What country has the "War on Terror" shifted to? There weren't any terrorists in Iraq, and US troops are still dying in Afghanistan. The Afghan war isn't over; it is just faring a little better than the Iraq war (in terms of number of troops required).
Before I get flamed, understand that I voted for Bush in 2000, and wholeheartedly intend to vote for him in 2004.
There were and are terrorists in Iraq. I'm sorry that you don't believe this, but there IS a man named al Zarqawi in Iraq right now. He was there before US troops crossed the border, and will be there until we get rid of him--either by capture or by forcing him to abandon his base of operations. He planned terrorist attacks with Saddam's support. Saddam had terrorists trained in the "art" of hijacking airliners at Salmon Pak. There's a mountain of evidence that Saddam supported terrorists. Please read "The Connection" by Stephen Hayes, as this is the last I'll say on the topic.
The Afghani war is over as our purposes for invasion were complete. The operations we're performing there now are small-scale operations, border patrols, and training--basically assisting the interim government while it establishes the just rule of law and prepares for public elections. The Taliban are nearly wiped out, and the country is no longer a terrorist haven. I'd say we won quite conclusively.
And hey, I wasn't going to question your Republican credentials, just your judgment. But your need to flash the voter affiliation is perking my ears a little bit.
Uh, you got your eyes open? One of the worlds leading terrorists, Abu Nidal, was based there with Saddams blessings. Saddam had 747's set up to train in Hi-Jacking, the anthrax that was sent around America to warn us not to fight back was weaponized using the Iraqi developed method that we still cannot duplicate to this day. There normaly are Palestinians involved with every major Terrorist attack, supplied and trained by Iraq. As to if there were no terrorists there, ask the inhabitants about what it was like to have your family in a rape jail only to have them returned to you in plastic bags.
Now the citys are bombed daily by boyscout insurgents? For a place with no terrorists, there suddenly are thousands. Did they come from the blue sky?
The IDF studied the US methods of combined arms with smart weapons. We are the best in the world at it. The US is studying how to defend against Islamokazi's. The IDF is the best in the world at it.
I find it almost funny, after telling Israel how to do it and find peace, the US steps in it up to our necks and suddenly, all our advice does not work.
It is hard to make peace with someone so dedicated to mass murder that they will strap explosives on themselves just to kill someone else. Oslo brought war, not peace. That is the same reason democracy will fail in both Afganistan and Iraq. Not because democracy is at fault, but because the Islamics LIKE Thugocracy better. Given a vote, they will vote for a ruthless dictator every stinking time.
That is why 50 out of 50 Islamic countries are dictatorships of one kind or another.
People may be blind to the obvious, but it takes a government to spend a trillion dollars on a lost cause, only to raise taxes to try it again harder...
Fifty years of watching Islamic war on a democracy in Israel and we have learned what? Nada, zip. We still give killers money and beg for peace. Paying terrorists to quit being terrorists is like giving heroin to addicts to ask them to quit stealing.
After the first vote, which will go as we want because we are the biggest baddest guy in town we should pull out. The next vote will go how the new biggest baddest guy in town wants, and both countries will revert to thugocracys.
Arabs are cowards and vote for their skins every time. Islam does not teach morality or honor so how can we expect them to vote for it? They do not know what it is. They are seeing it for the first time from the Christian Nation, they like it because it is nice to them. But they do not have the moral foundation to self-sacrifice for the good of their neighbor that is the very necessary ingrediant to democracy.
That very same ingrediant is in scarce supply in America today, and is why our democracy is coming apart at the seams. Democracy is only freedom when Christians are the ruled. It always reverts to socialism when Christians are ruled out.
It is the sacrifice of the self for others that makes the difference. It is a Christian moral foundation that is the difference between making wine or vinegar from grapes.
Without that moral foundation that is completely missing from Islam, Iraq and Afganistan are doomed to end up a Sand-Nazi style Socialist dictatorship. The State Department is completely blind to this as they do not have any morals themselves. That is why they are such Arabists at heart, they have no heart either and are in it for what they can personaly get out of it.
But I rant... See ya later.