The "War on Terror" is a futile effort and a waste of resources.

Thank you for your response. Let us continue... I still don't feel like you addressed what I stated as terrorist goals in the beginning of my argument. I also don't think that you understood what I meant when I said, "Money and resources would be better spent on defense of the homeland." The U.S could focus more on homeland security and counter intelligence. I don't think we should "ignore" it. Shoring up defenses and having agents to warn us of attacks is far from ignoring terrorism. Further from that, we as a people can try to show other countries that we are not the hypocritical American dogs they think we are. Think, is the key word here, as I do not necessarily believe these stereotypes. However, blowing up their buildings and shooting their people is just as terrifying to them as it is to us. Their cause is to incite fear, a "poison," as you called it. When the U.S continues engagements, it shows that we believe the terrorists are a big enough threat to publicly announce a war against them. In a way, this very fact makes the terrorist somewhat successful. The govt. could just make an announcement saying not to worry about the terrorists and that counter intelligence agencies are working to prevent future attacks. The terrorists want us to attack them back, they want us to be afraid and react. Do you think that these terrorist never expected the U.S might send in the troops. They want our attention. Just like that bully in the bus. If you hit them, they hit you back, if you pull a gun they may pull theirs, but if you raise your arms up in defense or just walk away, you avoid conflict all together. Terrorists and extremists in the Middle East are the same way. we know what they like to do, we know where they are (generally by country), so why give them what they want? Attention. People in the Middle East have been mired in never ending war since before the 1800s. They believe their ideals are the true way. It's instinct to them. Our engagements with them are like hitting a bees nest with a bat. You can expect the same violent reaction every time. Just because you stuck your finger in the hole really slowly this time won't get you a different reaction than a bunch of stings. The U.S has tired to encourage education and woman's rights, but the extremists see that Western influence is "poisoning" their country and way of life. This is actually somewhat true. We believe we have better ways of teaching and doing things, and we try not to be biased, but the truth is that we can't help but project American ideals (the good and the bad). As someone said before in the comments, a farmer that would otherwise be indifferent about the war loses his wife to a drone strike, and suddenly he has a good reason to pick up arms against the U.S. How can we proclaim life liberty and the pursuit of happiness when we feel justified to destroy families and infrastructure? What makes you think that a few years of targeted bombing and forced government reform will change the minds of people who have known war for so long? I don't want to get into why I don't think the U.S should act as the world's police, that is not the target of this argument. However I will say that I think the U.S has a lot to improve in internal affairs and infrastructure before we are ready to take on such a "noble" task. Reinforcing and advancing homeland defense systems, including improving warning systems and counterintelligence, could be far more effective at stopping terrorist attacks on U.S soil. Terrorists are bullies, if we close the chinks in our armor they will have a hard time doing anything. The harder we make it to hit us the less inclined they will be tor try.