Critique of "War On Terror Side Effects"

In the editorial entitled "War on terror side effects" in The Japan Times, the anonymous author explores the consequences of the United States' "War on Terror." The author of this editorial explains that the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001 caused the majority of the world's people to have great sympathy for the victims of 9/11 and the United States in general. The author goes on to say that nearly all of this sympathy dissipated because of the United States and the Bush administration's handling of the "War on Terror." The author's claim that the majority of the world's terrorist problems result from the United States' fight on terrorism is untrue.

The author initially states that five years after the terror attacks on New York and Washington D.C., the U.S. is in a very bad position economically and politically. The U.S. has been in two wars in the past three years, including the war in Afghanistan (2001) and the war in Iraq (2003-present).

United States

United States

United States

Making it seem as if the war on terror has had no positive side effects, the author states, "A sad fact about the war on terror is that it set off a chain reaction of violence, rather than stopping the tide of violence or eradicating its source -- much less producing trust among peoples and nations" (Japan Times). While the United States certainly did make mistakes, there have been many positive results from the "War on Terror." Most people agree that the world, and Iraq in particular, is better off without Saddam Hussein in power. Numerous instances of the U.S. not maintaining its views about respect for other humans are included by the author, including "Long confinement of suspects of terrorism at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; torture and abuse of prisoners of...