The War on Terror U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan Essay

The War on Terror U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan - Essay Example Thesis statement: The U.S. initiated War on Terror and invasion of Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom) is helpful to obstruct the rapid spread of terrorism, restoration of democracy in Afghanistan, and peace in the Middle East. The War on Terror The War on Terror, a military campaign initiated by the U.S. and its allied nations, primarily aims to resist rapid spread of terrorism, especially the terrorist plots like 9/11. Duffy (2005), an eminent human rights activist, writer, and the director of the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights points out that, â€Å"In the immediate wake of the attacks of 11 September 2001, the United States committed itself to a sustained ‘war on terror’, a significant component of which has involved the use of military force by the United States and its allies in several countries, notably Afghanistan and Iraq† (p.186). One can see that the origin of terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda and Taliban is inte rconnected with the growth of militant nationalism in the Middle East. On the other side, the War on Terror never hindered counter-terrorism measures adopted by the world nations. To be specific, the War on Terror aims to reduce the influence of terrorism among the world nations. ... The origin of the War on Terror is interconnected with the growth of al-Qaeda and Taliban in the Middle East. The end result of the creation of al-Qaeda by Osama bin Laden in 1980s was the rapid spread of terrorism and the origin of Taliban in Afghanistan. Gradually, Bin Laden began to control Afghani Taliban. This eventually led to the origin of terrorist networks in the Middle East and in the African continent. On the other side, the U.S. interest and influence among the oil rich Middle Eastern nations was an imminent threat to the terrorist networks. So, Bin Laden decided to intimidate the U.S. and other Western nations by attacking the officials and civilians. Soros (2007), who is the chief of the Soros Fund Management, supporter of open societies and an important critic on the War on Terror, opines that, â€Å"Bin Laden correctly identified the one aspect in which military Islam is superior to Western civilization: the fear of death† (p.108). The millennium attack in the year 2000 proves that Bin Laden was ready to challenge the U.S. and its allied nations. The immediate cause behind the War on Terrorism and the attack on al-Qaeda and Taliban is the 9/11 attack, formulated by Bin Laden. This attack infuriated the U.S. and it eventually led to the extension of the War on Terrorism to new levels. The War on Terrorism aimed to destroy the mastermind behind the rapid spread of terrorism. Soros (2007), opines that, â€Å"My emphasis on the role of the United States as the source of stability in the world and the protector of our civilization is somewhat exaggerated on account of personal considerations† (p.xviii). But, Bin Laden and other leaders of Al-Qaeda and Taliban like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were in Afghanistan. So, the warfront gradually shifted to

In response to Nietzsche Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

In response to Nietzsche - Essay Example Nietzsche further asserts that truth is a social construct that completely depends on human language for its existence. Since language comprises of the signifiers to objects and experiences in human beings’ life, truth cannot exist as a separate entity outside human experience. Necessarily a truth is colored by a man’s experiences and perceptions of the truth itself. When truth dwells in a metaphysical level, its perception is embodied trough human-induced language constructs like metaphors or metonymies, as Nietzsche says in this regard: â€Å"What is truth then? A mobile army of metaphors, metonymies, anthropomorphisms, in short a sum of human relations that are elevated, transmitted, beautified in a poetic or rhetoric manner, and that appear to the people after a long usage as fixed, canonical and binding† (Nietzsche 45) Indeed perspectivism is a crucial term in understanding the validity of Nietzsche’s concept of truth. Nietzsche claims that â€Å"tru ths are illusions of which one has forgotten they are illusions, metaphors that are worn out and literally became powerless† (Nietzsche 45). But the problem that arises here is whether Nietzsche is true. While â€Å"there is no truth† according to Nietzsche, the question is how the truthfulness of Nietzsche’s claim can be validated. Obviously Nietzsche himself is aware of the conundrum that his concept of truth may develop. In response to this question, Nietzsche assumes that truths are socially established collective perspectives about something which are collaborative with other human experiences. Subsequently there may be another truth claimed by a philosopher. But according to this different truth about something is the said philosopher’s own perspective which has been induced and modulated by different context and experience with which he or she happens to be familiar with. Therefore when a philosopher claims any idea or anything as true, he or she is prejudiced and ignorant of different contexts which might lead him to a different conclusion. In his book, â€Å"Beyond Good and Evil† Nietzsche discusses this very postulation of perspectivism and its relation with the philosophers’ prejudices about truth. In the beginning chapter called â€Å"On the Prejudices of Philosophers†, he comments that though a traditional philosopher may claim any of his idea as the product of pure reasons and, therefore, as something true, there can be a different truth, about the same thing, which is the product of different reasoning. Indeed reasons and reasoning can be different from individual to individual, since reasons themselves, in some ways or others, are the products of individual experiences and perspectives. Therefore, a cluster of experiences which is same for a group of people may give birth to a cluster of perspectives which itself may lead to a conclusion assumed as a truth. In the same manner, a different cluster of experiences about the same may lead to a different truth. The problem of traditional philosophers is that they attempt to prove their perspectives (according to Nietzsche, their prejudices) as the universal truth. Referring to this problem, Nietzsche comments: â€Å"They pose as having discovered and attained their real opinions through the self-evolution of a cold, pure, divinely unperturbed dialectic: while what happens at bottom is that a prejudice, a notion, an ‘inspiration,’ generally a desire of the heart sifted and made abstract, is defended by them with reasons sought after the event†