Global terrorism is a huge threat to the U.S. and those that support the U.S. Isolationism is an even bigger threat. Many people in the Muslim world are against America; some hate it so much they are willing to kill Americans any way they can. The world is a dangerous place for the Americans of the 21st century; political discord at home only increases that danger. The U.S. risks spiraling into a period of darkness and despair caused by mistakes made in the late 20th and early 21st century. The Vietnam War inspired a heightened antiwar attitude in the U.S. This was presented as an attempt to prevent American boys dying overseas, but was really a facade for rebelling against society. This pacifist attitude amplified by a liberal government in the 1990's at the end of the cold war lead to a weak military policy. Pulling U.S. troops out of Somalia in 1993 sent a message to the rest of the world: “Americans are wimps that can be defeated by a mob of armed gangsters!” The impact of the message was not understood at home. The squeamishness of American leaders and the public was the direct result of poor military policy since Vietnam. Lets face it Americans do not want their children shipped home in body bags and this reluctance was exacerbated by a liberal government unwilling to bloody their hands so they could avoid a political disater. When the 2000 election resulted in a Republican government things seemed to be looking up. Then came September the 11th; a day which like Pearl harbor sparked the fuel of patriotism in all of us. A wave of nationalism followed the patriotism as people reacted to the some 3,000 deaths. The war on terror has been a huge success, but the squeamish attitude has not gone away even in the face of 3,000 Americans dying. When seven troops were killed in Afghanistan, it made front page news for days and justification for the military action was questioned. This shows a fundamental misunderstanding in the way Americans view the global situation. This squeamishness can limit the effectiveness of our President to order the armed forces into action against our enemies in defense of our country. Further Presidential action to fight terror and to contain our enemies will be controversial. These actions will clash with pacifist and isolationist views of those who would rather to see U.S. soldiers unemployed than acting as policemen. This movement could very well gain momentum if weapons of mass destruction are never found in Iraq. This is a shortsighted view taken by people who cannot understand what would have happened if Sadaam ever got such weapons and used them on us. If this view predominates, the liberals could once again gain power and interventionists could lose favor amongst Americans. Now onto the potential for a period of darkness and despair I was talking about earlier. Isolationism in the years following World War One allowed evil doers to come into political power. An isolationist outlook today could lead to similar difficulties. Also, while isolationism may look like a good idea in the short term, it could lead to an explosion of terror attacks on the U.S. Withdrawing from the world cannot help the problem of global terrorism. The most recent attacks in Saudi Arabia show that even with U.S. forces withdrawing from the country to respond to the concern of US the troops being there, the terror attacks continue. History is the greatest teacher. We have the example from Europe in the period before World War Two. Because of an unwillingness to confront agressors with power and might Adolf Hitler came to power and came to dominate Europe. The subsequent war was much more costly in terms of lives, resources and lost opportunities because it was put off. Remember the past and don’t let that happen to such a great country as America!