Posted on 10/26/2001 6:57:48 PM PDT by Godfollow
Congress' most prominent war hero, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., warned Friday that carpet-bombing raids by America's mightiest warplanes will be necessary to defeat Osama bin Laden and the Taliban government, adding that the U.S. can't worry about killing innocent civilians in the process.
"We must ... get on with the business of killing our enemies as quickly as we can and as ruthlessly as we must," McCain advised, in an op-ed piece in Friday's Wall Street Journal.
The Vietnam War hero suggested military planners have been too sparing in the amount of ordnance the U.S. has dropped on the Taliban thus far.
"We have not yet deployed B-2's and B-52's, the most destructive weapons in our airborne arsenal, against them," he noted. "We shouldn't fight this war in increments. ... They'll need to experience a more impressive display of American firepower before they contemplate surrender."
What about recent displays of public hand-wringing over the prospect of killing innocent Afghans as bin Laden's forces hide in civilian homes and even mosques?
"We cannot allow the Taliban safe refuge among the civilian population," McCain warned. "We must destroy them wherever they hide. That will surely increase the terrible danger facing noncombatants ... but it will also shorten the number of days they must suffer war's cruel reality."
The Taliban will take anything less than an all-out effort as a sign of weakness, the Arizona Republican said.
"Our enemies harbor doubts that America will use force with a firm determination to achieve our ends, that we will use all the force necessary to achieve unconditional victory. We need to persuade them otherwise immediately."
In 90 minutes we could turn Afghanistan into a smoking glassed over, cratered, radioactive waste dump, and then hit it again to put a nice shine on it.
OK, would that remove the threats and reality of terrorism in the US?
No, it would not. Might slow it up for a good while, but it would not win the war Bush is trying to win.
Think about it-- do you want to just obliterate Afghanistan and Osama Bin Laden because you need an enemy to 'hate', or do you want a safe, just world with real freedom? (real question, not a slam)
i do not know of anyone who had not by noon of september 11 predicted that we would now have to take out iraq. but timing is important -- no, crucial. and the time has passed. it is not for nothing that israel responds at once to attacks. retribution must be swift in order to be identified as retribution, and for all out peeing in our panties over here, in the mideast it must be seen as retribution. specifically, that we can beat them at their own game. nothing would further our purposes better than to be thought fearsome as well as just a little crazy and very quick on the trigger. that is the only thing short of extermination of everyone in a number of countries that will bring the desired ends; many of us think that it is superior to extermination of a number of countries.
dep
Well, I'll be marking the day on my calendar. This is the first thing that's come out of McManiac's mouth that I can actually agree with.
To blazes with "nation building" our job is to kill them and make sure we kill enough of them AND THEIR DECENDENTS to keep this from happening again.
In case you have not noticed = THERE ARE NO "MODERATE MUSLIMS" Show me one place on the face the Earth where a Muslim country is tolerant of Christians or Jews. Where they treat them with respect without trying to kill, imprison or enslave them. THEY DON'T EXIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Someone had better get a clue real fast WE ARE AT WAR and they want to KILL Americans, Christians, Jews, ANYONE AND EVERYONE WHO IS NOT A MUSLIM.
I am sorry for yelling, but I am getting frustrated. I am a Vietnam Vet. One of the reasons why we fought to a stalemate in KOREA and LOST in Vietnam was because we fought with one hand tied behind our backs because of "political considerations". We were afraid to bomb on the other side of a line on a map; we were unwilling to do whatever it took to fight to VICTORY, NO MATTER WHAT THE CASUALTY RATE. The result = WASTED TIME, LIVES, MONEY, MATERIAL ALL FOR NOTHING! With nothing to show for it after it was all over.
What are we waiting for? A nuclear bomb or large bio attack before we do more than bomb an empty tank, an empty barracks or an empty training camp? Heck, we have already lost over 6,000 dead and another 10,000 wounded on our own soil and the overwhelming majority of them were civilians and they were targeted ON PURPOSE! I don't care if the enemy takes civilian casualties. We didn't start this mess; we were not trying to kill them. All we wanted to do was live in peace. Since Sept 11, 01 those days are dead and gone.
Please get your act together, forget about the "politics" and not "offending" anybody and bomb them and blast them to hell wherever they are, cities, mosques, caves. Locate them and then destroy them. Why, because that is what they want to and will do to us unless you act.
Dr. S
But, when all is said and done, and more has been said here than done, I have to agree with you. Iraq's governemnt and military and power base need to pay an extreme price.
8-)
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