>This is one of the major points discussed in an article I read recently. With the nature of terrorism as it is, i.e. not being able to be defined as a particular nation, fighting them the way the u.s. govt is currently will cause more problems.

Actually this is how the dutch military is set up. After the end fo the cold war, The dutch military transformed into a taskforce machine that can be used for very specific missions. It is not equiped for invasions, but rather for peace keeping. Hance our precence in a lot of conflicts the last decade or two (Iraq, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Middle east) etc.

>Unfortunately, people like Daniel are trained in the militaristic ways of solving problems, and have difficulty seeing when those methods are not proper for a given scenario.

>I used to sit next to someone from a Middle Eastern background back when all this started. It seemed obivious to the 2 of us that when you drop bombs into civilian areas, there is a high probability that you've turned the surviors into terrorists.

Yes, and I don't understand why people like dan don't see this. Appearantly they are not able to imagine what life is on the other side. How they have been done wrong.

>I read an interview with a reporter who was working with a division of the military that was fighting in the big battle at Faluja. He discussed how the military kicked as many civilians out as possible before launching their offensive. The offensive was successful at eliminating a lot of the group holed up in Faluja. But in the process the entire town was decimated. An the civilians were not allowed back in to collect what belongings of theirs remained for some time. It would seem to me that some of those civilians could now easily become terrorists.

Yep, don't expect much symphaty from them and their families. I wonder what would happen if the Canadian army went into his city and did the same whithout taking responsibility for the damage.

Walter,


>>>I don't want to get into this arena;-) but IMHO if the US could stand up before terrorists supported by nations such as the Netherlands (or the French for that matter) it would make the job that much harder for those who try to incite terrorism against the US. JHMO. ;-)
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>>I agree, but if you stand up, you'd better have a plan, other than just invade a country and not thinking about the consequences (see the interview in the thread "The end of iraq"). Violence will seduce more violence. There are better and more effective ways of dealing with the issue.
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>>Afghanistan was understandable. Iraq is a different matter.
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>>Walter,