Because I am not around here are some posts from last august.

So it seems that no one can bring any liquids on any plane in America or the UK today. All this because we foiled an alleged attack. This of course could be another Miami Seven (a bunch of idiots that had no bombs, no guns, no plans, but one time maybe said something about sort wanting to blow up the sears tower). Or it could be real.

It seems that even when we foil the attack we still lose. Americans still have to deal with all the security, still have to dump out there fancy face wash, expensive bottled waters, and perfume. What is the point of stopping the terrorists to protect our freedom if we gladly give up that freedom the moment we foil a plot against us?

So the war on terror has cost us the liquids. Whats next, solids, gases, and sometimes plasmas? When will this end. It wasn’t even in this country for pete’s sake. Let the British toss out the toothpaste, god knows it doesn’t seem to be doing them any good.

This fiasco simply illustrates the problem with fighting a never ending war on a tactic. Its like fighting a war on sadness. Terror has been used as a tactic for hundreds of years, and will continue to be used as a tactic for hundreds more. Genghis Khan used to kill everyone in a village but one guy, and have him go to the next village and let them all know what he did. When he got to the next village dinner was already on the table, and the villagers were bowed in submission.

The point is we have to fight the motivation to harm Americans. We have to do things that are not sexy. Things that are not simple (if I hear GW talk about how these people hate us for our love of liberty one more time I will puke). We have to understand that its not good and evil, black and white. That these issues involve things like global poverty, our dependence on foreign oil, our oppression of third world countries for cheap shit, and a long history of religious and colonial violence.

The war on terror is a scam. We are losing our freedoms weather we stop the plot or not. The root causes of terror are still present, no amount of bombs and strip searches in the airports will solve that. We need to create a world in which people are not hungry, in which people have hope for the future, can get a good job, and are not oppressed. This might mean that Americans will have to give up cheap oil (or oil altogether), give up cheap crap from the third world, and most importantly realize that guns and bombs can not solve all problems.

I propose we fight a war on global poverty, a war to move towards renewable energy, a war against rabid consumerism, a war against oppression, a war against AIDS, a war against war. Only peace, science and compassion are going to solve the “war on terror.” Guns and bombs have not and will not fix this problem. We need to learn about the people we think of as evil, we need to understand that they are humans too. We need to help them get food, water, shelter, a good job, and a good education. These are the tools we should be using.

If we fight a war on terror, we will be fighting a war that lasts forever. If we really want to make America a nation that is safe from attack, we need to remove the motivation to attack us. We need to make the rest of the world a better place to live.