Do you think the Iraq War is stopping terrorism or simply creating more terrorists?
490967
Iraq has created a breeding ground for terrorists. Now that there is no central government in place, Iraq is essentially an anarchy.\n\nPowerful militias have risen to power, like the Mahdi Army, which Coalition Forces can't stop.\n\nShiites and Sunnis are now engaged in what many experts say is a civil war.\n\nAl Qaida is the least of the worries. So many never-before-heard-of terrorist groups have popped up overnight that the combined intelligence agencies from the coalition's respective countries can't keep up with them.\n\nThe irony is that Hussein was a secularist: he hated the Muslim extremists and successfully repressed them. Al Qaida regularly sent assassins to kill him. Extremist Muslims considered Hussein a Western sellout and wanted to kill him very badly. There are confirmed reports of his security agency capturing Al Qaida assassins and reporting these captures to the Pentagon. As bad a man as he is, he did what the US Military and its coalition partners can't do.\n\nWeapons, new recruits, established terrorists, mercenaries all flow into Iraq from the surrounding countries. At some point, Iraq will become a major staging ground for terrorism. Once coalition forces leave, all hell will break out in Iraq, and I fear it will become a Taliban-similar type country.
765181
In order to combat terrorism, the USA needed to eliminate possible bases and supply lines for terrorist activity which were located within Iraq.  The war is a result of the 9/11 attacks, and an attempt to prevent any more such attacks.
825042
Iraq has become the center of the war against the Islamic terrorists. Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia - all of the Islamic nations know this - and so do the terrorists.\n\nAmerica and its allies are the terrorists' last hurdle to their demented ideology and objectives.\n\nIt's a tough pill to swallow, but we must hold true to our promises to the Iraqi people. We must stay and continue to provide training, military aid and humanitarian aid until the Iraqi forces are capable of defending themselves from the terrorists.
1132406
I agree that the killing is going to escalate, not stop. Radical Islam has a hell of a lot more people than we do (never learned that from Nam I guessed) and they can wait forever. Also, now they have a martyr, not that he didn't deserve to be killed!\n\nQuite frankly, I am getting a distinct message that the President of Iraq does not like a lot of our behaviour and is trying to throw us out. Don't be surprised when there is no democracy in Iraq, and they become more militant than the ones we threw out. They have a big reason to hate us now!!\n\n"The more our Iraqi security forces, our police, our army, the more they grow in number, in training and are ready and able to perform and to protect our people, then the less we need of the multinational forces," al-Rubaie told CNN's "Late Edition."\n\nHe wants us out! Read between the lines if you are able!\n\nPlease quit with the FREEDOM BS!! We are there for OIL, not freedom!! Saddam WAS NEVER a threat to our freedom, I don't care what kind of spin you use!!! Freedom is the rights rationalization to get oil for the oil companies who pay next to nothing in taxes.\n\nCrude has gone down. Haven't seen any lowering of gas prices. Bunch of low life gougers!
471056
The Iraqi war ended a couple of years ago.  Their leader was taken down, and their army was destroyed.\n\nYou think it is a waste of time to help a fledgling country with its security until they can get on their feet and protect themselves from terrorists?
924531
A good effect! Maybe with him out of the way the americans can finally get the terrorists to understand that were only trying to help their country. Plus without the main terrorist alive iraq might not try to terrorize america again. Sorry if this is worded wrond, Im only 13.
550403
yes.  no doubt about it.\n\ndon't you understand the master plan?  get all them damn terrorists into Iraq, then drop a few mega-ton nuclear devices, and bad-a-bing, the terrorists are gone and the problem is now solved.
1018844
Nope!!!\n\n"And what the hell is terrorism, anyway? It's not a thing; it's not a place; it's not a person. It is a political and military strategy, that's all. Having a 'War On Terrorism' is as ridiculous as having a 'War on Flanking Maneuvers'. You'll end terrorism when there's no longer anything for anybody to get pissed off about."\n\n"As for now, maybe if we looked at why people are pissed at us, we'd begin to understand. Hell, it doesn't matter whether they're right or wrong; it's what they perceive that motivates them. What you have to address is why they perceive things as they do. Only then will you start to get a clue. And spare me the bullshit about them hating us because of our freedom. We haven't been truly free in a long time. And now we're letting all this demagoguery convince us to give up what little liberty we have left. Big Brother Lives!"\n\n"Hack" Col, US Army
144384
There is a difference between Islamic Fundamentalists and Islamic Fundamentalist  Terrorist's.  The terrorist'sare spread out between all the Muslim Countries, yet there is no country that is terrorist alone.  So we actually have a war against an ideal and not against a particular country.  The terrorist backing is growing and the fact that they use things such as the political cartoons as reasons to get thousands of people to protest over them.  One does not know exactly who the enemy actually is.  That is what terrorism is all about one minute everything looks completely innocent and the next you have been attacked and there is nobody left on sight to go after, they have died completing their mission.  Can we surgically remove all of this cancer on mankind without killing many innocent?  It is not very likely but it is the direction that we have taken this war.  We certainly have the weapons to remove all of the people of this region of the world several times over.  One must wonder if the terrorists are not also playing to the hearts and minds of the rest of the Islamic Fundamentalist's when many of the rioter's of the past week have chanted bin Ladens name and asked for retaliation against the western world to be carried out by him.  It would seem to me that our government certainly must be looking at these incidents very carefully.  I can not speak for the rest of the Western World, however I know that the U.S. has the power to destroy the world several times over and could certainly remove most Islamic Fundamentalist's in one swift blow and it is our restaint in wanting to be fair that keeps this from happening.  Most of today's terrorist activity is being aimed at other Muslims and not at the western world, which raises a whole list of other questions.  The answer to your question is the U.S. is not afraid of standing up to Islamic Fundamentalist Terrorist's, however that does not include the entire Muslim population in the world.
867276
Do your really expect an honest answer from the repuglicans on this one. Bush with his ill advised attack of Iraq has created more terrorist then Osama could ever do. I might add that this attack on a sovereign country has lowered our stature in the entire world. Not many country's or rather their people agree with Iraq is part of the war on terror and as a matter of fact there are not many in this country that have bought into this propaganda. Just those faithful followers of Rush Limbaugh and there you just have to consider the source as anybody that listens to him has got to be mentally diminished.
835377
Terrorists generally don't have turf. At most, they have small compounds out in the wilderness, kind of like local militia groups.\n\nWe're not fighting terrorists in Iraq, and only partially in Afghanistan. We're fighting against two or more sides of a multi-way civil war. \n\nThere is no proof that what we're doing in Iraq will have any effect on terrorist activities outside Iraq, and no evidence that if we weren't there those people whould be doing anything outside Iraq. Even the Pentagon admits that Iraqis weren't the primary terrorists in any attacks outside Iraq over the past decade. So there's no support for the argument that by fighting them in Iraq we're preventing them from attacking somewhere else.\n\nWe're not fighting terrorists on their own turf now. We're fighting someone else entirely, and the terrorists who are going to attack overseas are already probably overseas. That's the problem.
761460
I believe we are fighting a war of \nPEACE THROUGH STRENGTH\n\nThe radical terrorists believe we are wrong - YES - but they also think we are weak and that is one of the reasons they attacked us.  We have to show them we are not.  Will that solve the problem  entirely - NO.  We'll work on the next phase after that.  this is not a ONE STEP war on terror.
707274
That all of you righties think that either:\nA: All terrorists are in Iraq and are too busy fighting there to plot or attack anywhere else.\nB: No terrorist in the world has access to a map and thus can only find the targets in the US if they "follow us here."\nor C: both A & B.\n\nAre you really that easily swayed by such a completely ignorant idea?
936400
I prefer to think our war is over and we are providing security while Iraq establishes its democratic government.  I think that has become our role.\n\nLiberals prefer to call it "Bush's war in Iraq," which strikes me as pure terrorist propaganda.\n\nEither way, we are likely to be there a while.
755583
If the Iraqis do not really take responsibility for their safety (and quit aligning themselves with militias)?  You'll get a country that harbors terrorists.  And a less safe America.\n\nOn the same token, Osama Bin Ladin called for a fatwa against America because we built bases in "holy land", so there is no right answer.  We stay we lose, we leave we lose. \n\nMoral of the story? \n\nDon't start wars with countries that have little or nothing to do with terrorism, because then people use that as a rallying cry to recruit more terrorists (read the NIE).
309140
They idea of a "preventive war" has two big dangers:\n\n1) Pretending is not a war, when actually it is. The US attacked Iraq.\n2) There is no limit to what preventive means if "preventing" may become proactive.\n\nChina has WMD. So does North Korea. And France. And the UK. And Russia. And Israel. And India. And Pakistan. And probably a couple of more countries.\n\nWhy not attacking all this countries? It should prevent a nuclear attack in the US.\n\nThere are terrorists in many countries. Like ETA in Spain. Why not attacking Spain? And what about Ireland and IRA?\n\nIraq didn't have WMD and there is no clear connection between muslim terrorists - specially the terrorists of 9/11 - and Iraq. In fact Iraq was one of the least religious muslim countries as terrorist are fundamentalists.\n\nSo, why Iraq?\n\nDon't tell me Saddam was an enemy. Actually the US armed Saddam when Iraq was at war with Iran.\n\nIf terrorism is driven by hate, then probably the invasion in Iraq is going to produce lots and lots of terrorists. So, this war is not going to prevent terrorism but is inducing it, and at the same time increasing fear and hate towards the US all around the world.\n\nAnd in fact, the US has terrorists - remember Oklahoma - and WMD. Saddam may have attacked the US arguing... there are terrorists and WMD in the US.\n\nI don't like Saddam. I think the world should have been a better place without him in power. But not in this way.
285435
The war on terror will probably never come to a complete and absolute victory regardless of who is sitting in the White House.  As long as there are haters of freedom and democracy there are apt to be terrorists.  \n\nPresident Bush warned us that this was going to be a protracted war.  He wasn't lying about that.