I’ve held back from wading into this debate so far but you know what, I’ve had it. The following is a disjointed rant brought on by having my nerves rattled one too many times.
After September 11 the Bush administration had a stellar opportunity to deal with international terrorism by going after those responsible. Thus the invasion of Afghanistan. I despise war in all its forms but I do agree with Bush that something had to be done about Afghanistan – and then they completely bungled it. Instead of securing a steady government in Afghanistan by cleaning out the worst of the warlords the priority was buying off thugs and criminals. Instead of securing the country the priority was flattening Tora Bora. It makes me wonder how much of the cash distributed by the CIA has been used to buy the AK47s and the rockets that are now used against NATO forces.
And then to make matters worse the powers that be had the brilliant idea of invading Iraq – except it seems that the plan was already hibernating in a filling cabinet at the Pentagon. There was no credible intelligence, no firm exit strategy, and only a wildly inaccurate estimate of the Iraqi public support. Iraq has become a black hole for resources and troops, not to mention goodwill. It has not only virtually destroyed hope of actually countering the treat of terrorism but actually made the world a more dangerous place and the latest news of sectarian violence makes it even clearer that the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq has been the worst military blunder since Hitler said ‘Hey, I wonder if Stalingrad is nice in winter’.
Of course we can’t simple pull out and leave the Iraqis to the fate we’ve created for them. We owe our loyalty to those (and I believe they are the majority) who simply want to live peaceful lives. But I’m afraid that sooner or later that is exactly what will happen and in 10 or 20 years we’ll do this all over again. It’s time we start fighting the root of the problem – and that cannot be done with laser guided bombs but only with money, more money and a great deal of diplomacy.
All this might seem motivated by terrible selfishness for surely I’m not the only one with someone to worry about but every time I see a headline that reads ‘Soldiers killed in Helmand’ my heart skips a few beats – and all that worry turns to anger at the frivolous ways of Messrs Bush and Blair.
Ahemn… I’ll stop hijacking the thread and let you get back to the scheduled discussion.
After September 11 the Bush administration had a stellar opportunity to deal with international terrorism by going after those responsible. Thus the invasion of Afghanistan. I despise war in all its forms but I do agree with Bush that something had to be done about Afghanistan – and then they completely bungled it. Instead of securing a steady government in Afghanistan by cleaning out the worst of the warlords the priority was buying off thugs and criminals. Instead of securing the country the priority was flattening Tora Bora. It makes me wonder how much of the cash distributed by the CIA has been used to buy the AK47s and the rockets that are now used against NATO forces.
And then to make matters worse the powers that be had the brilliant idea of invading Iraq – except it seems that the plan was already hibernating in a filling cabinet at the Pentagon. There was no credible intelligence, no firm exit strategy, and only a wildly inaccurate estimate of the Iraqi public support. Iraq has become a black hole for resources and troops, not to mention goodwill. It has not only virtually destroyed hope of actually countering the treat of terrorism but actually made the world a more dangerous place and the latest news of sectarian violence makes it even clearer that the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq has been the worst military blunder since Hitler said ‘Hey, I wonder if Stalingrad is nice in winter’.
Of course we can’t simple pull out and leave the Iraqis to the fate we’ve created for them. We owe our loyalty to those (and I believe they are the majority) who simply want to live peaceful lives. But I’m afraid that sooner or later that is exactly what will happen and in 10 or 20 years we’ll do this all over again. It’s time we start fighting the root of the problem – and that cannot be done with laser guided bombs but only with money, more money and a great deal of diplomacy.
All this might seem motivated by terrible selfishness for surely I’m not the only one with someone to worry about but every time I see a headline that reads ‘Soldiers killed in Helmand’ my heart skips a few beats – and all that worry turns to anger at the frivolous ways of Messrs Bush and Blair.
Ahemn… I’ll stop hijacking the thread and let you get back to the scheduled discussion.