A war on terror makes about as much sense as trying to swat a fly with a sledge hammer. You may eventually hit the fly, but only after you've smashed your house -- and if your not lucky, your head.
There is a way to solve this thing, but it means taking an action all those folks shouting war, war, war are too scared to take. You heard me, war boys, you're all a bunch of wimps. That's right. Pansies.
You haven't got what it takes to win this fight.
War is an institution that exists only between sovereign states. You cannot go to war on attitudes, on actions, or on individuals. And you wouldn't want to.
As much as calling this "The War on Terror" makes it sound more serious, it stupidly distorts both the playfield and the rules. War just sounds so, so tough. Look at it over there in all those bold letters war. WAR! Oh, be still my little brass bugle. People are dying. We have to stop the terrorists. We have to get our war on. Right?
No. Sorry. That's looking at it absolutely bassackwards. What we want out of this situation is two things: we want the population to be safe, and we want justice for the terrorist actions. War can't give us either of those things. War is not about justice. Never was. War is about extracting submission and spoils from another sovereign state. If that's not what you're after, don't start a war.
Here's a hint: if you ever find that you're the only side fighting a war, you may think you're winning, but you're certain to lose.
Terrorists are not a nation-state. They are not going to sit by while you build up tens or hundreds of thousands of troops. They are not going to join in combat under some kind of post-modern Marquis of Queensbury rulebook. What we've done in this "war" so far is probably the funniest thing they've ever seen.
Terrorists from Afghanistan to Alabama are laughing their asses off at us.
If we are going to win this thing that's not a war, we're going to have to give up the one item no state ever wants to surrender: our sovereignty. You want to win this thing, really win, here's what you do:
Reform NATO
Scrap almost all of NATO's conventional military operation and turn it into a force charged with international police keeping. A SWAT team on steroids cross-bred with the CIA.
Buy into the International Court
As long as we're more concerned that some American officer might get charged with a crime than we are getting the bad guys locked up, guess what? The bad guys are handed a get out of jail free card. Agree to the court. And while we're at it, we need to harmonize the laws on evidence collection, procedures, and punishment -- even if that means ruling out the death penalty. If you're not willing to go this route because it's more important to you that the terrorists get their necks popped than it is that people stop dying, you're one sick SOB.
Anytime, Anyplace, and that Includes Here
See that nice reformed NATO force? Good. See that well-ironed set of international laws? Cool. Now, we have to give them both permission to go where they will when they will in order to stop international acts of terror. That means even letting boys without a flag on their shoulder arrest a US citizen, on US soil.
Scream about black helicopters and the new world order all you want. That's what it's going to take.
The shame is, we could have started on this thing and made real progress by now. Instead, we just keep swinging that sledgehammer. Eventually, we'll smash all our freedoms and laws flat and a few tens of thousands of folks along the way. And the fly will just look at the wreckage and laugh.