How can the war on terror be won?

The US has doubled its estimation of how many people were killed by terrorism last year.

The Bush administration admitted that 625 people were killed during 2003, rather than the figure of 307 that was released in April.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell blamed the mistake on clerical and administrative errors.

How do you think the war on terror can be won? Do you think the numbers of people killed by terrorism will increase or decrease?

This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.

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The following comments reflect the balance of opinion we have received so far.

Send Mr. Bush back to his ranch in Texas Matty, USA/ex-UK

A simple plan: disengage with the corrupt Saudi regime; make serious efforts to resolve the Palestinian/Israeli conflict; and for goodness sake, send Mr. Bush back to his ranch in Texas, where he is welcome to indulge in as much macho posturing as he likes - so long as he's not subjecting the rest of the world to his big-budget Biblical Action Thriller. I for one don't want to see it.
Matty, USA/ex-UK

I think that we are extremists fighting extremists. Until one of us is gone, neither will be happy.
Zak , USA

Is it surprising that some countries turn a blind eye to terrorism when one country decides who and who can't have a decent military and, thus, who they can and can't walk over. People who say the terrorists are 100% evil/barely human etc. (mostly Americans) seem to be forgetting that some of the worst and violent crimes against other humans occur in their own country. Just another instance of the ingrained hypocrisy which leads to the bias foreign policies of several Western States. Frustration with this has brimmed over into this disgusting violence and the West is doing very little to convince the Middle East that we can live together on the same globe since our politicians don't believe it either.
Evan, UK/Dubai

Militants will continue to exploit socialist and pacifist which think the "real enemies" are the rich and the military Enoc, Miami, USA

Terrorist have found an Achilles' heel in the democratic superpowers. Militants will continue to exploit socialist and pacifist which think the "real enemies" are the rich and the military. We need to stop arguing amongst ourselves and take the fight back to the real threat.
Enoc, Miami, USA

The most obvious example to refute the force argument is Ireland. If in the 1970's the UK had dropped bombs on Dublin because of bombs in Belfast, would the UK and Ireland be better off today? War is not the answer to terrorism, police action is. Investigation, capture and trial, one bad guy at a time.
Brian Coughlan, Alingsås Sweden

The US should reassess its foreign policy of the occupation of Iraq. It should also stop supporting Israel's occupation of Palestine and parts of Syria and Lebanon or support them equally. Like the war on poverty, drugs, crime, which we are still fighting, there is no immediate end in sight.
Paul, Baltimore, USA

The first thing I asked myself is why can't the western world leave the Middle East alone as they left Africa alone (in its abject poverty)? But the only answer that comes to mind is vested interest. Then if the Middle East cannot be left alone because of interest, then the world cannot expect them to leave it alone in peace.
Abdallah Musa, Abuja, Nigeria

Fighting fire with fire just makes a big fire Jason Tomlins, Calgary

People are saying that the only way to combat terror is by force. An analogy might be if someone punched me to punch them back, but I would be more inclined to know why the person punched me in the first place. Fighting fire with fire just makes a big fire. Root causes people, root causes. Why aren't our governments giving us any explanation for the rise in terrorism? What is behind the extremists' hatred of the West? These questions just get ignored. The US and UK are treating us like idiots when they appear on television and give another news conference in their own eagerness to wage war.
Jason Tomlins, Calgary, Canada

No terrorist group can survive without the continued silence of the people. That silence is prolonged when the world is shown to be disunited on their efforts to eradicate terrorism. Show a collective determination to the cause and you empower the common man. Without it you empower the enemy.
Keith, US/UK

The hornets nest has been well and truly disturbed now. The war on terror should never have been waged, as it is a war that can have no winner.
John, Rye

If you expect the war to last five years, then the answer is no. If you expect the war to last 50 to 100 years, as I do, then I believe the answer is yes. We are only in the very early days yet. I do not believe that if we just leave the Middle East that al-Qaeda will come to some accommodation with us. We fight or die.
Gerald Joyce, Chicago, USA

We need to quit swatting the mosquitoes and drain the swamp. For example, ending poverty, starvation, etc.
Billy, Frederick, MD

Until basic beliefs change and tolerance is both taught and practiced, the zealots will never stop terrorizing Diane

I believe terror is in part, a by-product of extreme religious beliefs, coupled with teachings of violence against non-believers. Until basic beliefs change and tolerance is both taught and practiced, the zealots will never stop terrorizing.
Diane

The violence and despair caused by US military action is the underlying cause of terrorism against our country. Very few in the US, including myself, know first hand the misery that has been caused in our name. It is because of this that we will never really understand how to stop terrorism.
Eric, TX, USA

The roots of terrorism are much deeper than most of us thinks. No responsible leader in the past paid attention to those roots. Now we have to learn on the hard way that the so called war against terrorism is rather the war against whole nations, religions, traditions and cultures. For Bush this question is simple: Everyone is a terrorist who is not like him. But this is as far from the truth as Jerusalem is from Washington...
Tibor, Germany

From the look of things, I personally think the number will increase because the way the activities are handled on an individual basis. Talking in terms of individual countries rather than being speared by the United Nations, who's supposed to be the voice of our global community, doesn't help. I do see terrorism expanding in years to come.
Joe Noutoua Wandah, Liberian in Accra, Ghana

The war on terror was going well, until Bush administration started this Iraq war. The Iraq war is unjust, added fuel to the fire of al-Qaeda and dealt a blow to the anti al-Qaeda alliance. The US government thinks it can fool the world by equating Iraqi freedom fighters with terrorists. Looks like it did succeed in fooling American people at least.
Prasad Metta, India.

We can go after every terrorist we know of, but it won't end the violence Jenny, St Louis

I don't think it can ever be won. We can go after every terrorist we know of, but it won't end the violence. There will always be someone else to take his or her place. Because of this the loss of life will sadly increase. I had a tiny hope in the beginning of this war that things would turn out for the better. But I know now that, that's impossible. I sometimes feel ashamed to call myself an American because of all the trouble our leaders have caused. I just hope the rest of the world knows that some of us Americans hate this war and want it to end, or better yet that it had never started in the first place!
Jenny, St Louis, MO, USA

It is amazing. On this forum, almost all the American respondents are saying force is the only way, while many from European countries suggest getting to the root of the problem. Seems as though the media and politicians in the US are doing a good brainwashing job of justifying a constant state of war.
Colin Heyes, UK citizen in Germany

The war on terror can be won by only one ingredient, courage. Terrorists are cowards acting in a treacherous manner. The courage of citizens to reveal their identities and whereabouts of terrorists would be a great help.
Abdul Jakul, Balkans

625 people is fewer than those that die on the roads in some English counties. And yet the most powerful country in the world is so obsessed with the issue that it has mounted invasions, killed thousands and turned millions of ordinary people paranoid. Yes, terrorism is bad. Yes, it should be fought. But, please Mr Bush, get a sense of perspective.
Steve G, Nottingham, UK

Modern Islamic terrorists are apocalyptic nihilists that have no goal and no purpose George, New York

The war on terror cannot be won as long as majority of people, as this forum shows, think that terrorists are good guys who are just misunderstood, and the countries that stand up to them are bullies. Modern Islamic terrorists are apocalyptic nihilists that have no goal and no purpose, but pure enjoyment of chaos they create in the name of their religion. People on the left used to say that we could not fight communism all over the world, well, they were wrong then, and they are wrong now.
George, New York, USA

We need to develop an alternative for oil. Once we do we won't be dependant on the Middle East and the terrorist supporting governments.
Joylynn, USA

First of all, rule out a peaceful resolution by taking them to the bargaining table. These are extremists and their vision of the world is either black or white, no shades of grey. Even fellow Muslims are not spared their wrath, either they are with them 100% or nothing. It appear the bet way to resist them is by sheer force. And more importantly, is to cut out the source of the funding.
J Alegria, California, USA

The latest figures should include the innocent (civilian, non-terrorists) people killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine Azar, Wiltshire

This war on terror has increasingly meant loss of life. The latest figures should include the innocent (civilian, non-terrorists) people killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine, who are also causalities of this war as well, are they not? If these figures are published, one will learn that we are badly loosing this war!
Azar, Wiltshire, UK

The only way to put and end to this threat is to hold all countries accountable. If a country is harbouring or funding terrorist then pressure needs to be applied on that country put an end to it, should that fail then military action should be used. The greatest challenge is these terrorist do not abide by any rule of law and no targets are off limits to them, they hide themselves among women and children they use supposed holy sites to hide themselves and the weapons they would use to kill the innocent.
John Crane, Houston, Texas, USA

Why hasn't the Department of Defence shut down the Al Qaeda web-site permanently? Martin St, Baltimore

The media should be mindful of its responsibility of serving the public good by self-censoring the content of its reports. While blood does indeed sell newspapers and advertising due to the prurient interests of the public reporting all of the gory details of the deaths of the unfortunate hostages by terrorists only emboldens and empowers these monsters all the more. Others of course will fall victim to their reckless mayhem, but the media would be doing the public, and indeed potential victims a better service, not to 'beat the drum' for each of the murders committed by the terrorists. Also, given the state of IT capabilities our governments possess, why hasn't the Department of Defence shut down the Al Qaeda web-site permanently?
Martin St, Baltimore, USA

Interesting and disturbing the people who say the only way to fight terror is to use force, force and more force. I can understand that if all the terrorist in the world lived in one small country, which we can call terror-land, then the task would be simple, bomb that country of the face of the earth! The Bush policy would actually work! But since that is not the case, since ten innocents die for every one terrorist in heavy-handed operations, which is helping to fuel hatred, we need to have a more subtle approach, which so far has not been adopted. Otherwise the problem will continue to deteriorate and who doesn't agree that terror attacks are more frequent now than ever.
Harry, Germany, ex-UK

There is no right or wrong, there is no sure way to attack terrorism except to try and understand why they do it, this not only by thinking that it is because of the reasons they are giving, there are some very basic "human" reasons.
Richard, UK/France

Jason, Washington says that the only way to defeat a bully is to stand up to him and show him that you've had enough. Doesn't he realise that most of the world see America as the bully, and many, especially those in countries where the US has garrisoned large forces, see the terrorists as the ones doing the standing up?
Julian, Brighton

This war is fought in the human spirit and cannot be won with violence Chris Boyne, Edinburgh

I object to the use of the word 'terror' all the time. It is vague and is used one minute to refer to an attack on civilians and the next to refer to people attacking an occupying force. The word has lost whatever meaning it may have had and is now an empty platitude used to justify any course of action in 'The War On Terror'. One can fight a war against fear (which is the real definition of terror) but this war is fought in the human spirit and cannot be won with violence.
Chris Boyne, Edinburgh, UK

It is quite strange that when a people fights for its own hegemony, they are labelled terrorists. But irrespective, there are two ways in which terrorism could stopped. First, the US and UK need to get out of the Middle East and let the Arabs solve their own problems. Secondly, they need to put in line their rogue element, Israel. Thereafter, we will see long-lasting peace in the world.
Mlungisi, Johannesburg, South Africa

Murder, including the beheadings of guest workers, suicide bombings, and "honour" killings of women, deserves only the harshest response from civilised peoples everywhere.
Sebastian, Arizona, USA

Religion has always been the underlying factor in most wars Kenneth Thoman, Mass

Simple, become a world that has no religion. Religion has always been the underlying factor in most wars and it is certainly being used by terrorists to justify blowing people up.
Kenneth Thoman, Mass, USA

To win the war on terror, we have to have justice. We need to provide jobs and economic stability so fragile young men don't listen to those fundamentalists. We need to get rid of the fundamentalists who teach our young kids that killing innocent people is part of the jihad against the enemies. We have to show no mercy with the killers whoever they are. This war is not going to be won in one or two years, it going to take decades, unfortunately.
Murad, USA/Saudi Arabia

The US for its part should commit wholesale to finding alternative, clean energy sources for the mass market. Then we can strategically disengage from the Arab world, reducing a lot of causes of friction (and cleaning up the air, by the way).
Mel, NYC

Deal with the cause and the terrorism will disappear P Martin, UK

The war on terror will never be won by force. 'Terror' is not an entity, it is a by-product of injustice and desperation. Until the root causes of perceived injustices are seriously tackled, (especially the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict) terrorists will always find popular support for their activities. Deal with the cause and the terrorism will disappear.
P Martin, UK

The only way to win the war on terror is with force. There can be no negotiation with terrorists. There can be no backing down against terror. Ever. If a hostage is kidnapped, then the force has to become more powerful instead of less. If there is a murder, such as the recent beheadings, then the force has to become more forceful, rather than less. If there is terror, anywhere, there has to be an enormous price to be paid by the terrorists. Period. There is no other alternative. Isn't this obvious?
Mick Clarke, UK/USA

How can you win a war against an abstract concept? As soon as militant insurrection is quelled in the Middle East, another similar situation will spring up somewhere else, and terror will be back.
Ian, Dete, Zimbabwe

The only way to defeat a bully is to stand up to him and show him that you've had enough. I believe that if the people who these terrorists claim to be fighting for stand up and protest against the violence, then the terrorists will begin to lose their clout and influence.
Jason, Washington DC

As a Palestinian American, I can say one thing, years of small, random, and indiscriminate acts of violence never got my people anywhere. Violence always begets more violence, that includes Bush's policy, Sharon's policy, Hamas's policy, and every other militant out there. What both sides need is a new approach, and not the revenge tactics so far committed on both sides.
Michael Tanous, San Diego, CA

The best way to win the war on terror especially in the Middle East is to resolve once and for all the Palestinian critics, as this is the main crisis that is fuelling the whole region.
Nabih, Freetown, Sierra Leone