I have no problem with denying Islam a foothold here. They already have one, but the ideology is not compatible with Western Civilization, so limiting it is necessary. I would go so far as to agree to resettling as many Islamic adherents as we could back overseas. Nations that have allowed refugees to return, should have their expats returned to them.
Look I appreciate the fact you were in the trade center in 1993, and close to it in September of 2001. As much as I do so, that was not an attack solely on you.
It did impact you more because you were there, live in the area, and it is your neighborhood, but this doesn’t give you license to deny people who very much support the victims of that attack, a right to express views about what it takes to deal with terrorism globally.
Yes, we have spent trillions in the region. We have also removed a despot Saddam Hussein that was a continued threat to the region. We have also taken out Osama Ben Laden. We have killed terrorist leaders and disrupted their networks. There are times when we have killed up to 90 terrorists at meet-ups.
The world of today is too small to simply pull back into the U. S and ignore everything else.
Israel is an important ally. The region is important globally what with oil reserves and trade. It is important as a staging area for Russia and China.
It was a very big deal when all those Arab states showed interest in putting a lid on terrorism. They suffer from it also, internally.
Back during Vietnam, our leaders (mostly Democrats) demanded we call ceasefires. We would make headway, then they would demand ceasefires, and the enemy would regroup, resupply, and get ready to go at our troops again.
If we withdraw from that region, that’s all that will take place. Even the minimalist control and headway we have made, will be lost.
I just don’t agree with your take on things. I know others feel as you do. I’m just not one of them.
Proactive engagement is better than pulling a Jimmy Carter, and hoping for the best.
Thank you for that note.
I got another story for you which will tell you exactly what success looks like.
When I was a young adult, my friends and I would regularly wander down to the Financial District and meander through the halls of the World Financial Center, which included the two towers as well as several other buildings, a raised tunnel across the highway, and the buildings at the north end of Battery Park City. We’d then head down to the end of the boardwalk and hang out.
During those meandering adventures, we rarely even saw a security patrol. It simply was not necessary, as there was no threat to secure against.
Five years of Bill Clinton lies about the incident later I joined a Free Republic protest at the Capitol. While wandering the grounds of the Capitol, I saw no security whatsoever. I’m sure there must have been some, but they were discreet.
Five years ago I went to the Capitol again a number of times, as I had some work a few blocks from there. At that time, the place was crawling with rifle-toting, black clad security that looked like it stepped right out of the film Brazil. One of those morons actually carelessly unintentionally swept me with his rifle and I was not happy about that at all, these guys didn’t even display basic firearms discipline.
I imagine the abomination that was eventually rebuilt on the site of the WTC, with its concrete fortress street facade, looks much the same today as well. I last saw it about a decade ago and it was already on its way.
You’ll know we’re doing something right when we need less domestic security rather than more. When future teenage Americans can wander innocently through buildings of glass and marble and behold the wonders of modern civilization, or when they can freely walk into the offices of their own Representatives to petition for redress of grievances, without needing to penetrate a security lockdown to do it.
Not only are we not there, and nowhere near there, but we have been moving in the opposite direction. Trump is the first to stem the tide with his focus on border security and immigration controls, and unwillingness to get the US embroiled in new commitments in the tar baby swamps of the Middle East.