War and Terrorism - Essay Example

US War on Terrorism al Affiliation: US War on Terrorism The US decision to go to war against Iraq and Afghanistan was ill-advised. For decades, Al-Qaida was training on how to tackle any insurgence. Therefore, it has put in place the necessary infrastructure to thwart any move by the enemies in this case the United States. As a result, they had an advantage compared to the US military forces. Although the US had technology at its disposal, some of the areas were very hard to access. The terrain in Afghanistan was hostile to the US soldiers.

As a result, they could not match the local terrorist groups which were used to the environment (Boss, 2010). These are some of the factors that the US could have put into consideration before making the decision to get into war with these two countries. The decision to get into war in Afghanistan and Iraq was a reactionary move rather than one that was based on a plan. As a result, United States committed many mistakes which gave the enemies an upper hand in the fight. This explains the reason why there were very many casualties among the US soldiers, an aspect that was not anticipated when the decision was being made.

After the September 11 attack, the US was under intense pressure to apprehend the people behind the attack (Boss, 2010). However, the planners never took into consideration the experience of the local fighters in the hostile terrain. Instead, they based their decision on the military power. Furthermore, the US used force rather than intelligence. This made it hard for the US to win the war in both countries. According to Just War Theory, taking human life is wrong and states have a duty to defend their citizens and justice.

However, going to war against Iraq and Afghanistan was not the right thing because it led to a war of religions (Boss, 2010). It led to massive killing of innocent people especially women and children, an aspect that increased hatred between people emanating from different religious backgrounds. Initially, people used to exist freely without taking into consideration the religion affiliation of others. However, since the insurgence, the Muslims have taken it upon themselves to protect their religion.

Although the war against the two countries was not meant to divide Christians and Muslims, the terrorist groups have been able to win the hearts of some of their fellow Muslim brothers and sisters. As a result, they have been able to use the religion issue to attract more followers and fighters to these groups. Therefore, poor planning by the US escalated the war, an aspect that explains why the world is now crumpling with fighting various terrorist groups such as ISIS, Alshabab, Boko Haram, etc.

This is because the groups have been able to radicalize the young people using the two wars as a good example for the young generation to take up arms and protect their religion. The reason is that the US failed to use the local religious and political leaders in its effort to eliminate the Taliban and oust the Iraq president (Boss, 2010). In conclusion, the decision to go to war in Iraq and Afghanistan was poor and based on the need by the US to show its military superiority. However, up-to-date, the world is trying to deal with the consequences of this war which is the mushrooming of various terrorist groups which are staging attacks in different parts of the world.

ReferencesBoss, J. A. (2010). Analyzing moral issues. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.