War on Terror

I thought the "War on Terror" was to be aimed at Al Qaida and Osama Bin Laden. That was why we invaded Afghanistan, and removed the Taliban from power, because they were allowing Al Qaida to use the country as a base of operations and as a training camp for launching terrorist attacks, including the 9-11 attack. I supported that war, and I wish we would have taken it to its conclusion, but we got distracted by Iraq. Saddam was a brutal dictator, an enemy of the United States and of Iraq's ethnic groups that were not Sunni Muslim. But we didn't go to war in Iraq to remove a brutal dictator from power because he was oppressing his people. We went to war in Iraq because Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear capabilities, which he was clearly going to use against the United States. That's what the President said. As it turns out, that wasn't the case. So Bush, and those who support him, have had to resort to justification plan "B", which is support for the war because we removed a brutal dictator from power.

I'd have supported a continued, and even growing, American occupation of Afghanistan. That would have stabilized Pakistan, a major nuclear arsenal that Muslim terrorists would love to get their hands on, and prevented Al Qaida operatives from freely operating in the border zone, growing in both size and resources as each day passes. The Taliban have grown bold enough to begin an uprising in the Southern provinces. We did get Al Zarqawi, but British intelligence now seems to indicate that he was not quite as important to Al Qaida as originally thought, and most of the information that was gathered from his "headquarters," according to Bush's own CIA director, was pretty much worthless.

I'm not a non-interventionist at all. I just think we've intervened in the wrong place. The rest of the rogue gallery in the world obviously believes that the US is tied down in the wrong place. The nut case in North Korea is as defiant as ever, launching missiles and mocking the President, Hezbollah feels safe enough to attack Israel, and Iran keeps pushing toward nuclear development, also defying the President. None of that would be going on if we hadn't invaded Iraq, for whatever reason we did it.

 

Although I disagree, you state things well.
Except your last sentence. Do you really think that?
All these enemies are emboldened by our actions in Iraq? I just don't think so.

 

I've said this in 2001 and still say it now.
All operations should have been small scale, in and out, slit the throat or handcuff, types.
The kind that the Mossad and the CIA and the KGB were good at until the "Cold War", er, "ended" and the CIA started growing a paunch and losing some "up where it counted".
There would have been less lives lost, less embarassments, and perhaps better results.

 

You're welcome

 

I said it then, believed it then, and still say it and still believe it:

The CIA is usually our worst enemy. Our second worst enemy is Yankee politics. The CIA led to the Iran of today. The CIA was behind Iran-contra. The CIA trained Ben-laden. The CIA led the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the CIA orchestrated the war operations in Laos and other countries circa 1965-1973. More? There was intelligence indicating an immenent terror strike in August of 2001 - politics between the CIA and FBI caused a failure to act upon the intelligence.

The USA cannot conduct herself abroad in the same manner she conducts business here. That kind of imperialism led to the Boxer rebellion (which led to the Chinese Christian diaspora, which in turn led to the anti Christian sintement in Indonesia and the SE Asian countries). That kind of imperialism led the USA to take over the FAILED Vietnamese war from the English who took it from the French.

That kind of imperialism is seldom forgotten. And unfortunately, it usually leads to more terrorism.

Do I believe that we should be harsh on terrorism? What do you think?

But, I also think we should be harsh on our politicians that have incited social unrest around the world by NOT IMPOSING RESTRICTION ON HOLLYWOOD.

 

If we were not deployed to Iraq, the other saber rattling around the world would be much quieter.

Cowards (bullies) are always braver when the strong are distracted, and they think they can attack the weak.

I said it before, and of course, I still believe it. But, I do support our President and his choice of targets (Iraq). I just keep praying we can pull our boys (& girls) out soon.