"For the same reasons it will not be possible to limit our engagement to military means: "strike hard and get out". Any military campaign needs to be followed up by either an occupation regime, or establishment of a friendly government committed to a meaningful, from terrorism-fighting standpoint system of law enforcement. It is in our vital interest to leave the area not sooner than when a Muslim culture rooted in property rights and genuine political pluralism has a chance to withstand future recurrence of Arab militancy.
The policy advocated here has a discredited name: imperialism.
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We have, as you noted, a clash of fundamental values.
Individual fanatics are leading this movement, in and outside of governments and/or religious groups.
We cannot decare war on the muslim world, or even on selected political parts of it, imo, without bringing on another global war. - WWIII.
Therefore, we should decare war on the fanatics, the individuals responsible. -- We should identify these individuals as it becomes possible, make our case, and announce to the world that no quarter will be given in their personal elimination , collateral death & destructon be damned.
After several such successful actions, killing thousands of these fanatics, the rest will learn our way. -- To live & let live. -- Or learn to die opposing it.
Imperialism, as you have defined it, will never work again unless the enemy is totally defeated, as per WWII.
We cannot fight the whole islamic world for its unconditional surrender.
We don't need to. What we must do is to completely wipe out the Taliban and all of it's brutal tyranny. The Taliban is mostly hated by the Muslim world. To say waging war on it would be waging war on the nation of Islam, would be similar to saying that waging war on the Davidians would be waging war on Christianity.
Once the Taliban is eliminated, there will be no efficient ruling force to govern Afghanistan. This was our mistake the first time after the Russian invasion. We allowed anarchy to prevail there and the Taliban is what results in anarchy. Haven't you ever seen Escape from N.Y. or L.A.? We must occupy Afghanistan in order to assist in installing a TRUE democratic government. If we do not, we can expect a similar situation to take place in the future. We must learn from our mistakes.
Those fanatics want to get killed. Why would "declaring war on those responsible" stop future attacks?