Posted on 05/07/2006 3:10:45 PM PDT by churchillbuff
...A plan for the administration? Free advice is worth the price, but here goes:
[snip]
Issue 1: Iraq, Afghanistan and the age of terror. On these, stabilize, fortify, succeed. Keep America safe. ...Find Osama--it is a scandal that the man who started the new era is still free, still taunting the West, still inspiring those who see the world as he does. It was a mistake to think finding him was not as important as a wider war on terror. Finding him is key. It is almost five years since he did what he did. Get him, try him, kill him.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
If I were Bush I'd notify Special Ops teams are going to cross into his territory and that he wasn't going to stop us. I don't think they are currently. There is no reason our military can't find Bin Laden.
Bud, you clearly have no idea what you are talking about - And are simply blowing BS smoke -
There are very valid reasons why we haven't been able to locate & kill UBL -
Your silly suggestion that 30 thousands Marines would have found him is...just that silly. First off the notion that UBL was clearly at the Tora Bora mountains during our bombing is not at all a reality - Additionally when that event took place we had no where near the logistic capabilities in theater to put 30 thousands Marines into the Tora Bora Mtn's (to even suggest such shows you have no concept about what you are talking about).
UBL is eking out a survival in the Afghan/Pak border regions - Understand that just in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province NFWP) - We are talking approximately 40,000 + square miles of the most rugged terrain on earth. Also understand the Afghan / Pakistan border stretches 1,500 miles—roughly the distance from Washington, D.C., to Denver (just to get an idea of the size we are talking). The region includes every landscape from desert to snow-capped mountains - At heights Throughout the NW Frontier (and Baluchistan) Pashtun tribes are completely in control. A group of warlords who are autonomous from any centralized Gov't - Pakistan troops (Gov't troops) haven't controlled these areas for the last century + -
Again the terrain and heights in this region of the world are some of the most brutal on earth -Making any sustained operations a complete nightmare.
Lastly I would point out we have had over 130,000 + U.S. warriors In Iraq going on over 3 years now - We have control over 85% of the Country with the full backing of the majority of the Iraqi people....yet Zarqawi remains free.
Is this only because we aren't really looking for him in Iraq?
Oh I agree that this guy should be caught, tortured and executed. But, I hear too many Dems argue that we should be doing nothing else until we catch him. I've heard too many times that we shouldn't have invaded Iraq until we caught Bin Laden. I think the WOT is much bigger than this one man.
he's not under any rubble, he was sipping a coke in Pakistan when we were bombing tora bora. he had planned to move into the pakistan tribal region all along after 9-11, along with Al Zahawahi and the whole bunch. that's where they are.
Agreed. And why aren't they using the recently translated Iraq prewar docs which seem to support their reasons for going to Iraq in the first place? It seems as if they'd go a long way in improving public perception about the WOT in general. Hopefully, Tony Snow will turn this around....
>>The terrorists are an ideology, not a person.
While that's true, and I agree, the fact remains that the Left has hammered on the "Bush shouldn't have gone into Iraq, we should have caught OBL" theme. Catching him would have a huge impact on the masses.
It took about 5 or so years to catch Eric Rudolf. Some police officer found him in a dumpster. Then they called FBI.
His brother turned the Unibomer in.
Holy Sh-t how many time does it have to be said CLINTOON HAD HIM AND TURNED DOWN THE OFFER TO GET HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just Peggy trying to get some attention by piggybacking onto Tony Snow's wonderful new job.
I say she will do it within a month.
Singing the same stupid song.
Have you signed up for the US military?
sigh
I ONCE was also.
I wonder if she wasn't talking about herself in the woman that got pushed out because she wasn't pretty enough - (maybe no longer young enough? )- since this was the lead part of her column? She does seem, the past couple years, to be nursing a grudge - missing her former lime light?
Got that right - OBL is now just a weak cog, hiding his sorry a*s in a deep cave somewhere - some leader.
He was never the head of the snake -
She was right for Reagan and wrong for the first President Bush.
Too bad she never realized that folksy rhetoric was anathema to George HW Bush.
If you are going to write for something, you have to be able to discern their personna. Peggy never got even close to the first President Bush and she doesn't get this President Bush either.
and the voters will grouse as they fill up their cars, with a $5.00 Starbucks in one hand and a cigarette from a $6-7.00 pack in the other.
Yo any of you noonan koolaid drinkers want to go into the badlands of Pakistan where is he and go in and get him. Especially since a soverign country will not let us in there. Everybody knows where the pig is ,the problem is we cannot go get him and if they will not let us cross into that country send dog the bounty hunter in for us. Perhaps Ms NO brains can go over there , and get him for us since she is such an expert.
If we get OBL, then the mantra will be that the WOT is over.
let's not worry about that - let's just get the SOB.
Then why haven't we long ago gone into Pakistan and got him?
Bush should have demanded from congress a Declaration of War against Afghanistan and any who support or assist that nation. Period. Pakistan should have long ago been informed that this "tribal area" excuse was completely unacceptable. Had those whom ordered the attack on Pearl Harbor fled to some other country, does anyone believe America wouldn't have gone after them with full fury.
We are busy fighting another "hearts and minds" war. Dear God, when we learn this is a loser approach. Bush simply failed miserably on this front. A Declaration of War would have cemented in the minds of the American public the seriousness of this conflict. Had Bush handled this correctly from the beginning, he would not be the downright unpopular President he is today. Though it pains me to say this, Bush is fast becoming the Republican Jimmy Carter.
Same applies to Iraq. All along the Sunni have been the enemy. Yet, instead of defeating the enemy in Iraq first and only then pursing the "hearts and minds" stuff, Bush has allowed this terrorist insugency and all that has followed to grow like a cancer.
The border is such a gimme issue for Republicans, that the fact Bush is incapable of dealing with it tells me that there simply isnt much hope for this administration. Geeze, secure the damn border. How hard is this? Bush can still push his amnesty nonsense later. In the meantime, secure the damn border. Doing that alone would rally the right to Bush and vastly improve GOP chances this fall.
People don't give Bush credit for the economy because the President fails utterly to communicate with the American people in a coherent manner, and because to date his communications team has been terrible. I believe Bush will get more credit for the economy when the American people believe there is light at the end of the tunnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. Doing something about the border will be so popular, Bush could probably boost his approval ratings on every issue just by addressing it seriously.
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