War on Terrorism Winnable?

The war on terrorism is not winnable with quantifiable results as WWII. In WWII, there was a defined army with clear battle lines, there were leadership in control that could surrender if all was lost, that is not the case in this current conflict. With this being an ideological and faith based war there might be leaders that act as the head of this movement but anyone with the same beliefs can act on their own. The act of terrorism is "the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes" therefore, it is not a means to win in the traditional sense but to influence the will of a people or government not to fight.

The current policies at this point in the war make it only winnable in stages; even though we cannot win as in WWII, we sure can lose. I feel that we have to stay the course in Iraq and Afghanistan but once stabilized need to move the troops out of there and transition into a new phase of the war.

I still feel depending on your definition of victory the war on terror can be won. If it is limiting the terrorist from the big attacks like 9-11 or the 2005 attacks in London, the war is winnable. If it is total annihilation, of all terrorist, this war is not winnable nor will it be ever won.

Our allies and we as a Nation have come a long way in disrupting the leadership of Al Qaida and interdiction of logistic support for militants. Once Afghanistan can become more stable, the fight should become more of a special operations and political fight that will require cooperation and coordination with other countries.