Posted on 07/09/2004 11:57:32 AM PDT by NraFreedom
Could we have had Turkey, Iran, Syria, in the Allied Coalition?
In his new book, “The Secret History of the Iraq War,” Yossef Bodansky, Director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, and Director of research at the International Strategic Studies Association, tacks a theme that the Bush Administration is not sensitive to the fact that the Islamic world does not look at the invasion of Iraq as just the removal of a dictator; rather they see it as an unprovoked attack on the Islam world; they see it as a virtual replay of the 13th century Mongolian attacks on Bagdad, the eventual sacking and ravaging of the area, and the eventual triumph of the Mulim Caliph! Not seeing the situation as it really is, by the Bush administration, may be the cause of a serious miscalculation.
In the 13th century, the Caliph stopped the Mongolians using unconventional warfare and drove them from the area. Since Osama bin Laden is seen by many in the Islamic world as the new and rightful inheritor of the Caliphate, after bin Laden’s mullah appeared in the Taliban state of Afghanistan in the robes of Mohammad, and since the Islamic world entire is looking for the rise of the second Arabian Empire, those Arabian states who have supported us in the past are not able to do so because of the insensitivity of the Bush Administration. Is history repeating itself? So many comments have been made in the Islamic press and in mosques by mullahs about the similarity of the 13th century debacle and the present Iraqi War that we cannot ignore them. Why has this administration not listened?
Question: Does simply throwing money at Turkey and expecting them to allow us the use of their military bases as jumping off points for our attack on Iraq make up for the humiliation that the Turks feel when we do not listen to them or take into account the sensitive and intricacies of how they fit into the Islamic world? Answer: They refused us access. What does that say to us?
Do we need to understand how the Iranians and Syrians are looking at our removing an Islamic leader from the world stage?
Is it possible that George W. Bush miscalculated the effects of our invasion? Are we paying the price for it now? Will we pay a higher price later?
Remember, it took a few major invasion failures in WWII and the assessing those failures to get us ready to do the Normandy invasion right. Why can’t we accomplish, in our prepatory brainstorming for war, anticipate the ramifications of our decisions? Can we take Iraq and set up a non-puppet democratic government there without alienating the entire Islamic world? Why do we have to re-learn these things the hard way?
Now, before I get a lot of bally-hoo as a left-leaning creep, let me state that I fully support the actions of our President in attacking and taking Iraq; but, I still feel that we should learn about our enemy before we take actions that may backfire on us. At least President Bush is doing something about terror in the world! I am a former wearer of this country’s uniforms. I support our troops and I support the need for regime change in Iraq. I have a son who will soon stand as on of the sentinels who are laying their lives on the line to keep us free.
I invite intellectual discussion and look forward to some help in bringing these issues and many others to the forefront.
"Is it possible that George W. Bush miscalculated the effects of our invasion? Are we paying the price for it now? Will we pay a higher price later?"
Anything is possible, but on the whole, I'd say no.
We KNOW how they look at it -- with horror (as they should).
They're next.
Goodbye, troll....
Seven hundred years from now, they will be ruminating on the debacle caused by OBL, and nodding sagely about how it is best not to poke at a sleeping lion. At some point, you have to stop pussyfooting around with respect for other cultures and assert a little order via a swift butt kickin'. Now is the time. The US Military has the honor of being the boot.
Did your mom support abortion? Do you support abortion?
Ping
We didn't want Syria or Iran as "allies". They are the enemy. Why give the enemy experience, opportunity for infiltration, and influence? Perhaps it is the author who doesn't understand the context.
Iran is ready for revolution, Bush has said he would support it. I think the students are now biding their time, waiting to see how Iraq fairs.
Syria is extremely nervous right now. They have a very weak leader who is easily influenced by both sides, and could be influenced by the central government of Iraq if it is strong enough.
I've had to read your piece twice to figure out you hid your trolling in a BS historical analogy.
What part of the destruction of militant Islam don't you understand? We are going to go through with this policy come hell or high water.
Infiltraitor?
Intelligent?
Another hand wringer. The Islamic world sees this invasion in just the way their rulers present it to them. And their rulers need an external enemy to focus their subjects' rage. The Islamic world is in for decades of turmoil. (Like it hasn't been already.) Their governments will be replaced because the US has discovered that allowing them to continue ruling is detrimental to our national security. Be thankful 9-11 didn't involve the detonation of an atomic weapon in the US. And pray we have acted soon enough to prevent it from happening in the future.
Right… uh huh… yep… just so… ay yah… indubitably.
ZOT! Viking Kitties, attack!
I like your reply. I am proud to have them be the boot too. But, do we need to take on the whole world when we might have been able to take Iraq without the whole Muslim world wanting to overthrough us?
"they see it as a virtual replay of the 13th century Mongolian attacks on Bagdad.."
Unfortunately, not.
Don't you know that abortion is wrong? It is referred to as murder in the scriptures.
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