Posted on 10/03/2004 2:53:50 PM PDT by FairOpinion
Beneath all the public reasons for invading Iraq lies a secret war agenda that has paid off in the war on al-Qaeda, according to a leading intelligence analyst.
Friedman's book, ``America's Secret War: Inside the Hidden Worldwide Struggle Between America and its Enemies,'' which goes on sale Tuesday, argues that midway through the war on terrorism, America has made major gains while al-Qaeda has failed in most of its goals and is on the defensive. Iraq, he argues, is a keystone of American strategy against al-Qaeda.
``Doing nothing would have been disastrous,'' Friedman said.
Gains against al-Qaeda so far, he said, include:
action to isolate nukes, include undercover special operations agents monitoring Pakistan's nuclear weapons facility;
significant damage to al-Qaeda's fund-raising aparatus.
better cooperation from intelligence agencies in Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bostonherald.com ...
Friedman also has some criticism, but nobody can anticipate everything -- the bottom line is still that two brutal dictatorships sponsoring terrorists and developing WMD have fallen and the terrorists are on the run.
PING
Since this article is reviewing Friedman's book, ``America's Secret War: Inside the Hidden Worldwide Struggle Between America and its Enemies,', I thought you might be interested in maybe reading and reviewing the book yourself. Sounds interesting.
That the absentee Senator and his ambulance chasing sidekick would get even one vote should shame this nation.
God Bless our leaders, God bless our Troops.
Add Lybia to that list!
that's what i don't get. why is this guy (kerry) getting so much support when it's so blatantly obvious he's a flake.
This is a good read. There's always more to foreign policy than meets the eye. Unfortunately, the demagogues out there argue from surface issues.
"That the absentee Senator and his ambulance chasing sidekick would get even one vote should shame this nation.
God Bless our leaders, God bless our Troops."
Agreed, agreed. In particular, any Irish-American person who votes for John F'in K is in serious need of psychiatric help.
Never will I forget the sick feeling I had the night of 9/11/01 when I realized that the Irish had paid a final blood debt to the fine country, the USA. Now this poseur, this treasonous POS, JFK would try and parlay his false Irish Ancestry and his false war herosim into a win of the presidency.
It makes me ill to think of it. He needs to go down, and go down hard. The dem party is nothing but the enemy within these days. GOTV is key.
I heard somebody, it might have been Gingrich, say a few weeks back that the rest of the nation usually lags behind truly visionary leaders, and in fact the criticism that President Bush has been enduring is not unlike that suffered by Churchill leading into WWII.
Sad, isn't it? God grants us these special people and we resist them at first, they save us from our folly, and then we reject them in the end. I believe that Bush IS a visionary leader, exactly what we need at this time. It's just frustrating to have the powerful foolish arrayed against him, and such poor quality support from his side.
To be fair to his side, Bush's Middle east policy, obvious to anyone who has been observing, might be too scary for the masses, which could account for why it is not being more clearly explained.
Excellent article bump !
PING for an interesting article.
I agree with you.
While they can't tell us many things, there are a lot of facts of our successes they could talk about and they don't.
The Dems are still saying that there was no connection between Saddam and the terrorists, when in fact it has come out that he did indeed have connection with them, he was paying suicide bombers, he was even training terrorists. The Republicans shouldn't let the Dems get away with their lies.
PING
We need to make sure that people hear about this book and read it--the more the better. The Democrats are making their case based on the meme that Saddam was no threat to anyone--just an isolated man far far away from us and no worries at all. This book destroys that meme.
bingo
They can't very well "do" that, as it would undoubtedly allow the "enemy/ies" to take countermeasures, and allow our "friends" to do some more pissing and moaning.
Additionally, a lot of this stuff is probably clandestine or at best sensitive, and revealing it would compromise agents.
"2) Kerry and the Democrats are allowed to get away with the absolutely demagogic nonsense that they have been spouting for the past year."
And the main reason for THAT is that the media has abdicated its position as being supportive of US policy, going far past impartial, to actually being an advocate for either Kerry and/or the enemies of the US.
I'm sure the author will be making the rounds of 60 minutes, the Today Show, etc. to promote his book with such a compelling and relevant topic about the War and Iraq in particular.
Ouch, I must have hit my head!
Another case of President Bush letting them walk out on the branch before sawing it off...?
> too scary for the masses
You've hit the nail on the head. In terms of PR and appearance on the "sound-byte" level, Bush could explain the entrenched evil that we're up against and the strong actions required (he did, at least, reiterate that you want to be on the offense, not the defense, with these terrorists), but to those who are in denial about the real dangers we face, it would just be a big turn-off. "Wars, I don't want to think about wars, the other one offers peace..." Fantasy peace is easier to sell than a realistic plans that includes more war and sacrifice.
Kerry falls apart on any detail. Everything he's said, you can (a) probably find an example where he said the opposite, and (b) usually prove that he isn't thinking things out. He basically says "I wouldn't have any problems" but when asked for methods to avoid these problems, promptly endorses geopolitical suicide.
BUT, on a surface, very simple, "in one ear and out the other" level, he keeps "winning" by essentially citing every sacrifice we've made and pretending "I wouldn't have had to make this."
While he has no true means of fulfilling this promise, it sure appeals to the more simple-minded, that don't take the extra step of thinking through "what if you actually took the course of action he's suggesting?" not to mention "can we trust this guy who insults our troops/allies in wartime and has two stands on every issue?"
He better start sawing pretty quick!
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