (Not America)

We are now taking the fight to them. Victory shouldn't be too far away now.

Ah of course, the problem will go away because you've decided it should. There's no plan to deal with it and the problem is one that is centuries old, but because we've decided to act it will go away. Wars of ideology can not be won by military means. Look at Vietnam, the US won 98% of all the ground battles during the war, yet we lost because of a bunch of ****ing potheads.

It wasn't just the potheads. It was the whole country.

2/3's of the nation was smoking in the 60's and 70's. We're talking about the same people.

I was speaking for the 1/3.

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

It wasn't just the potheads. It was the whole country.

In the 60s/70s i knew we had lots of potheads. But i had no idea that 2/3 of the nation where stoner's.That is ridiculous.

very strange figures and terms used there....

Originally Posted by Rossiman

How many potheads are we talking about here lol? I am aware we had lots of potheads in the 60's 70's... But is it true that 2/3 of the nation Where Stoners?

I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me, it was a pretty depressing time in American history. Hell, a majority of the members of Congress and pretty much every candidate for President has admitted to smoking marijuana at some point in their lives. Why should the people who put them in office be any different?

The odd thing about this war was the level of a person's education was directly proportional to their support for the war

Originally Posted by SHERMAN

very strange figures and terms used there....

Ya sorry about that. I rewrote it, stoners are what we call potheads now.