Scott
In answer to your posit above.
No, it would not have really made that much of difference, mainly because in has little to man-power.
We simply can't get in to the lands he is hiding out in--most of which are not letting 10s of 1000's of US troops onto their own soil.
Heck even the army of Pakistain, under an autocrat like Musuarff has problems send troops into the tribal lands.
What You Won't See on the Evening News
Moderator: Available
-
Scott Danziger
- Posts: 929
- Joined: Thu Sep 17, 1998 6:01 am
- Location: Long Island
- Contact:
I disagree. I am refering to the beginning of the war not as things stand now or maybe I should say 8 months ago. There is a whole division upstate NY at Fort Drum specifically designed for mountain warfare. Plus the special ops that were diverted to Iraq.
As things are now, the Taliban are making some sort of a comeback. Probably from more foreign fighters. Looks like we will need more boots in Afghanistan just to maintain some sort of security.
Bin dickhead has had much time to establish safe houses and routes deep inside the no mans lands of the mountains. I think we lost the oppurtunity early on. No doubt he is Pakistan and probably relishes the thought of another raid or attack into Pakistan to further piss off the population against us.
Just as 9-11 became a recruitment cry to enlist and fight against terrorism, so has the MANY blunders of this administration in the way this fight has been carried out.
As things are now, the Taliban are making some sort of a comeback. Probably from more foreign fighters. Looks like we will need more boots in Afghanistan just to maintain some sort of security.
Bin dickhead has had much time to establish safe houses and routes deep inside the no mans lands of the mountains. I think we lost the oppurtunity early on. No doubt he is Pakistan and probably relishes the thought of another raid or attack into Pakistan to further piss off the population against us.
Just as 9-11 became a recruitment cry to enlist and fight against terrorism, so has the MANY blunders of this administration in the way this fight has been carried out.
Some people have the conspiracy theory (and it certainly makes a lot of sense) that the two theaters are designed to attract foreign fighters. Draw out all the anti-west extremist to fight our badass Marines. It's like a roach hotel. Better they meet America's finest armed in videos like what was posted than America's fattest armed with Doritos and colon cancer.
-
Bill Glasheen
- Posts: 17299
- Joined: Thu Mar 11, 1999 6:01 am
- Location: Richmond, VA --- Louisville, KY
When folks can get beyond their political biases and emotional reactions to the world around them, much truth can be found in many perspectives.
Both Afghanistan and Iraq were god-awful messes before we ever went in.
The Afghans had just booted the mighty Soviet army out, and they are one of the chief heroine producers in the world. It was a wild country run by warlords and mujahadin.
And if many Iraqis had their way, the country would have been three separate ones long before Saddam started pissing the world off. Quite frankly, Hussein likely intentionally used the threat of an outside enemy (Iran in the Iran/Iraq war, Israel and the jews, the Great Satan America) to keep his own heterogenous population together. And when that didn't work, he gassed their asses.
Life was not good in these countries before, and it won't be peachy keen for a while.
Meanwhile, a collection of neer-do-wells (the Syrians, the Iranians, and to a lesser extent the Chinese, Russians, and French) are more than happy to make life miserable for the U.S. in Iraq. They say they want us out of there, but quite frankly they're more than happy to create a chaos that bogs us down there and keeps us out of their business. And the last thing Iran, Syria, and China want is a democracy next door that might cause their own populations to get a bit restless. Even the Saudis aren't too keen about this.
Such is life...
Basically one needs to have a plan, execute it, and tell the peanut gallery where to go. Mistakes were made for generations, and many more will be made before all is said and done. And no more propping up dictators - even if it means the results are MUCH harder in the short run. It doesn't have to be pretty, and it won't be - even under the very best of circumstances. Our own experiment in democracy was quite ugly for the first 100 to 150 years. Civil war? Been there, done that. Ethnic conflicts and killings? Done that too. Religious intolerance? Ditto - even with the best of constitutional documents and state statutes.
The last group of people I'll be criticizing is our own troops getting their butts shot at and blown up. They're doing a lot of good work out there (which includes making hamburger meat of lawless insurgents) and they aren't getting any credit. They're building roads, bridges, schools, power plants, water treatment facilities, and all kinds of tasks they never trained for. And they're doing a damn good job of it.
Meanwhile, they're becoming pawns in a domestic political game that sickens me. And the insurgents have their own public relations experts who try very hard to see that "bad news" dominates the western media. Our men and women deserve better, and our media could do better than to participate wittingly or unwittingly in the game.
- Bill
P.S. I guess I got a little politcal there. Oh well... Had to get it off my chest.
Both Afghanistan and Iraq were god-awful messes before we ever went in.
The Afghans had just booted the mighty Soviet army out, and they are one of the chief heroine producers in the world. It was a wild country run by warlords and mujahadin.
And if many Iraqis had their way, the country would have been three separate ones long before Saddam started pissing the world off. Quite frankly, Hussein likely intentionally used the threat of an outside enemy (Iran in the Iran/Iraq war, Israel and the jews, the Great Satan America) to keep his own heterogenous population together. And when that didn't work, he gassed their asses.
Life was not good in these countries before, and it won't be peachy keen for a while.
Meanwhile, a collection of neer-do-wells (the Syrians, the Iranians, and to a lesser extent the Chinese, Russians, and French) are more than happy to make life miserable for the U.S. in Iraq. They say they want us out of there, but quite frankly they're more than happy to create a chaos that bogs us down there and keeps us out of their business. And the last thing Iran, Syria, and China want is a democracy next door that might cause their own populations to get a bit restless. Even the Saudis aren't too keen about this.
Such is life...
Basically one needs to have a plan, execute it, and tell the peanut gallery where to go. Mistakes were made for generations, and many more will be made before all is said and done. And no more propping up dictators - even if it means the results are MUCH harder in the short run. It doesn't have to be pretty, and it won't be - even under the very best of circumstances. Our own experiment in democracy was quite ugly for the first 100 to 150 years. Civil war? Been there, done that. Ethnic conflicts and killings? Done that too. Religious intolerance? Ditto - even with the best of constitutional documents and state statutes.
The last group of people I'll be criticizing is our own troops getting their butts shot at and blown up. They're doing a lot of good work out there (which includes making hamburger meat of lawless insurgents) and they aren't getting any credit. They're building roads, bridges, schools, power plants, water treatment facilities, and all kinds of tasks they never trained for. And they're doing a damn good job of it.
Meanwhile, they're becoming pawns in a domestic political game that sickens me. And the insurgents have their own public relations experts who try very hard to see that "bad news" dominates the western media. Our men and women deserve better, and our media could do better than to participate wittingly or unwittingly in the game.
- Bill
P.S. I guess I got a little politcal there. Oh well... Had to get it off my chest.
