Talk to me like I've spent 8 years in total isolation. Why did we go to war with Afghanistan?

[EmilyAnne]

[question everything]

1. Because Bin Laden, who was behind the 9/11 attack

was believed to have been there. And we were not going to turn the other cheek, no matter how "Christian" we consider our country to be.

[Hippo_Tron]

2. Because military responses are expected when there is an attack on our soil

Afghanistan was the logical target since Bin Laden and the heads of Al Qaeda were in Afghanistan and were there with the blessing of the Taliban. And to a certain extent Afghanistan was also a convenient target. Personally I think that ground for justifying a war is somewhat shaky. On the other hand, I can't fathom a US President Democratic or Republican going on television after 9/11 and declaring that we are not going to respond with military force.

Foreign policy is often complicated and while there are simple answers sometimes, usually there are not. Attacking Afghanistan may not have been rational or wise but it was almost inevitable.

[spin]

3. We had this incident where some airliners were flown into buildings...

and a lot of people died, some horribly.

I still remember pictures of people jumping from the buildings, choosing to die by falling rather than burning.

The leader of the group that planned this attack operated out of Afghanistan. The group he led had committed several other terrorist attacks in the past.

So we attacked Afghanistan. The leader fled to Pakistan. We didn't have the balls to pursue him for fear of upsetting te government of Pakistan.

Along the way, our President decided to attack Iraq as they supposedly had weapons of mass destruction that might be used in a terrorist attack against us. Turns out they didn't but Bush the Junior got a big ego boost as he was able to take over Iraq, which his father had avoided. Today Bush the Senior still looks smarter than his son, who merely got us into a useless quagmire in the hell hole called Iraq for nothing. We didn't even get cheap oil out of this sad screw up.

So now we are stuck trying to rebuild Afghanistan and supporting its' corrupt and incompetent government and our prime target is still somewhere in the wild tribal areas of Pakistan.

Sooner or later terrorists will strike again in our country and we will launch another expensive and futile war and end up rebuilding another country. Of course, if we do invade the tribal areas of Pakistan, at least there isn't a lot to rebuild.

edited to change Iran to Iraq

[TicketyBoo]

4. Iraq.

The phony war was in Iraq.

Chris Matthews said today on Hardball what I've been saying here.

Al Quaeda is no longer in Afghanistan. Withdraw our troops. When they come back in, go back and get 'em, blocking off the Pakistani border so they can't get away again. Rats in a trap.

This makes so much sense. I can't imagine why they don't do exactly that.

Dad used to grumble about Vietnam, "All or nothing." Yeah. Fight it all-out, or get the hell out. A wiser use of our troops is a strategic withdrawal and then reentering at the right time to get them.

[spin]

5. Oops, I must have Iran on my brain today...

changed on edit.

Must be time to go to bed.