Since the beginning, when we declared our independence from Great Britain, most of the colonists were neither for, nor against separation from the crown. The loyalists and the rebels were a fraction of the general population. Most people were more concerned with providing food and shelter for their families, and taking care of the things that could make life simpler and easier. They were not too much different than people in our own age. Still, as the war went on, almost every citizen in the country was affected by the decision to separate from England. Families had lost loved ones, lost their businesses, were left homeless, and many people starved for lack of good harvests during the war. Life was just about miserable towards the end of the War of Independence.
Even though most Americans, at the beginning of the war were not directly involved, they became involved at some point. That is the way of conflict. It is usually started by the few, yet over time it affects the many. That is just the way it is.
We are, in a way, almost at that point now. This so-called "War on Terrorism" was started by a few Islamic extremists that saw The United States as an enemy that should be attacked. These extremists were not the majority of the Islamic world; in fact they were the minority. Most Muslims were concerned with day to day living, and not enemies thousands of miles away. That is not a supposition, it is a fact. Just as most Americans are more concerned with day to day problems in our own lives, so are people in other nations.
Let's start with George W. Bush. What has he done to reach out to moderate factions that are involved in this so-called "War on Terrorism"? He has used the threat of military power and economic sanctions with almost every nation that he had disagreed with. There is little evidence that he has looked for "common ground" with any nation that he alone sees as "evil". What determines evil? Are they evil because they don't accept the notion that the President of The United States is the "decider" of who is right in any given situation and who is wrong? I believe that is the case, as much as I detest admitting it. This President has threatened just about every nation in the Middle East. Is it any wonder that they don't exactly like us?
This isn't just about the militaristic right wing extremists in this country either. Our willingness to back The Israeli's at every juncture, whether they are right or wrong is also a good reason why we are not very popular with Muslim countries. I'm not saying that we should stop our support for Israel, but I do not believe that they are our 51st State either.
I stated in the beginning of this article that we are at a juncture of sorts. We must, as a nation, determine what course we are going to take. Are we going to take this "War on Terror" to mean that we destroy every Muslim State on the planet? Does it mean that we use another "pre-emptive strike" to insure that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon? Should we go to war with Iran? If we go to war with Iran, should we go to war with Syria also? If another Islamic nation defends Syria or Iran, do we strike them also? Do you really think that we can stop the Iranians from building a nuclear weapon? I don't believe that we can. I believe that if we couldn't stop Pakistan and India, and North Korea, and China and Russia, and all the countries that have developed nuclear weapons, what makes you believe that we can stop Iran? Did you believe that our "involvement" in Iraq has stopped them from creating a nuclear weapon? They weren't doing it anyway, and if they tried to before we invaded, the UN and Han Blix would have been all over that country. George Bush STILL convinced America that they were making a bomb, and the worst part of that, is many people still believe it! What is to stop Iraq from making a bomb in the future? Are we going to occupy that country forever? Think about it.
The only thing we can do is make it very unprofitable for a country to use a nuke against us. We did it for half a century to the USSR. It was called Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). It's a terrible way to live, but it better than trying to occupy every country in the world that may or may not be a threat.
Let me get back to where we are in history, if I may. We have a choice. We can allow George W. Bush to go head to head with every country that he believes is "evil", and commit troops that we do not have, and to spend money that we haven't got, and take casualties that nobody wants, or stop this would be "American Caesar" from declaring war on everyone he considers a threat. The point I am making is that we can't stop Iran or anyone else from developing a nuclear weapon. We can tell them that if they develop one, and use it on us, than they will suffer consequences a thousand times greater than we will. That part of the equation we can guarantee. It worked on the Soviet Union and unless the Iranians or the North Koreans are completely insane (and they may be) it could work on them. Either way, we just can't invade a different country every two or three years.
I live in America just like you. I don't like the choices we have. Think about what I just wrote here. We can be in perpetual war, or try to live in peace. This "War on Terrorism" is a giant lie. Just because a group of religious misfits got away with an attack by 11 men of dubious intelligence, doesn't mean that the entire world is fighting us. That is propaganda fed to you on a silver platter by people with their own agenda. Sure we must be on guard. I believe there are terror cells that are planning against us. There have always been terror cells planning against us. This is no different, except for the fact that they used different tactics against us that we were not prepared for. We are now. We don't need to be at war with half the world. Stand up to these Neo-cons that want to implement laws that take your rights away. Tell your government that you don't want them to spend our nation's wealth away on another war with Iran. Tell them you want our democracy back. This is where we are at. Where do you want to be?