This is going to be part one of a two part article that talks about what the War on Terror is about and how it got started.

Every so often I'll see a book or read an article that either asks "Why do they hate us?" or asserts how "we" squandered the "good will" that the United States had right after 9/11.

When I get into debates with people on these subjects the main problem I run into is that many people - on both sides of the debate - are appalling unfamiliar with history -- even recent history. 

Let's start with a look back at the 90s.  Right after the terrorist attack in New York there were a number of commentaries that argued essentially that we had it coming because of our "foreign policy".  When pressed, these people could rarely point to anything concrete. Instead, you got ridiculous "bad karma" like arguments like "Didn't pass the Kyoto accords" (as if that was what caused 9/11).

The reality is, US foreign policy in the 90s was nothing short of heroic. If you felt US foreign policy in the 90s somehow justified the attack on 9/11 then I humbly submit that you are insane.  Let us recap US foreign policy in the 90s:

• The United States puts together an international force including Muslim states to roll back the unprovoked conquest of Kuwait. The US returns Kuwait to its recognized government and leaves only a US air base in Saudi Arabia in order to help implement the No-Fly zone.
• Why did we have a No-Fly zone? Because Saddam was butchering Kurds in the North and Shiite Muslims in the south. The no-fly zone was there to help protect Muslims.
• The US sends forces to Somalia to help deliver food to starving people. Local warlords, wanting to use that food to build their own vile little power base fight against US troops resulting in the infamous Black Hawk Down incident.
• US helps Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo against "ethnic cleansing".  Despite being located in Europe, the United States provided the vast bulk of aid.

This is just a sampling.  Meanwhile, Al Qaeda, a terrorist organization that is part of the Islamic Fascism movement plots during the 90s on how to destroy the WTC.  It was during the 90s that Al Qaeda made several attacks on US interests including the embassy bombings, the first WTC attack, and the USS Cole.

So anyone who somehow thinks that US behavior in the Middle East made us "deserve" 9/11 is just nuts.

Next, let's look at the argument that we "squandered" good will after 9/11.  What good will was there actually? Le Monde saying "We are all Americans now?"  France's response was to send a trivial number of special forces to Afghanistan.

Let's be clear here: For the past 50 years, the United States had been spending billions of dollars and stationing hundreds of thousands of soldiers in Europe to defend Europe as part of its NATO obligation.  The United States is brutally attacked, the source of the attack is identified, the country they are in located, and the regime supporting them determined. And what did the other nations of Europe do (other than UK - they rock)? Not a lot. They sent some troops but as a percentage of their forces or what they were capable of doing? Not very much.  50 years, trillions spent defending Europe and we get attacked and a trickle of forces from NATO are sent to Afghanistan.  What good will? Momentary sympathy is not good will.

So why do people make such erroneous assertions that the US could somehow, realistically have avoided 9/11? Or that the US foreign misbehavior is somehow responsible? Or that the rest of the world was on our side but was squandered because of Iraq (which occurred two years later -- plenty of time to see "good will" translated into actionable will).

The answer I believe is that most people do not understand what the war on terror is about. Some people play semantical games ("You can't defeat a form of warfare")  Some try to cloud the issue by arguing there really is no war, just American right-wing hysteria.  But the truth is, the war on terrorism is a war on a particular ideology that is located in a specific area of the world.  And that we'll get into in part 2...