All that glitters is not gold, Or an uninformed Ranty McRantRant

It's the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs. The hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores. The hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta. The hope of a mill worker's son who dares to defy the odds. The hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too. Hope! Hope in the face of difficulty! Hope in the face of uncertainty! The audacity of hope! - Barack Obama 2004

Great, cool. We at least get someone who won't be a part of the problem. But then:

During his first week in office he sanctioned two missile attacks in Pakistan, killing 22 people, including women and children.

Yayyyyy more killing of innocent poor people that can't defend themselves! The reason for the attack was possible al-Qaeda activity in that area. Anti-terrorism, then. A noble attempt to defeat some evil terrorists that want to destroy us all. Okay. Let's have a quick look at the consequences of that action though, those missile attacks that blew up those women and children, and see what we think the consequences are for global terrorism. The problem, I guess most people would agree, is that 'the west' and particularly the USA is held as a symbol of oppression and imperialism; responsible for all their myriad woes - this drives some people to think that it's legitimate to blow themselves and other people up in resistance. So the solution, surely, is to try to heal those myriad woes of the middle east (economic instability, wars, loss of land etc.) and to make sure that 'the west' is not seen to be the villain of the piece. It is these factors that have led to terrorism, through the conduit of fundamentalist Islam, only to eager to fuel that anger and hate with its old and poisonous ideas. Bearing that in mind, did Obama's missile attacks help stop terrorism?

Or did they, in fact, amount to chucking petrol on an already massive fire? If you saw your family, your neighbours, or fuck it anyone really get blown up in front of you, or even if you heard about it second hand, how is that likely to make you feel about the people who launched those missiles or dropped those bombs? Could it be hatred so powerful it drives you to insanity? yeah I reckon so.

If killing those who kill our sons is terrorism, then let history be witness that we are terrorists.
-Osama Bin Laden