The War On Terror Will End When.........

Or the final battle between the gods and giants begins and Ragnarok consumes the world.Or the Flying Spaghetti Monster could stretch forth his noodly appendage and undo what he made last Thursday in time to start over next week.Are you really so silly as to insist that the only way Islamic terrorism will stop is by the end-times myths of one of the two religions coming true? How ridiculous.If we assume that the "War on Terror" can only end via fulfillment of an end times prophesy, we could also say that any end-times prophesies from any religion could also end it.Your two options are not the only possibilities, Buz. From a more rational side, the "War on Terror" can end whenever the United States decides to end it, much like the "War on Drugs" or any of the other failed policies of the past. If you refer to Islamic terrorism in its entirety and not the actual "War on Terror," that too can end as suicidal anti-Western philosophies lose popularity. Education, a lack of meaningful successes, tyrannical theocratic laws, and simple attrition are already weakening Islamic extremism in Iraq, where recent reports have suggested the youth of Iraq are turning away from Islam entirely due to the violence the extremists bring - and I don't just mean IEDs.This is not the first religious war the world has seen, Buz, and we didn't need Armageddon to stop those, either.

There was a time when the advancement of militant Christianity was happening globally. Christianity has, for the most part, backed off the whole "convert or die, even if we have to torture you" bit.I did read the doctrinal statements, Buz, and while those statements are relevant for a great many Muslims, there are many Muslims for whom those statements are irrelevant. On top of that, current doctrine can be changed in the future, as it has with Christianity.Again, there are other ways for this "War on Terror" to end that do not concern the end of the world. I already gave several, Buz. For alternative religious ends, the Flying Spaghetti Monster could annihilate the world in preparation of creating it again next Thursday. Or Ragnarok could happen. But that all went over your head, apparently.For real-world solutions, look at the reasons the youth of Iraq are becoming disenfranchised: they blame Islam, most especially the form followed by the more extreme sects, for the violence in their country. While the US is responsible for a great deal of the damage and death there, there is ethnic cleansing happening as we speak. Hell, part of the reason for the recent decreases in violence is that the ethnic cleansing has been nearly completed in many areas - the Sunnis and Shias are now separated into segregated neighborhoods.As people continue to see that their religious zeal directly results in the deaths of their families, the younger generations can continue to turn away from the methods and beliefs of the previous generation. Are you denying that the Christian position globally is to force the world to be subjected to Jesus and Christianity both past and present?For fuck's sake Buz, your own religion went through very similar phases in the past, but for the most part moved on to nonviolent (if still annoying) means of conversion instead of the "accept Christ or we'll burn you alive" tactic. Do you honestly not accept the possibility of Islam doing the same? Particularly when a great many moderate Muslims already exist?

The Middle East is, by a great many methods of measurement, still in the dark ages. There is no "proving" involved in any of this, Buz - it's all bare speculation. I can show that it's stupid to assume that the only way the "War on Terror" will end is via an end times prophesy being fulfilled, because we have had similarly motivated conflicts in the past that were resolved without divine intervention. I cannot "prove" that neither of those prophesies will ever take place, for the same reason you can never "prove" that Ragnarok will never come, or that Santa won't bring me a present this Christmas.You dismissed my points without addressing them, Buz. The Muslim extremists who practice terrorism are stuck in a dark-age mentality backed up with modern weaponry. It has been shown that, in Iraq where the consequences of terrorist tactics are felt by the citizenry, the next generation is turning away from such beliefs. It is perfectly feasible that the "War on Terror" will end on its own, as have other religious conflicts in the past.Instead of "Lol," perhaps you could respond to an actual point.I'll make it easy:Point 1: Those are not the only two supernatural ways for the "War on Terror" to end. Ragnarok could come about, the FSM could devour the world to create it anew next Thursday, or literally any other end times prophesy could come true. You have never shown that the two you mentioned are the only possibilities - you simply stated as much. Prove that the others are not also possibilities, Bux.Point 2: There are perfectly normal ways in which the "War on Terror" could end without the end of the world. There is the promising case of the youth of Iraq turning away from Islam entirely. There is the example of Christianity emerging from a very similar mindset and managing to change from a tyrannical "convert or die, infidel!" religion into a still annoying but less lethal "convert or you'll burn in hell" religion. We already have a very large number of moderate Muslims living right now who have already dismissed the insane radical philosophies of Al Qaeda and their ilk. There is obviously no need for the entire world to end to stop what, in the grand scheme of things, amounts to a very small population of people waging a relatively effective guerrilla war against a force they cannot ever possibly hope to defeat for religious reasons.So Buz, why are your two examples of religious prophesy the only two theological possibilities? Why do you discount all other faiths?How specifically is the current vein of Muslim extremism different in its stated aims and goals than the Christianity of the dark ages, and why can Muslim extremism not die out due to the same reasons Christian extremism mostly died out?Why don't you try to focus on addressing a point rather than dismissing them with "lol."

The reasons the Sunnis and Shia hate each other are different from the reasons AQ hates the US. But fundamentally it's all the same: religious extremism resulting in ethnic and religious cleansing. In a very real way, "Islam vs Infidel" is the same as "My Islam vs. Your Islam."But the point of my statement was that, where the effects of terrorism and religious warfare are felt by the actual citizenry, the youth in Iraq are turning away from extremist Islam. Whether it's a perfect example of the "War on Terror" or not is irrelevant - it is an example of religious extremism driving successive generations away from religious extremism, and that is very relevant to the "War on Terror."After all, AQ's tactics don't work very well in terms of attrition. They need new bodies constantly, and those new bodies must have sufficient religious fervor to commit suicide in the name of their cause (not all are suicide bombers, certainly, but you get my point). As such, AQ must remain a popular movement in order to continue functioning on any real scale. Their own tactics that involve killing innocent Muslims in shopping centers serve to weaken that popularity amongst younger generations.

Correction: it didn't until there were Americans there to kill. They are there, but a minor presence. The Civil War was not fought between the Presbyterians and the Baptists, Rrhain. The Iraqi civil war is more along those lines. It's not just a war for control of the country, it's a religiously motivated war of ethnic cleansing as well. While AQ is not the major combatant Bush or Faux News or Buz would have us believe, there are parallels that can be drawn between the Sunni/Shia religiously-motivated civil war and teh "War on Terror" as a whole.And besides that, we all know the "War on Terror" is defined as "whoever is shooting at Americans or indiscriminately killing civilians in terror-based attacks or who I just don't like" according to Bush.Which of course leads to the other way the "War on Terror" can end: the US stops it, not by annihilating the enemy, but by no longer acting as a giant recruiting campaign for factions including (but not limited to) AQ who want to kill Americans. We get out of Iraq, and focus on helping the non-Taliban Afghanis actually improve their standard of living, and global terrorism could actually start to decline.

Lie.Guess where the UN weapons inspectors were at the exact same moment Bush was telling us they weren't being allowed to do their jobs?The were in Iraq, performing inspections. It was a direct lie, as witnessed by the inspectors themselves.Why shouldn't we dismiss the rest of your insanity as meaningless Faux News propaganda as well? You havent given any evidence or support for your assertions that the only possible end to the "War on Terror" is fulfillment of an End Times prophecy. You've ignored rebuttals concerning the prophecies of other religions. You've dismissed arguments regarding alternate possibilities without addressing them in the least.So far as I can tell, Buz, you're a rightwing nutjob conspiracy-theorist with a hardcore religious-warfare bent.

Awwww.When your opinions stop being identical to those of conspiracy-theorist nutjob rightwing Bush-wankers, I'll stop identifying you as one. I really couldn't care less if you reply to me or not, Buzz, I'm perfectly happy to simply dismantle what you do say regardless of who it's directed to.The argument is everything. Personal emotion and perceived insult is irrelevant.I note that you still have not provided a reason that a different religion's prophecy could not come true. Your entire OP, beyond being factually incorrect, is a gigantic false dilemma, which you have chosen to ignore repeatedly.

They used quite a bit of them. And not for agricultural purposes. We know they used some on the Kurds. It's also suspected that some of his bio/chemical weapons were responsible for Gulf War syndrome, meaning he used some on us. In the first war, not the second.The rest were likely disassembled as Iraq complied with weapons inspectors after the first Gulf War. Saddam didn't deny them entry for the whole time, just enough to make a nuisance of himself and try to provoke a response.