The appeasement policies that directly led to "911" may be back. I sure hope not! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35094244/ns/world_news-the_new_york_times
I personally believe making peace with the non-too-extreme Taliban members is a good way to go. The current way we are going isn't working. Pay off the ones that can be bought to fight for you. Many of the Taliban are there because it is the only option for them. Give them an appealing other option. Wasn't something similar done in Iraq that helped turn the tide of the war?
It doesn't work there. They have two options- die fighting us or die supporting us. The second way also involves their families. Remember, the hard core terrorists that these people answer to kill for the sake of killing- no matter who it is. I hear what you're saying, but the last time we started down this road we ended up with airliners slamming into buildings. What makes this time any different?
I think this option needs to be tried. I'm not sure if we really know if this option works or not in Afghanistan. Obviously our current strategy isn't working and Obama has already increased the troop count twice since he has been in office. We need a new strategy. I think that eliminating the Taliban is a silly goal. The Taliban will be strong while a foreign power occupies their land, it is just how it is. So we either train up Afghanis and feed them a ton of money and leave and let them fight the Taliban on their own, or we try a new strategy to reincorporate some of the non-extreme Taliban members.
Bin Laden came from Saudi Arabia, he just ended up in Afghanistan. The reason they plotted 9/11 was do to the involvement of the United States in his home country. The Taliban stands for a lot of very strict and bad things, but they did not attack the United States on our soil. I don't like their perspective, but I could give a shit about how they treat their people. If the United States want to police the world and do nation building like GWB I & II then we better raise taxes on everyone and especially the rich.
Thankfully this should be stopping soon. With our financial situation, more Americans wanting isolation, and other power(s) rising while we are somewhat declining, our days of being the world police are coming to an end. I think most Americans will be happy (maybe not some neo-cons).
But that's my point. We have tried this way. It was the single most epic failure in our history. Why try it again? I'd rather make a new mistake than an old one.
Probably correlative with the corresponding drop in literacy, increase in high-school dropouts, and lack of study outside of one's partisan view. Just because "more Americans" want something, doesn't necessarily make it good.
Well a recent poll after Bush left office showed the highest % on record (I believe) of Americans who favored America to "mind our own business and not interfere in other country's affairs". I think that is the right thing to do anyway unless it directly affects our national security (nuclear bombs, etc...). Like it or not, the U.S. is becoming more and more challenged as the "world leader" like we were during the cold war, except we are not prepared for this fight with our current situation. I personally think that there should be a few powers in the world, and they should each try to police their own region of the world. China, Russia and Japan can do Asia. the EU, Russia and India can do Europe and the ME. The U.S., Canada, and Brazil can do the Americas and so on. A kind of "we don't mess with your sphere of influence if you don't mess with ours". By 2020 you pretty much have 3 countries vying for the top spot anyway with the EU, China and the U.S. Might as well have an understanding.
The issue with that is that we don't necessarily agree with how the other countries "police" their sphere. The Cold War wasn't about USSR controlling Asia, NATO controlling Europe and the US attempting to control the rest that anyone cared about (neglecting South America and Africa). It was HOW it was being controlled. Should China be allowed to keep dumping toxic sewage down its rivers? Should Russia be allowed to conduct nuclear tests at will? Should piracy off the African Coasts be allowed simply b/c there isn't a "Power" "policing" that area? Our military is prepared to do a lot of things. There's a big difference b/w political and public opinion (certainly acceptable) and military ability. What you seem to be proposing is a return from "Might for Right" to "Might Makes Right". Personally, I'm not down with that.
Apparently you learned nothing at all from the cold war. You are delusional if you think our military can in any way have a positive effect on these non-military issues.
What are you talking about? 9/11 was planned and carried out by Saudi extremists, from Saudi Arabia. The Taliban knew nothing about it. You seem to know less about the Mid-East, and who our enemies actually are, than Bush did.
I learned a little bit...what are you referring to. And I'm not talking about the issues of human rights, piracy and environment being 1960's issues....I'm talking about potential 2020 issues that MrJ might've been thinking of in bringing up his plan. And our military's had a pretty significant effect on piracy, anti-drug and environmental concerns (illegal fishing, oil safety standards, etc.) in West Africa. It seems to me that one would be delusional or ignorant to deny it.
Examples? I've never heard of any. Piracy has certainly not been hampered in the least. Massive oil spills continue to occur. Fish species continue to go extinct. The African environment continues to be degraded, the people slaughtered by the millions, and a friend in Zambia recently warned me against vacationing anywhere in West Africa as Americans are not safe there.
I've posted them on this board. Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea is down by orders of magnitude in just the last two years. I just spent 2 months in West Africa last year and couldn't have felt safer. The Navy does work in Ghana, Benin, Togo, Cameroon and Gabon. Illegal fishing has been curtailed due in large part to training the US Navy and Coast Guard gives to ECOWAS navies. (side note: I conducted an inspection of the ships of the Togo and Benin navies. Just to get the ships seaworthy was a monumental effort, and it's exciting to me that in 18 months with some repair help and training that they're taking down pirates on their own) Drug smuggling is down, other than in Nigeria--where there's almost a whole state under drug control. Just b/c it's not on the Huffington Post or Fox News, doesn't mean it isn't there. If you want to learn more about the Navy and its Africa Partnership Station... http://www.c6f.navy.mil/apshome.html
This is what the problem is on BOTH sides. MrJay pointed this out too, but these people have nothing to live for and promises of greatness if they die. You need to help create something for them to live for that isn't farming opium.
