The War On Terror

Terrorist acts against our country are the inevitable result of wielding our enormous power and influence to interfere in other countries’ affairs when we have no business doing so. The solution is simple: Stop meddling in others’ affairs.

My anti-terrorism initiative would ideally do the following:

1. Achieve an immediate cease-fire in all countries to which we have taken our war.

2. Make an extensive and sincere apology to those countries we have decimated in our pursuit of non-tangible enemies.

3. Develop and implement a plan to rebuild infrastructure where we have destroyed it and pay substantial reparations. I realize that this may not be possible for some time in the case of civil wars. Such wars will have to be handled very delicately; certainly there is no way I could outline any sort of plan at this time to deal with such a situation.

4. Whenever possible, troops who have been involved in combat before my initiative would be brought home and replaced with fresh troops for rebuilding. This achieves two aims: 1) Over-extended, tired, and resentful troops get to come home, and 2) Citizens of the target countries become aware that new troops were not involved in previous fighting, which should lower tension significantly for everyone.

5. Fully cooperate with those who wish to bring anyone – and I mean anyone – guilty of war crimes before an international court. I would make every effort to see that retroactive laws that pardon such crimes were repealed.

6. Since international laws have been ignored and despised by at least one past president, I would work for a constitutional amendment that criminalizes the planning and carrying out of pre-emptive wars.

7. Make an extensive and thorough public investigation into the events leading up to 9/11 with a truly objective panel (no, I don’t have any idea at this point how I would create this panel). Every single word of the final report would be made public, no matter how damning. America deserves to know. For that matter, when the time is right, I would push for similar investigations into the Oklahoma City bombing, the Waco incident, and the 1993 Trade Center bombing.

8. Repeal the Patriot Act and end all domestic spying activities. During my presidency, the constitution would be adhered to rather than given lip service and used as toilet paper.

9. Reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil by encouraging development of alternative fuel sources, such as hemp, with substantial subsidies. This should help prevent any future desire to invade countries in order to take over their resources.

Anything I should add to this initiative or change in it?