The "War on Terrorism" is unwinnable and should be ended

"Actually, about 600,000 people were killed by Saddam in almost thirty years. The violence in less than five years has killed 87,741 civilians. This does not include deaths of coalition forces. Back-of-the-napkin calculations give us about the same number of civilian deaths after thirty years." Your statistic about Saddam killing 600,000 people is true, however, the number of years is skewed. Saddam didn't officially take power until June 1979 when he convened a special meeting of Ba'ath party members, 68 of which were put on trial for treason, 22 sentenced to death. He was removed from power, technically, at the start of the Iraq invasion in 2003. So, Saddam was President of Iraq for 24 years. The years after the Persian Gulf War, with the exception of a minor number of possible murders under his regime, the watch of the US and UN prevented Saddam from going out of line as he did in the 1980s, against his own people, with the weapons traded to him by the US. The Gulf War ended in February 1991. This gives Saddam a time frame of 12 years to murder, giving a margin of error to your benefit, 550,000 people (I will assume that at least 50,000 were killed outside of the 12 year span, a very generous number). That's a solid average of 45,833 and one-third persons per year, including the entirety of the Gulf War when Saddam was fighting American troops much more than his own cultural enemies. Rounding up the length of the Iraq War to 5 years, including the deaths of coalition forces, is 4217 people [http://icasualties.org...] (of the entire coalition, not just the US)((NOTE: The total 4217 was read off the site at 11:04 CST, I am assuming it will change)). Adding this to your total, we get 91958 troops. I will give you another margin of error, and increase this total to 94000 troops. That average, over four years and 8 months (4.75 years) 19789.5 casualties per year. The average under Saddam's reign, 45,833, is more than double the annual casualty count since 2003. "A panicked has their panic confirmed by the security measures that have been taken so far. Although 9/11 showed security to be inadequate, our response was to panic (the goal of a terrorist), which caused such measures to be taken. WE would have done better to frame out security measures as "we now see problems", rather than "Oh no oh no oh no! What will we do!". What we did is exactly what "they" wanted." Having frequently been in other international airports (such as Madrid, Barcelona, London, and New Zealand; New Zealand and London before 9/11 occurred), the US has always had inferior airport security, mainly due to the outcry of American citizens in defense of their individual freedoms and liberties. Don't get me wrong, I am the biggest supporter of personal liberties myself, however, the American government's airport security is slightly improved each year since 2001, but it should be improved more and can be improved more. Taking precautions such as x-raying shoes and not allowing liquids through security makes the implementation of a terrorist plot much more difficult. The goal of a terrorist is not to cause panic. That is the basic definition of a terrorist, but the goal of a Jihadist terrorist is to convert Americans to Islam and have them reject their life of sin. 9/11 was orchestrated as "revenge" against the American people for the "treachery" that the American government has "caused" against the Middle East and Islam alike (I use quotes to state the beliefs of Jihadists, not of my own). "Also, the invasion of Iraq has made much of the world dislike the US-- which gives terrorists justification." Terrorists already had enough justification. Once an organization or group has enough justification to convince 19 Saudis and Middle Easterners to give their lives for the cause of taking down the US, then no matter how much more justification we give them it will not make drastic changes. Of course, the US shouldn't bomb and invade every Middle Eastern and Islam country, for efforts that drastic would certainly have a great effect, however, the effect of the Iraq War as a threat to national security is minute compared to the advancements made by US presence. The most fitting proposition to help stabilize Iraq is Joe Biden's federalist plan [http://biden.senate.gov...], making a soft-partition to establish three separate states of Sunni, Shiite, and Kurd that hold autonomous power over one another. If the US looks past the military solutions of Iraq and focuses on establishing political solutions so that our efforts in the invasion are not wasted 15 years from now when another tyrannical dictator takes over, the American government can establish a federalist Iraqi government that can act as an integral ally in the fight towards international peace and security.