Time to re-think war on terror

I have seldom read such nonsense!
There is only one thing terrorists understand and that is overwhelming force.
Since 9/11 America has been free of these criminal murderers thanks to George Bush and his unrelenting war on terror.
Israel has been constantly attacked by Hamas rockets for years and are doing what any legitimate government would do - and that is getting rid of the threat.
Hamas are also responsible for the death of many palestinian civilians by deliberately putting them in the line of fire, knowing well that they will be maimed and killed.
The Palestinians have become largely dysfunctional - ignored by Arab nations who would prefer to build ski-slopes in the desert and put up obscene looking buildings, buy personal jumbo jets and half of London - rather than contribute part of their oil revenues to uplifting their own brethren.
This time Israel must go all the way and eliminate each and every Palestinian hell bent on destroying Israel.
Then plan to do it again should the nonsense start once more.
Guess who will tire of it all first.

American's, as the nation of the Greenback and absolute arrogance (for many reasons)will yet discover that their world view is not necessarily the correct view. They call for tolerance yet do not know how to display it themselves. As a nation of right wing 'bush baptists' (a little generalist license required here) they have their own extremist viewpoint and condemn any who do not adghere to it. If you live by the sword, you will die by it.

Maybe it is about time that they actually read the bible and start living accordingly....love they neighbour etc.

The difficulty with these kinds of articles is that they are full of moralising it is easy to agree with but lack proposals or suggestions, even tentative ones.

What a load of utter drivel. The author has no idea of America and Americans and certainly no understanding of how the world works. He is living in la la land. A typical South African myopic view of the world through the eyes of there own value of self-impotence. It's one ting to be living and writing from the end of he world and another thing totally to be living in the world the rest of us live in.

"Dennis Hoines - Since 9/11 America has been free of these criminal murderers thanks to George Bush and his unrelenting war on terror."

Hi,
I have a magic rock that protects against attacks by lions. Want to buy it off me?

Gary Younge, you are extremely naive and foolish to think the war on terror is lost. It has only just started and the USA is winning. If you think Islamic fundamentalists (who by the way want you dead) can be spoken to and rationalized with, you are gravely mistaken. When is the western world going to wake up and realize that the fight for their existence has only just started? Please don’t put any faith in Obambi. He is going to lead the civilized world into more peril. The West needs strong leadership and not the whimpish girly men that have come to power (just look at Europe).
Terror can only be dealt with using overwhelming force and power and it is time it was used against these terrorists (go Israel)

The only way to bring peace between Israel and Palestine is if the people on both sides stand up to their militarist leaders and fundamentalist revolutionaries. What is needed is a Marshall Plan for Palestine. Israel withdraws totally and opens the borders. The US and Europe promise massive aid to Palestine, education, health, infrastructure and industry, fully supported by statesmanlike leadership in Israel. The only constraints to this aid that it be jointly administered by the donors and the elected Palestinian leadership, Hamas in Gaza, Fatah in the West Bank. If this is proved to be genuine, sincere and immediate, surely the Palestinian people will themselves realize at last that there is hope for their children and a real future.

The fundamentalists will realize this as a massive threat to their purpose and will probably step up their attacks on Israel. The statesmanship will come from restraint on the part of Israel and continuing unequivocal support for the plan. The erosion of support for the fundamentalists will probably begin slowly but as the people of Palestine begin to feel the true benefits of peace and growing prosperity, as their children survive, get an education and remain healthy, so will the erosion of fundamentalism grow exponentially.

For people who are supposed to be christians and and civilized the state of Isreal is so thuggsh is beggars belief,to go about killing hundreds civilians on the off chance of killing ten,twenty or even 50 gunman is ludicrous. In that very process they are recruiting hundreds of orphaned kids to the ranks of the so-called terrorits. Can somebody somewhere stop this masscre masquaranding as self-defence please ?

Terror is the means that those who cannot win at the ballot box use to gain or get political power.
The poor and the needy are their army.
If they are successful then they create a bigger army, more poor and more needy.
Their enemy are those who try to use what means they have to truly help the poor and the needy.

I have seldom come upon such verbal cholera as in this article. Surely M&G editors must approve articles prior to printing. The writer must stick to our little world and Zim politics, which nobody cares about anymore. Firstly, what Israel is doing now is what they shouldv'e done the same day Hamas took controll of the political scene in Gaza. This is what you get if you vote for a Hamas, PAC, AWB etc. If and when Hamas dares to have another poll, hopefully the "innocent" voter-public who house these terrorists will think twice before giving them their vote. The world have pledged millions of dollars of funding for Gaza, all they have to do is stop attacking Israel, but alas, now they are reaping the whirlwind. Exactly like the Zim situation. If Mad Bop steps aside, and let the one who won the ellections take controll, the money will pour in. Every terrorist knows what he is in for, and might they get what they plan in tenfolds of returns, as well as anyone who syphasize with them.

The people of Palestine are very unfortunate. Not so long ago, the apartheid government of the then South Africa also talked of terrorists. It went to neighbouring states, killed families, killed people in the South African townships.
At that time, if you asked anyone who was scared of Black majority rule, they would have told you the same story that they are protecting their families and their country from destruction. They were even prepared to go to war and die.
The SA soldiers then were very brave, they used to get into direct fights in the bushes with the so called terrorists, so unlike the Israeli cowards who hide in tanks.
How do you start a war that you want to win if you cannot even step out of your tank.
Israel leadeship is leading that nation to many years of hatred by the rest of the world.

Violence has never solved anything. Killing innocent people can never be allowed to happen. Whether it's Israel doing it or Palestine, it is wrong. War is and has always been undesirable, think World Wars 1/2, can anyone remember what Hitler did and to whom? Are we about to condone killing of innocent lives again?

Such times call for reason and good judgement not brute force. If America has a role to play, then let's hope her role would be a fair one that would probably encourage peace and stability in the Middle East region. We cannot promote the use of violence to find peace, if we do, then the war on terror would remain just that,war.

If we think that war on terror has been won, then, let's think Osama Bin Laden. Where is he? Is America safe in his absence? Is he going to do another reappearing act or his cronies would? Bombs, machine guns and heavy artillery were used against him but did it help? Force was used but I doubt if it solved anything. Osama Bin Laden hasn't been found yet and so the threat of violence still remains. Maybe a different approach is needed in world politics and for me violence is not the answer.

I'm impressed at such scorn and disgust at this article. I just would like to point out to those who beliefs that the war on terror is working to look back at Afghanistan and Iraq. What the US has created is not a new democracy or new hope for the Middle East; it has created a whole new generation of anti-US youths that are more willing than their predecessors to go and bomb the Western countries.

While I agree that these kind of article only moralise and lack any suggestions or propose any way forward; its main points are valid. Israel and the US's use of disproportionate force in retaliation.

To all the gung-ho Bushies, Gary Younge works for the UK Guardian and has been their US correspondent for years.

So what is suggested is that the terrorists should be left to do as they please...all that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do NOTHING...aaah my heart cries for you Zimbabwe, Africa, Israel, Palestina...how long will this madness endure.....

Why is that Isreal can get away with murder? After all these years they still think that the world owes them for the past news flash nobody owes them anything. They complain around every corner about anti-semitism but what have they ever done to change their attitudde towards there neighbours. It is time that the rest of the world and America deal with them as they have done with Zim economic sanctions must be imposed and if that does not work then military action. The arab states must refuse to sell oil to them.
If the world is not careful Isreal will be the cause of the 3rd world war through their(isreal) ignorance and America's support of them. Marc de Villiers