This is my response to “Beyond The Frame: Alternative Perspectives on the War on Terrorism”. I highly agree that the war in Iraq was completely unjustified and was just a means of giving the U.S. a military presence in that area of the world. A “war on terrorism” is a war that can not be won because there is no defined target. The fear of terrorist has been exploited in many ways by the government, including going to war with a country, and limiting our privacy via the patriot act.
The fear that comes from the media constantly planting the image of terrorism into peoples minds allows them to manipulate them easier. Fear tends to make people incapable of logical thought. As the video put it people want to trust in authority during a time of fear which is what allows them to convince people of things and impose laws that would usually not be supported. The government never has as much control as it does when its people are scared. As you could imagine in a corrupt government they would stir up fear on purpose to gain a tighter grip.
The war has been going on for over a decade, Osama Bin Laden is dead, Saddam Hussein is dead and yet we still continue to fight the never ending war on terrorism. The longer we stay there the more we risk striking up another war with surrounding countries. I have a feeling that the government might not be as opposed to that idea as its citizens are though. "War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.” -Smedley D. Butler
