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The so-called "War on Terror" is not winnable in a conventional sense, because it is not a conventional war. Making such a big deal over radical extremist Muslims only plays into the hands of the terrorists. Obviously, al-Qaeda had been trying to provoke America for years before 9-11 and they kept up attacks on American assets. Fighting the "Golliath" is an incredible publicity and recruitment tool. We would all be better off by lessening the propensity and impact of violence with and among our fellow human beings on Earth. Instead, America has dramatically increased funding for military activities, while our main nemesis of the 20th century, the USSR/Russia, has been relatively inactive outside its borders. When the communist threat was no longer credible, the neo-cons came up with a new global threat: extremist Muslims.

The "War on Terror" is actually a class war within the Muslim world. Al-Qaeda is against the conservative hereditary leaderships in most Arab countries nearly as much as it is against America. Thus, al-Qaeda could claim to be advocating democratic rule, as it is against the traditional leaders of Arab countries. While advocating Sharia Law, the radical extremists want to overthrow the existing governments of Muslim countries, as they cooperate and do business with America and in some cases, with Israel. There will always be a constituency for revolutionaries in countries with autocratic rule. The terrorists would like to control the governments and control the world and they get closest by getting the west to over-react to their provocations.

The status quo was not a good enough motivator to get angry youth and others to join the extremists, so the terrorists strategically sought to attack America in highly visible attacks. The more visible, the more effective they are for the purposes of the extremists. Thus, 9-11 in the US and other bombings (i.e. Spanish train, London tube and Bali, etc.) all caused great attention to be focussed on the extremist Muslim's cause. However, development of the al-Qaeda in Iraq insurgency and continued terrorist activity in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere has given operational credibility to the extremists. Although the extremists still do not control the governments of any sovereign states, they are growing in strength and support, despite the American "War on Terror" or perhaps, because of it.

It would be nice if terrorism could be ended, but if it is growing stronger, then the "War on Terror" isn't being

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