Fighting ghosts

I walked to class today and saw “End the War on Terror” chalked on the sidewalk outside the Union.

Though I have never supported the war in Iraq, and now Afghanistan as well, it was difficult to agree with the sign on the sidewalk.

I don’t want to stop fighting terror. Terror is, for lack of a better word, terrifying, and I don’t wish that on anyone. So, then, why don’t I support the wars that supposedly fight it?

I simply don’t buy into the propaganda.

Words like “terror” and “evil” cannot be defeated by troops with guns and machines. They are themes, plot points in a Tom Clancy novel – not a tangible force that can be overcome. Yet, everything about these wars has been simplified with powerful phrases that evoke fear and uncertainty in our nation.

We aren’t just fighting “terror” or “evil” – we are fighting hundreds of years of religious and social conflict. The Taliban is not just a group of religious extremists; they are a group of oppressed, angry and misled individuals that want political and social power in the Middle East.

But the threat they pose does not lie in their desperate and destructive actions – it lies in their location.

Afghanistan is not only a difficult terrain for Americans to fight in, but the government the United States is trying to work with has been riddled with corruption on all levels, topped off with the recent election scandal.

Without resistance from the Afghan government or people, the Taliban are able to move like ghosts throughout the country, attacking in spurts with ambushes and explosives and retreating back to the mountains and deserts. Like the Viet Cong of Vietnam, the Taliban are a guerrilla resistance that do not fear the U.S. military and will not let up on their attacks.

And as Obama’s decision of whether or not to send 44,000 more troops into Afghanistan closes in, I fear that the war’s resemblance to Vietnam will only increase. The American body count is rising and the public approval of the war is slipping, yet our military asks for a stronger push of American men and women.

While I’m not trying to compare the magnitude and devastation of Vietnam to the wars fought during the past eight years, I am saying that we shouldn’t repeat the mistakes of our past. Depending on our own troops alone under the cavalier strategy of “us v. them” will not resolve this war.

Unfortunately, the influence of the Afghan government is as weak as its military force, and making them a formidable ally is unrealistic. We will need more. Without a push from other nations, I believe that more troops would just mean more losses – of both money and lives.

Though only time will tell whether this truly becomes our generation’s Vietnam, I am certain about one thing: The War on Terror will never be defeated by bullets and brawn, no matter what the era.