Posted on 07/06/2002 3:29:09 AM PDT by kcvl
Actually, that isn't the case at all. I'm struggling with the issue myself, for the same reasons you stated in your post. Times have certainly changes since 2000, and perhaps our foreign policy needs to change as well. I think at the moment my stance would be to make an exception for Afghanistan, because its link to terror has been so thoroughly proven. I would not, however, proceed this way in every nation around the world. FWIW, I haven't seen the administration do that either.
Regarding the portion of your reply I copied above, I'm only looking to hash out my thoughts. No need to assign underhanded motives to people right out of the gate. Sheesh.
I also support taking the war to the enemy's home. Making him fearful where he lives. Taking his life in his backyard. Wars are won on offense. Wars are won by fighting in the other guys neighborhood, not fighting in your own.
Fortress America, concentrating on the defense, is the policy of a dying nation of diminishing power just trying to hang on a little longer. Great and powerful nations take wars to their enemy and make them fearful in their homes. That makes enemies less inclined to be enemies and more inclined toward peace.
Until they fear the USA more than the Taliban and Al Qaeda thugs we got a problem. As I understand it, that family wedding had a couple of Taliban ranking members in it's entourage. I seem to recall GWB saying your either with us or your against us. That seemed crystal clear on Sept 12. Obviously if your marrying up to the people that helped shelter the Al Qaeda and we catch you doing it, your GOING TO DIE.
True but if the US military ever is allowed to operate outside the laws of armed conflict 1) we would lose any moral authority to our actions and 2) I would then truly fear the power of power of our own govt to apply these standards to its own as well (ala Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia).
It is in large part the US military's honoring the laws of armed conflict and its pledge to support and defend the constitution that prevent an ambitious executive from becoming too powerful.
We keep hearing that, but you know, maybe we are spelling it wrong?
Maybe they're saying that "Islam is a religion of peas?"
Visualize whirled peas!
Now that explains a lot of the confusion..........
good thinking.
And you sound more like a Clinton than a Bush. Here are the latter's words on the subject:
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They have made the decision to harbor terrorists. The mission is to rout terrorists, to find them and bring them to justice. Or, as I explained to the Prime Minister in Western terms, to smoke them out of their caves, to get them running so we can get them.
The best way to do that, and one way to do that is to ask for the cooperation of citizens within Afghanistan who may be tired of having the Taliban in place, or tired of having Osama bin Laden, people from foreign soils, in their own land, willing to finance this repressive government.
I understand the reality of what's taking place inside Afghanistan, and we're going to have a -- listen, as I've told the Prime Minister, we're angry, but we've got a clear vision. We're upset, but we know what we've got to do. And the mission is to bring these particular terrorists to justice, and at the same time, send a clear signal, Terry, that says if you harbor a terrorist, if you aid a terrorist, if you hide terrorists, you're just as guilty as the terrorists.
And this is an administration -- we're not into nation-building, we're focused on justice. And we're going to get justice. It's going to take a while, probably. But I'm a patient man. Nothing will diminish my will and my determination -- nothing.
Didn't we learn ANYTHING from our Viet Nam experience? The US populace doesn't have the heart nor the will to fight ANY longer drawn out war like we are in. There is already tremendous evidence that the United States is growing weary of the war: US Army recruitment is so low that the Dept. of the Army is considering lowering the minimum enlistment period to 18 months, down from 2 years! Current recruits just don't want to dedicate 24 months out of their pathetic dope filled lives to fight terrorism.
Pres. Bush is letting his war on terrorism fall down the slippery slope of "Nation Building". We cannot expect the US populace to sit back on an endless committment to building a stable government in Afghanistan. The nations which border Afghanistan (Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan) will not tolerate a pro-US puppet government right on their doorstep and will work to destabilize any pro-western government that sits in Kabul.
Unless the US is prepared to keep about two or three divisions in Afghanistan to act as a Pretorian Gaurd for their hand-picked Kabul leaders, it is time to pull out.
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