How we can keep terrorism alive

Terrorism has now become a tool in the hands of political strategists for both political parties in the US. The public has been driven into a funk about "attacks on the homeland" and how the only way to avoid them is to stop the "friends" of the would be attacker, ten thousand miles away. Both parties claim that the evidence of a lack of attack in the US is the main evidence of how effectively the administration is dealing with the Security of Americans.

Decisions about Pakistan and Afghanistan are being made in Washington with one eye on how it would help the chances of the party in power to stay in power. If these decisions don't make sense to people in Pakistan or Afghanistan it is because they think that America truly sees the Taliban or Al Qaida as a threat to their interests. If these decisions are eventually going to back fire then the people in power do not care because they will not be around to take the heat. Bush is sitting happily in Texas after wreaking a heavy toll on Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan but he got to strut around on the world scene for 8 years.

What if it cost the US trillions of dollars with nothing to show for it, that is Obama's problem.

The Europeans on the other hand are besides themselves with consternation and would have pulled out many many years ago but for American arm twisting. NATO wants no part of this neither are they needed but for the American desire to depict this as global rather than an American problem.

Obama could have and should have blamed Bush for destroying America's credibility and prestige and bringing about the collapse of the Economy partly through waging unwindable wars with bottom less appetites for troops and money. Why has he not done this and instead continued with Bush's disastrous Foreign policies? Simply because his political advisers are telling him that the American public has been frightened gutless into believing that they are not secure and want only those people to be leading them who make them feel secure. Traditionally this has been the Republican party despite Truman, Roosevelt and Kennedy. In this era the Democrats wrongly believe that as the Party of peace they need to appear war like to the public. Hence Obama's senseless decision to pour more troops into Afghanistan.

The more Obama's popularity plummets by the day the more hawkish he will become and we can expect drone attacks to escalate and perhaps Yemen added to the list of casualties. Fortunately the US has run out of money and cannot afford to attack Yemen leave alone Iran. This limits them to staging fake attempts to blow up airlines in the US. I am not saying the current administration is up to it but what about the opposition? I can be wrong but nothing makes sense when major decisions are being taken affecting the lives of millions of poor and innocent people around the world on the basis of how these decisions will play out on CNN and NBC.

Khusro