I support it. Hell, I support it wholeheartedly. Posted by: Quantum: [quote]The only effective way to fight terrorism is through a strong, but reasonably limited intelligence section. [/quote]That's only part of an effective system to defeat terrorism. Yes, you need a strong intelligence community (something we have), but with nothing to act on this intelligence (the execution stage), what good does that do? This is why you have drones, special operations forces, and if need be, forces for limited engagements, i.e French forces in Mali. Speaking of the French, they're doing a good job of how we, as in the western world, should be handling situations like they're facing. Not only are they directly engaging AQIM forces, but also they're training ECOWAS forces to take over when they leave. For sake of saving money, multilateral operations need to happen in order to combat terrorism. Also, to win against terrorism on a large scale, you need a three-pronged attack. Let's use Somalia as an example (this is a direct excerpt from one of my school reports on terrorism): [quote]Somalia just recently achieved a huge milestone of electing a President; as a result, this is improving the lives of their citizens. With this huge political achievement, they are now re-establishing political ties and gaining more assistance from different countries. Then, the UN Arms Embargo on Somalia has been lifted for a year. This will allow countries, like the US, to send weapons to the Somalian military to fight back al-Shabaab, themselves. Along with the political achievement, the economy of Somalia has been improving since this new government came into place. Thanks to reconstruction in the country, markets are opening back up, natural resources in Somalia are finally being utilized, and so on and so forth. With this economic growth, hopefully the general populace can finally get better living conditions. The last prong, militarily, has already been underway since 2007. The African Union forces (along with Ethiopian forces and US assistance) have done a great job of pushing al-Shabaab out of places like Kismayo, Mogadishu and Merca. Now that the US has authorized military aid to Somalia, this trend of pushing back Islamic militants will presumably continue.[/quote] As you can see, these three prongs (military, political, economical) are a good way to combating terrorism on a large scale, like what Somalia is facing. Posted by: EmptyLearner5 [quote]They are in Syria, Yemen, Turkey, Chechnya, Egypt, Sudan and South Sudan, Somalia, Mali, Nigeria, Algeria, Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Philippines, Indonesia, and in tons more. [/quote]Fun fact: In almost every single one of these countries, there are counter-terrorism operations being conducted; some better than others, but nevertheless, they're being conducted. I will say that because of poor planning and bad decision making on the Obama administration's part, has led to recent influx of violence in the Syria-Iraq region. No, I'm not claiming the Syrian Civil War in Obama's fault, but what I am saying is that because of us not keeping a residual force in Iraq, it's allowing al-Qaeda in Iraq to operate more freely in places such as al-Anbar province. Subsequently, they've organized a militant group in Syria (al-Nusra Front) which is one of, if not the, best led and most organized opposition groups inside Syria. As a result of al-Nusra's successes in Syria, AQI is now conducting more sectarian killings within Iraq. See, AQI's goal has always been to disrupt and destroy the Iraqi government by way of sectarian bombings and making the government look weak. Now, not only are they bombing more to do that, but also to establish a new safe-haven in Iraq for themselves and their fighters in Syria.