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Monday, September 11, 2006
Remembering 9/11
There is no way around it, today the world remembers the 5th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. What most people will dwell on on this day is the fact that the guy who did it, Osama bin Laden, is still at large. You would have thought that the most powerful nation on earth, given 5 years of time, would be able to catch a single man. And I honestly believe that if 300 billion dollars had been spent towards that purpose, not to talk of the loss of nearly 3,000 allied soldiers lives, Osama would certainly have been caught by now. Unfortunately George W. Bush chose to spend that money and cost in human lives for going after the wrong guy, Saddam Hussein. Now Saddam certainly was a nasty piece of dictator, but that is a characteristic he shares with a couple of other guys, from Robert Mugabe to Kim Jong-il. Saddam wasn't responsible at all for 9/11, which Bush knew, and he didn't even have weapons of mass destruction, which (I believe) Bush didn't know.
I am not generally opposed to kicking out dictators. And I salute the Americans that are in Iraq, risking their lives under difficult conditions. When I was recently in the USA I witnessed an American soldier coming home from the war. He arrived by plane, and his family was waiting for him at the gate of the airport. His wife was crying because she was so happy to have him back, causing quite a commotion. And when the people around them noticed what was going on, they all gave the soldier a round of applause, a hero's welcome. And he deserved it.
But on a higher level the war has been mismanaged. Rumsfeld gets no respect from me, because he only won the war, but then proceeded to lose the peace, by treating the Iraqians wrong, and not sending enough ground troops. Worse still, with actions like Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and outsourcing torture to third countries the Bush administration managed to create more new terrorists than they captured or killed. If a year ago 4 young British-born muslims exploded suicide bombs in London, that had very little to do with bin Laden, but was a direct result of the war on terror. Today the war on terror has degenerated into a Republican vote winning scheme. Meanwhile America is less powerful and much more hated than five years ago. The only one with reason to celebrate this anniversary is Osama bin Laden.
- posted by Tobold @ 3:51 PM Permanent Link
Comments:
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Finally, I always wondered if Europeans viewed Bush as a misguided scare tactic Republican with his own agenda as a first priority and now I know that at least one person shares my opinion overseas.
9-11 was unfortunate and probably could have been prevented if it weren't for the US's fear of "racial profiling". Nonetheless, 9-11 did happen and the US had a few precious moments to capture the bad guys, and go back to business as usual, however thanks to a "smoke em out" military strategy -AKA Bushinomics-
the US has managed to pis off just about every country on the face of the planet that doesn't have something to gain by the US presence in the Middle East. Osama bin Laden is probably sitting on a beach somewhere laughing at the fact that Saddam took the fall for something he started.
9-11 was unfortunate and probably could have been prevented if it weren't for the US's fear of "racial profiling". Nonetheless, 9-11 did happen and the US had a few precious moments to capture the bad guys, and go back to business as usual, however thanks to a "smoke em out" military strategy -AKA Bushinomics-
the US has managed to pis off just about every country on the face of the planet that doesn't have something to gain by the US presence in the Middle East. Osama bin Laden is probably sitting on a beach somewhere laughing at the fact that Saddam took the fall for something he started.
# posted by 
: 11/9/06 16:50
: 11/9/06 16:50
Your right Alex, the US should just head in there with as much firepower as they can scrounge up and then shoot anything that moves after a 4PM curfew; maybe then "terrorists" will get the hint that they mean business. You don't understand why countries refuse to declare war on people that have sworn to kill them, but something tells me you wouldn't be able to understand-rightfully so in my opinion- why someone would want to turn the entire middle east into a parking lot and then start over either.
When you look at the situation long term, the US basically has 3 choices the way I see it: first is to stay in Iraq as a glorified police agency until someone gathers the strength to push us out; second, start actually destroying the enemy without any regard for the civilian population as that-historically speaking- sends a clear message to those that value their lives; or third, pull troops and go back to a policy of isolation with closed borders. The US has every major natural resource so as a nation, it will be able to endure; but lets face it, the US population isn't likely to give up all the fancy spoilitries it's citizens have become used to.
The US declares war for fabricated reasons and then allows it's enemies to move into the country as "citizens" how long do you think that policy is going to last? Rome anyone? I don't think that the US went to Iraq for oil, nor do I think that the US went there for WMD's. To me, it is just another clear cut case of the US needing a common enemy just as they have since Plymouth rock.
We will all have our own opinions when it comes to heated discussions of this nature, but John Stuart Mill said that a human being is very much like a sovereign nation and with that being said, I don't know many people who would agree with a guy who runs around punching weaker people in the face because they "don't like him".
What happened on 9-11 4 years ago was wrong; what has happened since 9-11 has been manipulative, erroneous, and downright humiliating for all nations involved.
When you look at the situation long term, the US basically has 3 choices the way I see it: first is to stay in Iraq as a glorified police agency until someone gathers the strength to push us out; second, start actually destroying the enemy without any regard for the civilian population as that-historically speaking- sends a clear message to those that value their lives; or third, pull troops and go back to a policy of isolation with closed borders. The US has every major natural resource so as a nation, it will be able to endure; but lets face it, the US population isn't likely to give up all the fancy spoilitries it's citizens have become used to.
The US declares war for fabricated reasons and then allows it's enemies to move into the country as "citizens" how long do you think that policy is going to last? Rome anyone? I don't think that the US went to Iraq for oil, nor do I think that the US went there for WMD's. To me, it is just another clear cut case of the US needing a common enemy just as they have since Plymouth rock.
We will all have our own opinions when it comes to heated discussions of this nature, but John Stuart Mill said that a human being is very much like a sovereign nation and with that being said, I don't know many people who would agree with a guy who runs around punching weaker people in the face because they "don't like him".
What happened on 9-11 4 years ago was wrong; what has happened since 9-11 has been manipulative, erroneous, and downright humiliating for all nations involved.
# posted by : 12/9/06 01:42
: 12/9/06 01:42
first of all I agree that I would prefer Tobold try to keep politics out here, however I sincerely respect your right to post whatever you feel and although disagree respect your opinion.
Second let me make this very clear. All of you who think Bush lied, you have NO proof of this only hunches and conspiracy theories. All of congress and senate had the same information Bush had. Also if you all recall correctly, which most people do not or did not know, when Clinton was president there were numerous warnings about Sadam having WMDs and even a declaration by the Clinton administration and the UN that we needed to do something about it, unfortunately the decision was put off to many times until it became to late. Besides Clinton had numerous oppurtunities to kill/capture Osama and didnt becuase he was to chicken. Bush did 1,000 times what anyone else has done to try and oust Osama. You have to realize that Osama is hiding in the Himalaya mountains which is on the "border" of Pakistan and Afghanistan, its not like you can just drive a tank up there and kill him. These mountains are fairly large and even our surveillance drones are not sufficient to spot him unless he is moving. I agree perhaps if we devoted as much time money and lives into finding Osama we may have captured him, however now Osama is not even a threat anymore we have pushed him so far undergournd he is for the most part innefective, while Sadam was at large. So please make no doubt the Bush administration did believe that he had WMDs, which by the way technically he did just not the way we thought he did.
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Second let me make this very clear. All of you who think Bush lied, you have NO proof of this only hunches and conspiracy theories. All of congress and senate had the same information Bush had. Also if you all recall correctly, which most people do not or did not know, when Clinton was president there were numerous warnings about Sadam having WMDs and even a declaration by the Clinton administration and the UN that we needed to do something about it, unfortunately the decision was put off to many times until it became to late. Besides Clinton had numerous oppurtunities to kill/capture Osama and didnt becuase he was to chicken. Bush did 1,000 times what anyone else has done to try and oust Osama. You have to realize that Osama is hiding in the Himalaya mountains which is on the "border" of Pakistan and Afghanistan, its not like you can just drive a tank up there and kill him. These mountains are fairly large and even our surveillance drones are not sufficient to spot him unless he is moving. I agree perhaps if we devoted as much time money and lives into finding Osama we may have captured him, however now Osama is not even a threat anymore we have pushed him so far undergournd he is for the most part innefective, while Sadam was at large. So please make no doubt the Bush administration did believe that he had WMDs, which by the way technically he did just not the way we thought he did.
# posted by : 12/9/06 15:00
: 12/9/06 15:00<< Home
