War is armed conflict between two opposing forces. Terrorism is the act of inflicting fear through violent acts as a means to an end, or in other words it is a form of warfare. The “War on Terror” is a declared conflict between the U.S. and terror. Who, where and what does this involve? I’m no historian, but I understand that Northern Ireland has seen its share of terrorism. The Basque country in Spain has been under constant terrorist attack for years. Even within our own borders terrorists roam free. Florida is home to terrorists who have reaked havoc in Cuba for decades, but walk around as free citizens here.

No, my comrades, this war has nothing to do with terror or erradicating it. As all wars that have gone before, it is a battle between who controls what and how. Economic power struggles that are masqueraded as ideological battles for the common good. I’m calling bull shit.

First, as I mentioned, terrorism is a means to an end, not an idea. It is no different than trench warfare, nuclear, or state-sponsored warfare. Suicide bombers are not killing themselves because they want others to be scared, they do it to prove a point. By blowing themselves up, they hope to bring recognition, vindication or validation of an idea. It seems that if we hoped to avoid more terror, we would fight this style of warfare in the way we have the others through diplomatic treaties and ceasefires.  For some reason we are told that we must fight terror with terror. The only way to win this way is to beat the other side into submission through fear. I don’t think that is going to happen.

Second, this war really has nothing to do with terrorism and a lot to do with economic power. The Middle East is sitting on “our” money. Throughout history, we have been able to overcome similar economic obstacles by oppressing, baptizing, or liberating. This time that won’t work. The Arab states do not desire to have our way of life, we can not liberate them for they are free. They will not be baptized, they already have their god. And, so far, we’ve done a decent job of oppressing them. The only problem is they found a way that they can fight back and make us listen. It is a means to an end.

The government has successfully turned this into a semantic parade of money grabbers. If they were truly fighting terror, they wouldn’t be so concentrated on wealthy Islamic countries. If this was about the common good and furthering our society, they would have had a known, public objective. If this was about god, we would be preaching and not bombing. As all wars that have gone before, this is all about our number one priority, money.

Peace. Love. and Revolution.