Why the U.S will lose the war on terror

Following the tragic events on 9/11 the U.S government quickly responded to the attacks by declaring a war on terror focusing on the Islamic terrorists that had attacked the United States. This was primarily targeted Al Qaeda and its affiliates as they were the ones who conducted the first attack on U.S soil. The primary objective was to seek and destroy Osama Bin Laden, his commanders, Al Qaeda and their affiliate terrorists groups. Secondly its objective was to sponsorship, support and sanctuary to terrorists; by ending state sponsored terrorism, work with willing and able states, enable weak states to fight terrorism, persuade reluctant states and compel unwilling states to fight terrorism. By accomplishing these goals the U.S government believed that the U.S would be safe once more, and further would give the entire world a sense of security. In the name of this war to secure the security of the United States the U.S would invade Afghanistan to hunt down Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda members; along with overthrowing the Taliban government who supported Al Qaeda and bring in a peaceful democratically elected government for the Afghan people. It also marked the start of massive U.S aid to national governments across the globe to fight the spread of terrorism and contain the cancer which was Islamic terrorism. So millions and millions of dollars were sent to countries like Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen and the Philippines to give them the resources they needed to combat and crackdown on Al Qaeda and its affiliate members. The U.S also invaded Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom as Iraq was seen by the U.S government as possibly having ties to Al Qaeda and could potentially proliferate weapons of mass destruction to terrorist. From a pure military aspect the U.S succeed in its objective to kick out both the Taliban and the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, and later succeed in killing the mastermind behind Al Qaeda Osama Bin Laden.

Medgar Evers once said “You can kill a man but you can’t kill an idea” which ultimately states the reason why the U.S will ultimately lose in their war on terror. As the U.S can kill as many terrorists as they want but if they ultimately do not address the reasons for why the terrorists are fighting, the terrorists will ultimately win. Even Al Qaeda themselves admit to this concept as they themselves said “while the U.S. may have killed al-Awlaki, "it cannot kill his ideas," and that his death "gives new life and revival to his ideas and style."

This is due to the fact that the majorities of defense and security policy makers have the overwhelming perspective on the war as a realist and understate the importance that a constructivist perspective brings to light. There is more than meets the eye when it comes to terrorism because there are multiple reasons for why the war besides what a realist would point out.

A realist perspective on the war might be that it is due to Al Qaeda goal to push the U.S out of the Middle East and Africa in order to gain bases from which to launch attacks on the U.S. So in order to counter this U.S need to kick the terrorists out of their safe heavens, this was the reason for the U.S invading Afghanistan and kicking both the Taliban and Al Qaeda out. This is also the reason the U.S gives for why it is using drone strikes to target and destroy terrorists in Pakistan and Yemen. However what the realist point of view doesn’t do is analyze the consequences of this effect, as drone strikes can create more terrorists than they kill. It also doesn’t touch the topic that the drone strikes can influence the Muslim population to associate the U.S with deaths. Or another realist perspective would be that Al Qaeda is trying grabbing as much power and influencing in the Middle East region and creating an Islamic state thus weakening the U.S. This is the reason why the U.S will still fund money to shady regimes in countries like Pakistan, Egypt, and Bahrain as they believe that as long as Al Qaeda is weakened they can overlook some of a country’s flaws like human rights violations.

However what policymakers in Washington need understand is why the jihadists and mujahedeen are fighting against the U.S the U.S in the first place. It is due to the fact that they feel that their religion is being threatened and thus retaliate against the U.S and the western world in order to “save their religion”. While a realist scholar might point out that religion has nothing to do with this war and has nothing to do with Islam vs. Christianity; there are several holes in that theory. The first is that there is a long bloody, conflict riddled history in the Middle East between Christians and Muslims stretching all the way back to the Middle Ages that cannot be ignored. This has over the century led to a major mistrust between Muslims and Christians as they both recognize the horror the other side has done to their people. To those who argue it can’t be a war between Islam and Christianity because the U.S is secular, it must be recognized that while the U.S government is secular the majority of the American electorate is Christian. If one would ask a random citizen in the U.S what the war on terror was about, it would be highly likely that they would respond that it was a war on the Muslim terrorists. If one were to ask a random Pakistani tribesman what the war on terror was about, it would be highly likely that they would respond that it was a war to repel the Christian invaders. So while it is technically not a war on Islam (as the majority of Muslims would not recognize the terrorists as representing Islam) it is seen by the majority of people as one.

Thus the conflict between the Muslims extremist and the U.S and western world is not one that can be explained rational. As the terrorists ultimately are in no position to gain enough power to really challenge the U.S and would benefit more by cooperating with the U.S. As the conflict is more fundamentally based upon the idea of identity rather than it is based upon the idea of power. Al Qaeda and the Muslims terrorists believe that the U.S/ Western ideas and culture are subverting the true identity and nature of Islam which will cause its ultimate demise in their eyes. As they fear the more western influence is allowed to spread over the Middle East (say girls wearing skimpy outfits) the more it will change the face of Islam and change what the average person perceives of Islam. Thus it changes their own identity and challenges their core beliefs and challenges what their whole lives are based upon; and that is what deep down inside they are frighten of. As if it was viewed through a rational lens the Muslim extremist group Al- Shabab (which is an offshoot of Al Qaeda) when given the choice of choosing whether to accept U.S aid or fight against the U.S would clearly choose the aid. However in actuality this was not the case and instead of accepting U.S aid they put more of their resources into fighting the U.S and the U.S backed government; because they see it as a crusade to destroy Islam. As a result their desire to protect their religion and identity overrules their sense of rationality, so that they are willing to fight a vastly superior opponent in the “name” of Islam. The idea of identity could also be linked to why the U.S and its allies have had such a hard time getting locals to not support Muslim terrorists and join with them in getting rid of them. Even if 95% of the local Muslim population say along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan do not believe that the Muslim terrorists are truly representing Islam. A majority of the time they will side with the terrorists and not give them up because they associate with the identity of the terrorist more than that of the U.S, and do share the belief that the U.S and Western powers are corrupting Islam and trying to get rid of it.

The U.S on the flip side is also fighting a war to preserve their identity that was greatly tarnished by the events of September 11. Before 9/11 the U.S was seen as a big mighty power that no one dared to mess with and was the undisputed hegemon of the world. Americans themselves carried themselves with a sense of superiority and an air of invincibility; that was completely shattered in one day. It could be argued that it was this case of shattered false identity that they were not invincible which really messed with Americans and made them truly upset. So in order to regain some of their lost identity as the hegemon of the world and regain some of their mojo, the U.S declared this great war on terrorism.

America in the minds of many people in the world is no longer the undisputed champion and hero of the world due to the fact that they lose their good reputation when they started their war on terror. Through events/actions such as the invasion of Iraq (with the proclamation that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction), waterboarding and drone strikes to name a few; the U.S is no longer seen as the world’s policemen but now is seen as the world’s largest bully. It can be clearly seen in Europe where a large number of Europeans have gone from supporting the U.S, to criticizing it and in some cases hating the U.S. It is this case of changed identity that will cause the U.S to ultimately lose the war when the U.S believes it has won the war on terrorism. As its actions in the war on terror are no longer seen as justified in the eyes of the world; and as such for every terrorist they kill more come to take their place. This is why from a realist point of view drone strikes are effective as they kill key targets of Al Qaeda and its affiliates and weakens them; thus making the U.S more secure. However it can be argued that the drone strikes actually hurt the U.S as the Muslim community begins to associate the identity of the U.S with a murderer who is willing to kill innocent civilians as long as they reach their objectives. This is what turns a lot of passive Muslims into terrorists and creates an unbreakable violence cycle that will continue to go on.

So in order to turn the tide of the war in the U.S favor, the U.S must change its identity and change what the Muslim world perceives of the U.S. Only by doing so is there a chance the U.S can break the cycle of violence and one day declare victory on this endless war.

Works citied

Diamond, Larry. “Winning the new cold war on terrorism” Hoover Institution. Stanford University.

“Bush: U.S Can’t Win War on Terror” Associated Press 2009. CBS

Al-Haj Ahmed. “With al-Awlaki dead, al-Qaida lacks Western voice”. Associated Press October 1, 2011. Yahoo.