Trump, Getting Tough On Terrorism

TWENTY TWO PEOPLE are murdered at the end of a concert in Manchester, England, by a suicide bomber, and President Trump decides to get tough on terrorism. Without warning, he calls the terrorists "losers", and announces to the world that he is perfectly willing to do so again, without justification or warning. The kid gloves are off. Terrorists beware! With but a single word, Trump's war on terrorism has begun in deadly earnest. To paraphrase a well known philosopher, the fool would be humorous were he not in such deadly earnest. All terrorists are cowering in their underground bunkers, because Trump first made inconvenient potholes in a Syrian airport, forcing the Syrian air force to delay its own bombing raids by several hours - and now, this. A verbal attack by the president of the United States of unprecedented proportions. A "winner", properly defined, is a person or organization which achieves its stated objective. A "loser" fails to achieve its stated objective. The stated purpose of terrorists is to inflict damage upon their enemies through acts of violence, in the hope of eventually destroying their enemies. The stated objective of the United States, and the rest of the civilized world, is the elimination of and prevention of future terrorism. Accordingly, at present, the terrorists are not the losers. Donald Trump's way of using the "word" loser is usually associated in America with a person unable to get a date, or low in social status, or a person of low income. We Americans have not yet come to terms with the fact that our behavior motivates the behavior of others. Our guiding principle seems to be based on the strange notion that whatever we do is morally correct, because we did it. We should reconsider. On July 25th, nineteen ninety, as the Iraqi army was massing on the border of Kuwait, President Bush told Saddam that the United States was unconcerned about the situation between Iraq and Kuwait, and in general had no interest in or concern about any conflict between Arab nations. Saddam smiled, according to officials transcripts. People who receive blank checks can be expected to smile. One week later, Saddam invaded and conquered Kuwait, and the Bush administration suddenly changed its point of view, and announced to the world that Saddam's action was heinous, unacceptable, an assault on international law and the principle of national sovereignty, and would not be allow to stand. Classic bait and switch, carrot and stick. A ploy designed by Bush to entice Saddam's invasion, as a pretext to sending the American military into Iraq. The rest, as they say, is history, tragic history, for which the Untied States and indeed the world has paid a dear price. Before 1990 there was relatively little Islamic terrorism. After the American invasion, terrorism began to flourish, and has ever since. When a powerful nation, or group of nations, sends a huge army onto the soil of a nation far away, invades it, conquers it, and kills hundreds of thousands of its people, the conquered nation, and many of its allies, tend to feel resentful. Some of them attempt retaliation, by whatever means are available. People are like that. The behavior of one person, or one nation, motivates the behavior of others. If we Americans ever come to terms with this fact, we might be able to look at our own behavior in a more productive way, and to use words like "loser" much more appropriately, to describe appropriate people, such as those who cannot get a date.