West winning the war on terror: Howard

But the former PM, who took Australia into wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to combat terrorism, told AAP in an interview: "There have been no attacks on our mainland.

The West is winning the war on terrorism, former prime minister John Howard has declared.

Mr Howard's message for Australians on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is that "the terrorists have not succeeded".

Mr Howard acknowledged the tragedy of the 2002 Bali bombings, which claimed 88 Australian lives among the 202 killed

"Because of the efforts of our intelligence and security apparatus, and the inherent strength of the Australian way of life, we have prevented terrorists carrying out any attacks here.

"We have to remain vigilant. We have to put up with the inconveniences.

"But it's worth it because they haven't won, and the way of life we treasure is still intact."

Mr Howard, who was in Washington on the day New York's twin towers were hit and the Pentagon was attacked, said the West had contained terrorism and made "very significant" inroads into the effective leadership of al-Qaeda.

The killing of Osama bin Laden earlier this year was a significant psychological blow, even though it had not ended the terrorist movement.

Mr Howard said he was not surprised by surveys conducted by the US Studies Centre in Sydney showing both Australians and Americans were sick and tired after a decade of war.

"Every war that goes on for a long time becomes unpopular," he said.

"That's been the experience of mankind through all recorded history. There's nothing strange about that.

"But it's a long war. It's a bit like the cold war, which went on for decades and we didn't have nuclear annihilation.

"This may go on for many years but in the end we will deny the terrorists their aim to establish a radical form of Islam in many parts of the world that don't want it."

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/west-winning-the-war-on-terror-howard-20110907-1jxo0.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

My Thoughts 

For the most part I have to agree with Mr Howard on this. We would all love to see this come to an end.For those of us that have family over there we would love nothing more than for them to come home.

What if they did come home? 

I think if we pull out now these terrorists win, they will regroup and we will be facing more attacks.

Sure they killed Osama Bin Laden, but his place was filled,and it will continue till they either stop or troops have killed them all. 

For now all we can do is support all troops over there, We owe them our freedom because if it wasnt for them how many more attacks would we have had and how many more innocent lives would we have lost.

This conflict will not be over anytime soon. So until it is lets at lest support our troops and respect the job they do protecting us.