Originally posted by The Man
A war on terrorism is a pointless war, though, because terrorism has existed since practically the dawn of mankind.
So you're just saying that we should just let terrorists do what they want, killing thousands, perhaps millions of innocent people? Why - because there's no way to completely eliminate terrorism? That may be true, but it is certainly a lot better to have as little terrorism as possible that it is to do nothing at all.

Originally posted by eestlinc
Look, there has to be a reason people are willing to kill themselves to destroy others. It isn't because they enjoy destruction. In the case of arabs, the huge problems in arab society have created an entire class of men who have no jobs (partly because they feel they are above menial labor) and feel hopeless. Then you have someone like Bin Laden come along who is angry for whatever reason and he can give these hopeless men hope (in the form of dying "honorably" for Islam). If you work to improve arab society then you can cut off terrorism by eliminating the supply of hopeless people willing to sign up. It's very obvious that violence doesn't solve the problem.
Yes, improving the society that produces terrorists will help to eliminate the supply of terrorism. At the same time, though, the evil and violent portions of that society - the terrorists - need to be removed, or they will continue to manifest anger and hatred. You can't get a weed out of a garden by watering it.