A calm Iraq and What happened to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi???

by Elsewhere 22 Replies latest social current

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  dolphman

  Simon,

  Settle down and relax. Out with the bad and in with the good.

  I'm just saying if this strategy was implemented from the beggining, it may have worked. I believe America may have gotten some allies together in this case. Nobody loved the Taliban. And hell, a lot of Saudis would be happy to help the US overthrow their monarchy.

  BTW, America is not getting it's ass kicked militarily. Politically, yes, militarily, no. Trust me. It's simply the game of "How far can you throw the grenade without damaging the mosque" that's bogging us down.
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  roybatty

  Invade Afghanistan and thoroughly defeat the Taliban and Al-Quaeda. (I still think this was a smart thing to do, they should've finished it)
  

  Give the Palestinians the West Bank, at least some of it and allow them self rule. (A very good idea, one way to get some warm-fuzzys from the arabs)

  Invade Saudi Arabia or force it to become a democracy. (This is a must to be taken seriously by the arabs)

  Invade Iran and fight Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt with it. Remake all of them democracies. (This is a lot like making your kid drink chicken broth, not fun but good for them)

  Mission Accomplished.

  Now you can move on to an isolated N.Korea. And when you're done with them, China...

  Why? When did America go into the country rebuilding business? If the Saudi (Syrian, Lebanese, etc.) people don't want to risk their lives and overthrow the people who ruler them, why should my countrymen go over there and die for something the people of Syria, Lebanon and Egypt should do for themselves? The people of Israel did it without American troops. Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union collapsed without one bullet being fired (well, kind of).

  Let the Iranians know that if we even think they are building nukes, we're going to have to take action (before we have another N. Korea on our hands. Thanks Bill Clinton!). Have UN & US inspectors (backed by troops) inspecting the country. The Iranians won't want a war with us knowing that Bush (unlike Clinton or Kerry) will send in troops.

  Isolate N. Korea and play tough with China. The Chinese need us more then they we need them (and they know it). But remember that over the next few years, there will be a new middle class of Chinese people, some 80 million people who want American goods. The Chinese crave American products so trend lightly.
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  dolphman

  I guess nobody on this board understands sarcasm or irony anymore. Did the joke about Bush playing the game "risk" alert anyone to this?

  I was simply stating that if Bush was going to take over the world like he's trying to, he should've done it the way I specified. It has a higher success possibility. I'm not saying it's the right thing to do.
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  roybatty

  I doubt the US would get it's ass kicked in mutiple theaters of war. How long did it takes US forces to defeat Saddam's army the second time, a couple of weeks? Hell, the combined forces of Egypt, Syria and Jordan couldn't defeat a tiny country like Israel. I can't even imagine if they went head to head with US forces. If there is one thing the US military knows how to do, it's break things and kill people. A big looser if war with Iran happened would be Israel because they would probably be hit with multiple missles from Iran. Now if we're talking about the US occupying those same countries, that would be a problem as seen in our latest experiment in Iraq.
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  ThiChi

  ""It's simply the game of "How far can you throw the grenade without damaging the mosque" that's bogging us down.""

  Yea, those cowards are hiding behind religion once agian....Too bad the Liberals killed the use of the Neutron Bomb, where you kill the bad guys and leave the building standing. Here is a good example where this type of bomb would serve saving lives and not hurting the mosque....Thanks John Kerry.....
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  Elsewhere

  What I don't understand is how the militants can survive inside that mosque for so long... how are they getting food and supplies inside?

  If the US and Iraqi troops really do have the mosque surrounded, they should be able to starve them out.
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  ThiChi

  It has been reported that there are tunnels and taverns that they have access to.
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  Double Edge

  hmmm, where's Yeru when we need him.... oh, yeah, never mind.
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  William Penwell

  Has anyone here remembered the lessons learned in Vietnam? The US was forced to play the game of the enemy. Sure you can bomb the crap out of them and win, there is no doubt the Americans can do that but have you won the "hearts and minds" of a people that already mistrust the US intentions? The problem with what Bush did was he did not build alleys that were willing to back him. He went in like a "bull in a china shop" without support and now that its blowing up in his face he wants that support. It is kind of late for diplomacy. The US already has their forces stretched to the maximum and unless they get other countries involvement in Iraq, there is no sane way that he is able to start any new wars but the key word here is "sane". With Bush and company anything is possible.

  Will
• 

  roybatty

  Has anyone here remembered the lessons learned in Vietnam? The US was forced to play the game of the enemy. Sure you can bomb the crap out of them and win, there is no doubt the Americans can do that but have you won the "hearts and minds" of a people that already mistrust the US intentions? The problem with what Bush did was he did not build alleys that were willing to back him. He went in like a "bull in a china shop" without support and now that its blowing up in his face he wants that support. It is kind of late for diplomacy. The US already has their forces stretched to the maximum and unless they get other countries involvement in Iraq, there is no sane way that he is able to start any new wars but the key word here is "sane". With Bush and company anything is possible.

  Will

  That's why the US should get out of the "country building business." There are just too many hot spots in the world. Make it clear to Iran, Syria, North Korea, etc, that if we suspect that your country is in any way supporting terrorism , pursuing WMD or threatening our allies, we're going to go after you. The lesson learned from Vietnam is this.....you can't do the job for them. After WWII the people of Germany wanted to get back to a "normal" life. The people of Japan saw the error of their ways and wanted change. In our day, I don't believe the people of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other Arab countries want or are willing to make the sacrifice for a change in government. If there aren't, why should we ask our young men and women to lay down their lives? Instead we should cut off the head of the snake and tell whoever takes over "look, we don't give a rat's ass what you do here in your country as long as you don't f*ck with us." End of story. The war in Iraq should have ended with the fall of Bagdad.