This chart represents the view of the U.S. public about the "war on terror". It is from a series of surveys done by the Rasmussen Poll (the latest being done on October 4th and 5th of a random national sample of 1,000 likely voters, with a 3 point margin of error).
It shows that nearly half (46%) of the public now believes we are losing the war against terrorism. I think they are wrong, but I understand why they might think that. It is because they are treating the war on terrorism and the conflicts in the Middle East as being one and the same. They are not.
The conflicts in the Middle East (Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan) are religious civil wars. They are being fought by Sunnis, Shiites, and radical factions of both. And while we are in the middle of these conflicts, we really have no friends there. Regardless of who wins, it is highly unlikely they will position themselves as an ally of the United States.
We shouldn't even be involved in these conflicts. Most muslims see our involvement as the U.S. trying to impose its will on them -- and many of them see it as another christian invasion of the muslim world. And perhaps the craziest thing about these conflicts is that even if the factions we are backing were to win those conflicts, it would do nothing to stop terrorism -- in the United States or other Western countries.
Terrorists have never needed to control a country to either fund or train or plan their nefarious actions. And they will always be able to find a place to do those things as long as they exist (even if ISIS, al-Queda, and others lose their fight to control areas of Syria and Iraq, and the Taliban fails to retake Afghanistan).
Terrorism is not done by a country, but organizations -- and because of that, they will never be defeated by military power. They can be defeated only by the combined efforts of law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and diplomatic efforts -- and currently, those efforts are succeeding very well in controlling terrorism.
Why is the public so confused on the issues of war and terrorism? Our political leaders and our mainstream media are to blame. The political leaders (of both political parties) are either being disingenuous about these issues, or are confused themselves -- and unfortunately, the media is just parroting what those politicians have to say (rather than making the effort to do some real journalism).
