Originally posted by: DB_Hunter
If this war between ideas is not resolved, then the bloodshed will continue. And this isn't something as basic as you don't belive in my God, its more ideological. It's a war where two fundemetally different ways of life are meeting and they are meeting head on. They cannot tolerate the existance of the other, just like in the Cold War, due to their expansionist nature. There are people on both sides with their aims and objectives, and some of them will use physical means to achieve their objectives. In my view violence is counter productive, and should not be used.
The risk of not fighting back is completely suicidal. We might as well ask them to bend all of us over and have their way. So are you saying, that if a guy tried to mug you with a gun, and you had a gun yourself, you're not going to use it on him and instead, ask him to think it over? Although this comparison is on a WAY smaller scale, it's the same principle and concept. If they're going to threaten us, why should we need to be the 'bigger man' in hope of succeeding from the miniscule possibility of peace when the consequence could be ten times worse if we do?

At the end of the day if we avoid examining these ideas and be ready and willing to approach them with an open mind then whether or not we as individuals pick up a gun and fire will not change the fact that our actions will cause ignorance in the world to prevail and thus result in more unnecesary killing.
So, these individuals who killed thousands of people should be offered peace? Sorry, this isn't Batman. Revenge is pretty much what we're after right now and those terrorists deserve it. You're grabbing on to a hopless, narrow-minded idealistic view. If people are capable of causing chaos this large, they're in the category of CRAZY and words aren't gonna get through to them. Besides, it's not like it's ever going to reduce the casualties anyway.

Originally posted by: DB_Hunter
I'm talking about Afghanistan. The afghan fighters wander the mountain tops in their damn sandals.
lol wow. Please don't tell me you didn't think I was talking about Vietnamese soldiers/vigilantees.

Anyway, stop saying they're just people on sandals. They got GUNS, BOMBS, MISSILES AND ROCKETS. DUHHH.

You miss the point, and are being condescending in putting forward the we-nuke-each-other-the-whole-world-goes-to-hell argument. The point is the US and the USSR were not prepared to die for their ideals, the very same ideals the fight to enforce on weaker countries acting so righteous.
But the whole world does go to hell. The US is a large part of the world's economy. A failing economy is worse than a nuclear war.

And I'm not anti-war per se, just anti-"but we are rich and powerful so our ideas must be right"...
But that's how the world works. As much as every peace-lover says that achieving and maintaining peace is important, ultimately, we're all looking for world dominance whether it's by force, physically, or technologically. That's just the nature of humans.