The Call For Withdrawal Does Not Fail To Appall
By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Featured Stories | War — Comments (11) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
So now, in addition to wanting us to leave Iraq, some members of the Congressional majority want us to quit Afghanistan as well. Note that I said "some" members--thankfully, this is not yet a large scale trend. But even the fact that only a few members want to leave Afghanistan and that certain senior members of the Democratic Caucus have not put the kibosh on such arguments should amaze and astound. I mean, let's think about the last time we left Afghanistan to its own devices, right after the Soviets left.
That turned out poorly, if memory serves. Are we to believe that history won't repeat itself if we make the same mistake again?
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The Call For Withdrawal Does Not Fail To Appall 11 Comments (0 topical, 11 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
but there is one problem, what alternative do we have? free elections in Saudi Arabia? Will that make it better?(cricket sounds)
The problem seems to me to be Americans just want to forget 9/11. They don't want to be bothered to actually defeat our enemies. The Saudi Royal family is in power only because they allow the clerics to spread whahabism. We could lean harder on the Royals I guess, but if we destabilize them, it can only get worse.
I can imagine your response, so I will be very clear, your next post should be what your solution would be. We know they are bad, but what is the solution and why?
Molon Labe!
regarding our policy towards Saudi Arabia is the fact that, in the event of an overthrow of the house of Saud, there are enough Shi'ites in the population that Iran could fill the void and thus further complicate everything.
I don't like the Saudi royal family, either, but I recognize that there are so many of them, as a consequence of polygamy, that they constitute their own private political party. I'd be happy to throw them out and maybe even to return control of Mecca and Medina to the Hashemites, but we have to make do with the current situation the best we can, at least until we can reduce the threats of ambitious neighbors in the region. It might smell bad but it's the only real choice we have now.
I'll be reading your blog.
The first step is getting King Abdullah to turn off the funds. From 1973 to 2002, the Saudis spent an estimated $87 billion to promote Wahhabism in the the West. Here in the United States, Saudi front groups are donating their way inside colleges and universities to further their agenda. In truth, the Saudi effort is global. My blog contains many examples from China to Serbia to Nigeria. Every day we allow the Saudis to push this radically militant form of Islam on the world, we fall further behind our goal of defeating terrorism.
Is in direct relationship to the absence of the type of people currently running the democrat party from important challenges in our history.
Vietnam is still suffering from our betrayal of our commitments to them, thanks to Teddy Kennedy and his ilk.
South Korea is prosperous and strong because of the absence of his ilk at that time.
The terrible battles of WWII, where so much went so bad and so many died did not become calls for cowardly retreat primped up as high ideals becuase of the absence of modern democrats in seats of power.
But we have the cards fate has dealt us, and the world - and our nation- is at peril
I'm torn between two thoughts. One thought is that the conflict no matter how noble it started has turned into the same devastating quagmire that Vietnam became. Military commanders hogtied by government officials, ours and theirs. Young soldiers dying and no apparent results other then fiercer and more desperate fighting. On top of it we have our soldiers that are being tried and convicted of war crimes just for doing what they were taught to do. Evidence?? being brought up months after supposed attacks! Sounds to me like someone is kissing someone's ass and our young troops are suffering for it. The fact that heavily armed vehicles were available before so many troops were killed by roadside bombs doesn't even come into my thoughts because I know how cheap the government can be when it comes to protecting troops, cost has always been a bigger deterrent then death. The tribes of that land have been at each others throats for hundreds of years, each claiming the they are the holy chosen. We're going to change that? Bringing together a government of ALL the people is possible but will this government cut the ropes that are binding our military commanders over there so they can finish the job, i.e. going into mosques where terrorist are hiding. " You cant come in here, nanny nanny boo boo"!
My other thought is that if we dont stop these terror groups butt cold we are going to have them reigning terror in this country. I'm sure everyone in the world can see how super tight our security is, we've only allowed about 20 million illegals to sneak into this county since 1990. Check the government reports where it tells that besides the 12 million that have come from our southern border an additional 7 million have come across our northern border. Yup were secure! So, if we dont finish the fight over there, Iraq and Afghanistan, I think we're going to wind up fighting it here.
You just expressed the thoughts of countless millions of us.
We know this isn't working. We know that walking away won't either.
And we're looking for answers. Reading everything we can. Asking questions. Opening our minds.
My other thought is that if we dont stop these terror groups butt cold we are going to have them reigning terror in this country.
Why aren't they already? Too busy? I don't think so. We're talking a global conspiracy here; many terrorists aren't even in the Middle East. There are only a few reasonable conclusions.
1. Law enforcement is good enough to stop virtually all of them domestically.
2. Most terrorists are idiots, because non-idiots could easily go to town in the US.
3. As a nation, we frown on terrorist activities and aren't afraid to say so. Anyone sees anything, they turn them in.
4. The dorks we're fighting in Iraq lack the means to come to the States.
I'm sure everyone in the world can see how super tight our security is, we've only allowed about 20 million illegals to sneak into this county since 1990. Check the government reports where it tells that besides the 12 million that have come from our southern border an additional 7 million have come across our northern border. Yup were secure!
20 million illegals and zero attacks. Ok. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the loose border isn't exactly a top factor.
permanently occupy the entire Middle East to stop terrorism? Even if we did, we'd have trouble with terrorists originating on the North American continent and Europe.
The message we should be sending is "Help terrorists attack us, and we'll stomp you into the ground," not "Help terrorists attack us, and we'll provide free goodies forever."
I've no problems with staying if it's in our interests. If Afghanistan is so unstable that it could easily fall to the Taliban or Al'Queda, then by all means let's take vigorous action to change that. But we've better things to do than play security-for-hire without even the hire.
The Democratic Congress seems to need Republican support to muster the will to get our troops out of Iraq. It looks like that is starting to happen judging from recents statements by Lugar, Voinovich, Warner and maybe Sessions.
I'm sure you will agree that you can't win a war if you do not engage the enemy.
Al Qaeda is the militant face of Wahhabi extremism, which is exported globally by our "ally" Saudi Arabia. Leaving the Saud royal family in charge of an authoritarian Shari'a-based government is the FATAL flaw in the War on Terror. Status quo buys us oil at the cost of increased Islamic Terrorism. Even more maddening are those "hawks" who defend Saudi Arabia, and thereby help the enemy. That's the true source of defeat -- being unwilling to fight, or even acknowledge, our real enemy.
P.S. I track the growing influence of Saudi backed Wahhabi Islam on my blog, Wahaudi. http://wahaudi.blogspot.com