Posted on 09/08/2009 9:01:52 AM PDT by La Lydia
(On 9/11) I said to myself, "We'll get you, you bastards," but I was wrong. We haven't. It has been eight years, two terms of Bush moralism and the beginning of Obama pragmatism, and the man who ordered the killing of Americans in Lower Manhattan and the Pentagon and in the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania is still in his lair...
...and I wanted then, as I do now, revenge for what happened. Bring me the head of Osama bin Laden. That revenge would be my first thought surprised me even then...When we talk about Afghanistan, whether to stay or go, whether to hold the cards we now have or double down, we reach for all sorts of Metternichian reasons -- but never something as basic, as raw, as revenge. The word smacks of a primitive blood lust. It is revolting.
And yet revenge also suggests a proper concern for the dead. The people who died on Sept. 11, 2001, cannot simply be dismissed, erased...It's not just that bin Laden is still at large. So are the Taliban members who sheltered him and stayed with him after Sept. 11. This should not be complicated: The killers of Americans ought to pay for what they've done. It is good foreign policy....
Leaving Afghanistan has the feel of whistling in the dark. It's as frightening as staying. But when we go -- if we go -- we will have to acknowledge that we have broken our vow not only to Afghans who have supported us -- the Taliban, unlike us, will get its revenge -- but also with the dead of Sept. 11, 2001. We meant well.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
There's hope.
Don’t look for this president to do it.
If Mr. Cohen is now writing tough, it may mean it’s time to get the hell out of Afghanistan.
Remember, Cohen thinks Mr. Obama is pragmatic. If Mr. Obama is pragmatic, I’ll eat my hat.
The Left is always insincere in its patriotism and always secretly hopes that our enemies triumph over us.
Thank you.
He acts as there has been no results. Osama may or may not be around. Let’s assume he is. Al Queda has been severely disrupted and slowed, if not neutered at this point. The ‘leaders’ today below #1 have been killed off many times over. Afghanistan still has troubles, but has an elected leader and the Taliban have been severely damaged. Those firing on our troops today are mostly replacements to the ones we killed off. We have beaten back Al Queda in Iraq...the location they identified as the most important battle ground.
Cohen wants to dismiss the many successes and say nothing has been accomplished. I strongly disagree.
Oh, up until recently, we were dishing out revenge left and right. 10’s of thousands of jihadis, just like the 9/11 thugs, have been sent to the great beyond. In fact, in the big picture, assuming that OBL isn’t moldering in some cave right now, making him irrelevant is the best revenge there is.
As far as how the revenge business goes now, no comment. I am sure that at some point the president will apologize for it though.
Had Leahy and his fellow traitors ( the democrats) not leaked to the world, secret tactics used to track OBL down, he would have been killed or in custody years ago.
I will never forget, and I STILL WANT REVENGE. You’re right, we have had some successes, but we have not gotten rid of this pestilence yet. I think he is disagreeing with George Will’s call last week for us to give up and leave Afghanistan.
Yep.
That's assuming he's still alive and not buried under several million tons of rock in Tora Bora.
Pffft.
OBL is worm food.
No thanks. The idea that you have to support a Pres. simply because we are at war is silly. Our obligation is to the Constitution, Presidents and wars will come and go.
But to blame Cohen is nonsense. We have never been on a war footing since 9/11. Sure, the Army, Marines, etc. have been at war. But, not the Nation as a whole. When was the last time you saw a Propaganda poster, of who we are fighting? etc.
Besides, supporting a President, during war, and Gov’t uses that to take away rights and freedoms is worse than who we are fighting.
We accomplished a lot but we did not get revenge, not enough anyway. Osama is still very relevant as a symbol. I want to see a video of him hanged as we saw Sadam..
I can only hope and pray.
Lefties like Cohen are responsible for the idiotic political correctness that keeps us fighting with one hand behind our backs.
Do you have any doubt that if the will existed in this country, if we were still all real Americans that the ME would be tame by now?
Revenge is an ongoing proposition.
Keep sending the palpable, full-color message to Islam that if you f#$@ with America, your life is over.
America’s still superb military needs to KEEP running the Jihadists’ asses into the ground in THEIR latrine corner of the world.
They will eventually get the message.
The evidence is pretty strong.
OBL's stock and trade was to release regular videos and audio tapes mocking the USA and rubbing our faces in the fact that he was still around.
You don't hear those any more. The last attempt from Al Qaeda was a pathetic edit job which tried to give the appearance that he was there.
OBL is either dead or very, very sick. Either way, he's not running anything.
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