six years later

I can still rember where i was, and what i was doing, my expressions, and the disbelief i felt on september 11th 2001. If i hadn't deployed to Iraq twice part of me might think it had been just a bad dream. But the truth is that in two of those six years i was in this country. I was in VERY hostile teritory, and it was a direct result of September 11th. Where do we stand now? one can only hope that things have changed for the better but the truth is it has become apparent to the people of America, just how widespread and terrible this "Global War on Terror" can be.

The question was put to me "do you think we can win" i didn't respond at the time, thinking that i wanted to talk about something, anything else, but the truth is that eventually we will. My reasoning is simple, extremeism in any for is it's own worst enemy. Eventually the followers will become disenchanted. It has already happened, suicide bombers are chained to the Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIED) and sedated so they are not fearful for their life, so they don't rethink their position. But just incase that is not enough there is always a secondary arming mechanism that can be remotly triggered.

Another fine example is Sadr. In recend days Jaysh al-Mahdi has fractured. Some wanting to fight the US till the bitter end, some wanting nothing more than to kill sunnis, and some others that want to set up a fundamentialest government. All are at odds with eachother, and eventually some will find Sadr lacking the nessisary qualities. It has happened to Malcom X, and (though he wan't exactly extreamist in the current use of the word) Mahatma Gandi. The lesson history teaches us is that if you leas extreamists you should damm well have a target you're ready to unleash them on, and if not you better have a plan to deal with them.

Although the war seems so widespread (it has baisically become an "us vs. them" of the three abrahamic religions) the truth is that eventually it will falter unde it's own weight. All the West needs to do is engage hotspots, and put out a message that there is a better way. It's not hard, as anyone from the former Soviet Union will attest, many were the lectures about the evils of America but in all the news reals shown they were all driving cars so how bad could it be? Ignoring a fundamental truth. . . people WANT to be comfortable. In the end hate is a temporary thing. Though at a moment it might be easy to feel, it is far more difficult to maintain.

Unfortunatly as The US embassidor to Iraq pointed out yesterday, there will be no clear "we won" moment and turning points will only be noticed and understood in retrospect. So it will be with this war. Iraq is a front, nothing more. It may be looked upon as a focal point, but soon i have no doubt it will move elsewhere. The world may seem a far more dangerous place since the "Iraq War" started, and since 9/11. It's not. It was always this dangerous and deadly. Americans just woke up to it, and sadly they need to keep being reminded. Eventually they will return to the blissfull ignorance that is part of the American experience, but in this world, there can no longer be such a thing as isolationism. If our ememies know this then we to must accept this as fact or we are doomed.

There is always a tragity that occures before upheval. There are no words to convey the horror of that day, or the monumental evil that caused it. I fear America will grapple with this tragity for many years to come, but eventlually we will move foward toward the bright and shinning future we all hope for, and get a little bit closer to with each generation.