MadelynIris said:
Taking the fight to their geographic region, is one of the only few good things that has come of Iraq. Its' a short drive to the fight, and we have the benefit of them fighting trained soldiers, with modern weoponry.
this has been the biggest lie perpetrated by the Bush administration, and i'm sorry that some of us still buy it.
the GWOT will not be won by armies that are easy to see, easy to follow on CNN, and give good media when you land on an aircraft carrier. the Iraq debacle is a great example of how conventional, state-on-state warfare have nothing to with the GWOT where you don't have nation states, but certain players within each state who are united not by geography or nationalism but by ideology.
the Bushies knew this, but they also knew that secretive strikes and intelligence work and cooperating with foreign governments isn't sexy, and it doesn't win elections when you could start a great big war against a great big bad guy.
so many decisions about the GWOT made in 2002-6 were made with the concern of what would look best on CNN/Fox and the 2004 election rather than what's the best strategy for fighting islamist fascism.
and putting Americans in the Middle East was exactly what Bin Laden has been complaining about since 1991. "taking the fight to the enemy" is precisely what Bin Laden and the Iranians want, because now they get to kill Americans on their soil (far, far easier to do than organize another 9-11) and if/when Americans redeploy from Iraq -- which seems the only logical thing to do, given the absurdity of asking American soldiers to police a civil war -- they will claim victory, that hte Americans pulled out like the British before them.
however, pulling out might be the smartest long-term strategy, despite the initial claims of victory by Al-Qaeda. yes, there will be violence in Iraq, not that there isn't now, but what it might well do is change the narrative. instead of Islam vs. America, it becomes Sunni vs. Shiite, or Islam vs. Islam, and it will focus the governments of the Middle East to focus on their own problems without the easy scapegoats of the Americans.