The War on Terror is another of the many wars that go undeclared, against a vague enemy, not against specific, identifiable people, but against a tactic of war. Some think terrorism isn't war, but is a crime. I think it's both.
But there are different kinds of terrorists, from the Unabomer recluse fighting against technical advancement and its related "de-humanization," to the OKBomber microcell comrades fighting against the U.S. attacks on its own people including Waco, Texas, to Hamas and the Palestinian Authority that want Israel to give them what they consider their homeland, to al Qaeda and their declared holy war against all infidels (with a special affection for Americans) in "Muslim lands."
Some of these terrorists just blow up discos or want ransoms or are just lashing out in anger. Others have clearly attacked many military targets. al Qaeda has attacked U.S. forces head on in Iraq and Afghanistan, against the U.S.S. Cole, against the Pentagon, against various U.S. embassies. The World Trade Center may not have been a military target, but it was no disco either - this was a very significant capitalist building with tenants from around the world.
Besides, terrorists attack soft targets precisely because they don't have sufficient power to defeat their enemy or oppressor. You don't run at a tank and hit with a pointy stick. The U.S. has the best weapons in the world, so you cannot hope to beat us head on. You have to scrape, bite and jab and hope that the giant decides to leave.
Al Qaeda likes to describe the various Middle East countries as "Muslim lands." I'm not sure why Middle East countries demand Islamic rule - after all, those countries don't share a common government or common currency or common language. It seems to me there are Iraqi lands, Iranian lands, Saudi lands, Israeli lands, Indian lands, Pakistani lands, Afghani lands, and Syrian lands. There are Jews, Christian, Muslim, atheists, and Hindus (among others no doubt) in those lands. al Qaeda is all wrong in this respect.
Okay, you noted there was no Palestinian land, but then there's no Kurdistan either. It's time for the "Muslim countries" to open their borders and accept the Palestinians into their homelands and work peacefully with the Israelis who truly will stop their aggression if Muslims stop blowing themselves up and hurting Israelis in the process. The land of Israel, minus its occupied lands, belongs to Israel and the world recognizes that simple fact and there's no turning back the clock. Muslims just have to get over it and learn to work and live together since it will be 1000% better than living among rubble, terror, checkpoints and dead children.
Anyway, there's really no way to win a war against terror any more than you can win a war against drugs, or poverty, or foolishness, or depravity, or crime, or obesity or illness. These are the human condition until people can pull themselves up and get above it all. You can't climb to the top by knocking everything around you down: you won't be as high and you'll be standing on a pile of rubble instead of the shoulders of giants.
Why can't you win it? Well, if we bombed every suspected terrorist camp, tapped the phones and email, closely monitored the activities of suspicious groups of young Arab or Muslim men, frisked everyone as they entered government facilities, put armed guards on the streets and connected everybody into a matrix run by machines, then we might win, but even the movie showed that a small band of dedicated individuals can wreak havoc on a bigger, more menacing force.
The terrorist's tactics are basically unstoppable in a civilized world. With every facility anywhere in the world being a potential target, with the shear number of weapons that can be selected, with the advantage of surprise, the terrorist simply has the upper hand. They include guns, bombs, derailment, RPGs against planes or buildings, arson, poison, chemical attacks, biological spread of diseases, social demonstrations and even the threat of any one of these will often close down a facility and cause people to be terrorized. It's impossible to know when, where and how.
Sure, any given terrorist may be caught before they can act, and some will be arrested after it's too late, but many more will die for their cause, becoming the bomb. But there's always another waiting to serve. Just like there is with drug dealers, police and politicians. Just like there is for any job out there. We're all dispensable and replaceable in the grander scheme of things, even if we may not be to a smaller group of friends and family. We can't kill everyone who will seek to be a terrorist, but we can certainly respond forcefully whenever one does act.
So to win the war against terrorism, we have to realize that we cannot really win, only try to create a world in which terrorism is rare, in which terrorists don't receive support among common people. Such a world can only be constructed from peace, justice and freedom, in which people realize that their tastes cannot be forced on everyone else any more than they'd like me to force my ways on them.
By creating a world in which people are treated fairly from a taxation standpoint, from a world trade and work standpoint, and are allowed to follow their faith or lack thereof, eat the foods they like, play the sports they like, marry the people they want, and hold the jobs that are available, we will move in a direction of reduced terrorism.
While I won't apologize for 9/11 (it was a horrible and despicable act, mixed with bravery, ignorance, lust, vengeance, anger and cowardice), it is important to realize that al Qaeda isn't just a small band of terrorists. They do not represent a particular government, or a particular country, or a particular political class, or a particular socio-economic class. While we may not understand or accept their views, it is important to recognize that their beliefs won't go away just because we bomb them.
We need to walk the talk, and then we can use our big stick to defend ourselves.
Check out my report card on the War on Terror.
In "Running Against Osama bin Laden," Howard Fineman of Newsweek does a fine job, though I have a minor quibble with his assertion, "Saddam's murderous sadism went on for decades, largely away from the media's eyes. We are conducting our war in public and by standards of decency and law unknown in the Persian Gulf." Both the Hussein and Bush administrations live on secrecy and only "come clean" when they're caught. They even take "full responsibility" even if that means nothing happens to them as a result.