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There is a primary change in the definition of terrorists that has occurred over the last ten years. Prior the first Gulf War, nearly all terrorist organizations were fanatical outcasts that performed their grisly murders for various ideological goals, many centered on Israel's existence and the Palestinian conflict.
Over the last several years, you see that these groups are no longer outcasts of nations or societies. Hezbollah now has members within the Lebanese government, provide societal and civic support to citizens, and maintains a standing army in the south of Lebanon. Various factions devoted to al-Qaeda ideology have taken control of the African national governments of Sudan and Somalia. Hamas, as a perfect example of irony to the US, has been democratically voted into power in Palestine. No longer are the terrorists some shadow groups hiding in the underbelly of the Middle East; they have now branched into the mainstream in the Middle East, Africa, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

So how do we negotiate with them now? As the harbinger of democracy to the world, how can we lash out at groups who have been popularly elected within their own countries? We are already facing these concerns in Afghanistan and Iraq, as more and more anti-American political entities are voted into office under the tenets that WE have instilled.
Firstly, I believe the US must repudiate the policy of preeminent strikes and nation building. We are already mired in two countries whose futures seem darker by the day. If Vietnam taught Americans anything is that we as a people cannot determine what is best for another country, no matter our good intentions.
Secondly, we must complete the job in Iraq and Afghanistan. Say what you will about it being wrong to go in (to which I agree in regards to Iraq) in the first place, but now that we are there we must be sure to leave it better than we found it. Right now, that is not even close to the case. Iraq teeters on the edge of civil war, and if we are to stabilize the country, drastic steps will need to be taken.
Lastly, we must reengage with the international community after six years of unilateralist 'with us or against us' ideology running our foreign affairs. We are the most powerful nation on earth, but does that give us the right to run rampant over the tenets of organizations we helped create? How we must seem to third world nations as we march around the globe leaving destruction and grief in our wake? All this 'take the fight to them' ideology has gotten us is a threefold increase in known terrorists around the world, five fold increase in terrorist attacks around the world, and a world of former allies who define us as arrogant. We must start acting like a nation amongst many, instead of a nation above all.

Learn more about this author, Michael Austin.
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